Senior Director, Product Development (Education)

Are you an educational strategist who thrives on innovation and collaboration? Do you believe in the power of transformative learning experiences to shape the future of youth development? National 4-H Council is seeking a dynamic Senior Director, Product Development to lead the design and delivery of high-quality educational products that equip Cooperative Extension educators to engage youth nationwide.

At National 4-H Council, we empower nearly 6 million young people each year, helping them develop the confidence and skills to lead for a lifetime. As the nation's largest youth development organization, we create #Opportunity4All by delivering high-impact programs in STEM, Agriculture, Healthy Living, and Civic Engagement.

As the Senior Director, you will serve as a thought leader and team manager, overseeing curriculum strategy and implementation for educator-facing products. You'll play a key role in driving innovation, quality assurance, and market alignment across the 4-H educational portfolio, while collaborating with Cooperative Extension and key stakeholders. From directing content development to strengthening the 4-H brand through consistent product delivery, your work will be essential to advancing the mission of 4-H.

Bring your expertise in curriculum development, team leadership, and youth-serving content strategy to a national platform that values equity, excellence, and innovation.

Apply now and help shape the future of educator-driven youth development for 4-H!

Mission

4-H, the nation's largest youth development organization, grows confident young people empowered for life today and prepared for careers tomorrow. In collaboration with the USDA and our network of 110 public universities, we serve every county and parish in the United States in more than 3,000 local 4-H Extension offices. Our programs have a positive impact on young people: 4-H youth are 2x more likely to excel in school, 4x more likely to contribute to their communities, 2x more likely to make healthier choices, and 2x more likely to pursue STEM education or careers.

National 4-H Council, 4-H's private sector nonprofit partner, builds public-private partnerships and provides resources and leadership development opportunities that expand the reach and impact of 4-H. With the Beyond Ready Initiative, 4-H has the potential to reach 10 million young people annually to help them lead healthy, productive and engaged lives. Young leaders will have the experience and mentorship to succeed in an evolving workforce and thrive in their communities.

Position Summary

The Senior Director, Product Development is a pivotal new role within National 4-H Council, responsible for driving the execution of strategic vision and ensuring operational excellence of our educational products and services. Reporting directly to the VP, Educator Product Innovation (EPI), this position plays a crucial role in ensuring success and improving the growth of our initiatives to support 4-H educators throughout the country. This position will provide comprehensive operational oversight for the Learning Management System (LMS) product development and maintenance that supports the delivery of CLOVER and PYD Academy content, monitor progress and report analytics against operational plans to drive informed decision-making, and maintain a high-performing team that includes direct reports, managing a team of contractors, and collaborating with cross-functional team members from the broader National 4-H Council team.

Responsibilities

Product Development

• Lead the development, deployment, and maintenance of the Learning Management System (LMS), including product and budget management, and serving as product lead to both vendors and internal development team.
• Ensuring platform and content development aligns with stakeholder expectations to include land-grant university Cooperative Extension professionals, Youth, and donors.
• Participate in the on-going process of gathering information from Extension, analyzing the data, and developing growth strategies for the educator products and services.
• Oversee the development of compelling training materials on products and assist with delivering educational webinars.
• Provide support to the fundraising team as needed to provide product overview and insight, finding alignment between donor interests and strategic goals, and estimating cost of donor deliverables related to the LMS platform or content development efforts.

Operational Oversight:

• Provide comprehensive operational oversight for Clover and PYD Academy content development, ensuring alignment with strategic goals, objectives, and budgets.
• Work with the Product & Partner Marketing team to ensure marketing efforts are aligned with the operational goals and monitoring progress towards external (donor) and internal objectives.
• Serve as a support to the VP, Educator Product Innovation for development of operational plans, financial budget preparation and reporting, and monitoring progress.

Analytics and Reporting:

• Develop reports and/or dashboards to monitor progress and report analytics against operational plans to drive informed decision-making.
• Maintain project budgets to ensure both the platform and content development efforts are aligned with donor and council budgets.
• Provide monthly and quarterly budget and progress updates for internal budgets and operational plans as well as donor deliverables.

Team Leadership and Development

• Develop and lead a cross-functional team that includes direct reports, a network of contracted project management and instructional designers, and representatives from various Council teams.
• Lead cross-functional team meetings for the LMS platform that supports Clover, PYD Academy, Professional Resource Hub, and Teen Recognition to support collaboration and innovation across council that includes IT, creative services, fundraising, extension relations, and youth voice.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Education or similar degree (or any equivalent combination of relevant work experience and training).
• 10+ Years of professional experience that shows progression in managing teams, cross-functional team leadership, budgeting and financial analysis, creating operational efficiency, project and/or product management.

Required Qualifications

• Experience in project management, product deployment, and ensuring alignment with customer and stakeholder expectations. Experience with Asana or other project management tools a plus.
• Strong leadership and team development skills.
• Financial acumen and experience in reporting and analytics, including data analysis, data visualization, and being able to present data in a compelling manner.
• Strong communication skills including comfort presenting to Executives and experience preparing reports and analytics for C-suite audiences.
• Experience in identifying, creating, and documenting operational efficiencies.
• Strong technical acumen including but not limited to using Microsoft 365 products, including advanced knowledge of Excel and other analytics tools.
• Strong leader who takes ownership of issues and drives decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in assessing skills and development needs of teams and assisting with or recommending training as needed to support operational success.
• Experience in creating adaptable staffing plans for projects, incorporating contractors, vendors, and the use of technology.
• Experience in consulting with clients and/or consultative sales, gathering stakeholder feedback, and developing informed strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to interact with and influence all levels of management.

Travel Requirements: Travel may be necessary up to 20% by air, car, and/or rail domestically.

ADA Requirements: The physical demands described here represent those that an Associate must meet to perform the position's essential functions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Mostly a sedentary role; however, some movement is required.
• Role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, telephones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
• Requires the ability to lift files, open filing cabinets, and bend or stand as necessary.
• Basic math skills needed to calculate formulas, discounts, and so forth.
• Must be able to lift up to 10 pounds.

Disclaimer: This position description indicates, in general, the nature and levels of work, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other essential functions (as covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act) expected of an incumbent. It is not designed to include or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required. An incumbent may be asked to perform other tasks as needed.