Fast Facts

WGU is seeking a Director for Instruction in General Education to lead course instruction and faculty management, driving innovative educational strategies and achieving student success in a competency-based online learning environment.

Responsibilities: Lead and manage instructional personnel and processes, drive financial stewardship and growth, and collaborate across university leadership to enhance the quality of education provided to students.

Skills: Proficiency in data-driven decision making, strategic thinking, and strong communication skills, with a focus on student-centered education and fiscal responsibility.

Qualifications: Master’s degree in education or related field, with a minimum of 10 years in the education sector and at least 5 years in higher education leadership experience.

Location: Salt Lake City Office, United States of America

Compensation: $126800 - $228300 / Annually

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Management_Executive 610Pay Range: $126,800.00 - $228,300.00

Job Description

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Influence, embrace, champion and implement the shared vision and strategy established by academic and university senior leadership (VPs, SVPs, CAO/Provost, and President) to lead personnel, processes, and innovation in course instruction for the assigned school/college.
• Direct the hiring, performance management, development, and retention of faculty and staff through effective workforce planning.
• Exhibit, lead, and develop sound financial stewardship, with a specific focus on supporting significant growth while optimizing unit economics for course instruction to achieve successful student, program, and school/college outcomes.
• Set clear and achievable goals for school/college course instruction in collaboration with school/college leadership based on strategic priorities of the school/college.
• Exhibit, lead, and develop accountability for course instruction operations to deliver successful student, program, and school/college outcomes. Report on and represent functional accountability to school/college in regular and impromptu venues. Drive a culture of continuous experimentation, measurement, and learning from data to rapidly improve the quality and delivery of instruction to students.
• Collaborate with academic and administrative leadership, faculty, and team members across the university to serve students, one by one and at scale, to achieve key results.
• Contribute to the advancement of WGU’s culture and practices consistent with its brand, differentiation, and desired employee experience.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skill, and Abilities:

• Student focus: Always keeps the student at the center of what we do, and why we do it.
• Thinks Strategically: Applies broad strategic direction, with university-wide impact, and in a distributed organization context. Anticipates beyond short term and thinks critically.
• Executes and Achieves Results: Focused on results, not just activity. Exceptional skill and demonstrated success in delivering and improving results in a higher education senior leadership role. Strong bias for, and practical experience in, measuring and improving. Thorough understanding and commitment to competency-based education.
• Managerial Courage: Willing to tackle difficult topics and conventional thinking in a respectful and productive manner, doesn’t hold anything back that needs to be said. Authentically reflect and portray the mission of WGU, internally and externally.
• Thinks Big/Innovation: Formulates a bold vision, sees around corners, and inspires results. Fosters creativity and brings innovation successfully to fruition. Sets new standards that enhances WGU and benefit students.
• Develops Teams and Individuals: Defines success in terms of the whole team, creates a feeling of belonging. Hires and develops top talent and future WGU leaders. Inspire and motivate instructional teams to meet and exceed expectations.
• Fiscal Responsibility: Clear ownership and delivery of revenue and cost budgets. Proficiency in budgetary, workforce, and financial management.
• Leads Change: Is an agent for change, influences others to accept change. Effectively demonstrates own ability to change, shifts gears comfortably, decides and acts without having the complete picture, and comfortably handles risk and uncertainty.
• Data-Driven: Proficiency in data-driven decision making. Proven ability to analyze qualitative and quantitative data to identify trends and drive innovative process improvement. Strong problem-solving skills, including root cause analysis, countermeasure determination, and preventing systemic recurrence.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: Effectively utilize Microsoft Office 365 to present information clearly and concisely. Able to master new applications and/or platforms as needed.

Competencies: 

Organizational Impact:

• Develops and recommends a plan to accomplish division or job area responsibilities that align with the department.
• Performance affects department results. Work requires extensive knowledge of the University to recognize the impact of decisions.
• Responsible for compiling data to produce a budget or a portion of a budget for a department or job area.

Problem Solving & Decision Making:

• Responsible for making significant improvements to processes, programs, and systems to enhance the outcomes of the division or job area.
• May create and direct policy decisions within the scope of responsibility. Accountable for coordinating activities and maintaining relationships with external parties as needed.
• Problems faced are numerous and undefined, and require detailed information gathering, analysis, and prior experience. Solutions to problems typically affect multiple departments.

Communication & Influence:

• Represents the division or job area as the primary internal contact for operations.
• Influences others to accept the division or job area’s views, practices, concepts, and approaches. Interacts with equivalent-level management concerning matters of significance to the University.
• Conducts briefings with senior leadership to gain approval.

Leadership & Talent Management

• Manages teams of managers and professionals. Responsible for creating workforce and staffing plans for the area. Directly oversees hiring, firing, promotion, performance management, employee training, and other personnel decisions of significance within the division or job area.
• May spend time completing functional tasks, but primarily achieves goals through leading a team.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree from an accredited institution in education, mathematics, English, liberal studies, humanities, or a closely related field
• At least 10 years of professional experience in the education sector, with a minimum of 5 years specifically in higher education, and demonstrated experience leading leaders and large teams of 50 + (or more)
• Thorough knowledge of and proven dedication to competency-based education approaches
• Experience working with or advocating for underserved or underrepresented student populations. 
• Proficiency in data-informed decision-making and educational analytics. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctoral degree in Education (e.g., Ed.D., Ph.D., or equivalent) from an accredited institution. 
• Strong background in budgeting, financial planning, and resource allocation. 
• Demonstrated experience implementing or supporting competency-based education within an online learning environment. 
• Leadership experience in academic program development or instructional administration,

Additional Qualifications:

This position is based in the Salt Lake City office, up to 20 percent travel will be required to Commencement Ceremonies, College Meetings, other WGU locations, and to support networking toward innovation and thought leadership.

Physical Requirements:

• May have prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times.

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Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.