Director, Research Operations

Director, Research Operations

College Board - Learning and Assessment

Location:

• This is a remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the option of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office). All CB employees are required to occasionally travel to meet in person for business purposes.

Role Type:

• This is a full-time position

About the Team

Learning & Assessment is College Board's center for researching, designing, delivering, and strengthening high-quality assessments that serve more than 7+ million students annually and advance opportunities around the world. The division brings together 150+ experts in research, psychometrics, and assessment design and development to ensure our assessments are rigorous, accessible, and grounded in evidence. In close partnership with teams across College Board, Learning & Assessment leads innovation in assessment design, ensures valid, reliable, and error-free scores, and provides the evidence and insights that guide program strategy and shape understanding of important issues in the education sector.

The Research Team designs, conducts, and disseminates research and analyses to drive decision-making within College Board and by external stakeholders. The department includes 30+ interdisciplinary experts from education, economics, political science, psychology, public policy, sociology, and survey research. Our data and evidence address topics related to College Board assessments, programs, and initiatives as well as pressing questions in the broader education ecosystem. We influence a wide array of practitioners, policymakers, and the academic research community through publications spanning academic journal articles, reports, research briefs, and applied data tools.

About the Opportunity

Research is continuing to evolve, supporting a growing portfolio of analytics and evidence designed to be actionable and influential for decisionmakers across K12, higher ed, and policy at the federal, state, district, and institutional levels. As the scale and complexity of this work increases, there is an opportunity to strengthen the operational backbone that enables consistent delivery, cross-team coherence, and future-focused evolution—while preserving deep expertise and technical leadership.

The Director, Research Operations provides function-wide operational leadership to support this evolution. This role establishes prioritization mechanisms, builds a coherent cross-team operating model, and establishes and maintains an actionable evidence base that includes both internal and external research evidence. The Director reports to the Vice President, Research and partners closely with Executive Directors, who serve as the technical leaders for research, to ensure work is delivered effectively and sustainably while creating space for forward-looking technical leadership and expertise. The scope of this role is focused on building sustainable operational infrastructure and team capacity, rather than owning research projects. 

In this role, you will:

Coordinate the Research Portfolio (50%)

• Build and maintain infrastructure to track and manage progress toward goals that gives the Vice President and Executive Directors real-time visibility to help drive decisions and course-corrections to stay on track to achieve outcomes.

• Refine and maintain the cross-team internal operating infrastructure, including portfolio tracking, cross-team communications, publication management, data/vendor/budget administration, reporting tools, and transparency tools.

• Reinforce clear accountability, role clarity, timing expectations, and execution ownership across the research portfolio.

• Assess risks, tradeoffs, and sequencing across the portfolio and recommend prioritization calls to the Vice President and Executive Directors.

• Organize workstreams, process and analyze data, synthesize literature, and provide transparency to internal partners, translating information into clear implications and recommendations for internal partners.

• Coordinate internal communications to support internal understanding of research evidence (e.g., quarterly meeting pre-reads with internal clients, quarterly newsletter) and manage the publications and dissemination processes (e.g., coordinating editorial, webpage, presentation materials).

Create and Maintain an Actionable, Dynamic Evidence Repository (30%) 

• Monitor external research publications related to College Board’s research portfolio, synthesize evidence and its application to CB stakeholders, and combine with insights from CB Research to assess implications/flag strategic relevance.

• Maintain a research repository combining external and internal evidence that is dynamic, accessible, and actionable for the organization.

• Coordinate with CB programs and the Engagement and Reach team to ensure that evidence is utilized by decision-makers.

Manage Cross-Team Functions (20%) 

• Own and drive the Research team’s operating functions and identify opportunities to standardize and simplify operational processes, tools, and workflows to drive efficiency; and scale it into a durable operating model that can scale with future team growth, including documenting and training team members to follow the processes.

• Oversee the Research team’s common data resources, data license procedures, vendor management needs, and budget management processes.

• Build and maintain relationships within the team’s Executive Directors to support cross-functional team initiatives.

About You

To qualify for this role, you must have: 

• 5+ years of experience in research operations leadership, organizational enablement, or related roles in complex, technical, or analytics-driven environments and experience working closely with a senior executive.

• Bachelor’s degree 

• Experience working closely with research teams or in research-adjacent environments, with a strong understanding of how research is designed, implemented, and communicated for greatest impact. This experience may include operations or organizational leadership, but deep familiarity with education research is preferred over general program and portfolio management.

• Demonstrated ability to design and implement scalable operating models, processes, and systems that support both effective delivery and long-term capability building.

• Experience operating across multiple products or portfolios simultaneously and navigating competing priorities in matrixed organizations.

• Strong stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to partner effectively with deep technical experts while providing operational clarity and alignment.

• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills and a track record of effectively and succinctly communicating about evidence.

• Comfort navigating ambiguity and a high degree of intellectual curiosity.

• Familiarity with education research topics across K12 and postsecondary.

• Ability to travel approximately 4 times per year (typically ~1.5 days per trip) to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business.

All roles at College Board require:

• A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work

• Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and comfort with learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively.

• Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal

• A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning and user input.

• A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing what matters most, and continuously improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking.

• A collaborative and empathetic approach: working across differences, fostering trust, and contributing to a culture of shared success

• Authorization to work in the United States

About Our Process

• Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.

• While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership, and reference checks.

What We Offer

At College Board, we offer more than a paycheck: we provide a meaningful career, a supportive team, and a comprehensive package designed to help you thrive. We’re a self-sustaining nonprofit that believes in fair and competitive compensation grounded in your qualifications, experience, impact, and the market.

A Thoughtful Approach to Compensation

• The hiring range for this role is $80,000- 130,000

• Your exact salary will depend on your location, experience, and how your background compares to others in similar roles at the College Board.

• We aim to make our best offer upfront, rooted in fairness, transparency, and market data.

• We adjust salaries by location to ensure fairness, no matter where you live.

You’ll have open, transparent conversations about compensation, benefits, and what it’s like to work at College Board throughout your hiring process. Check out our careers page for more.

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About College Board

College Board reaches more than 7 million students a year, helping them navigate the path from high school to college and career. We’re a mission-driven, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to excellence in education. Founded 125 years ago, we are committed to clearing a path for all students to own their future. We pioneered programs like the SAT® and AP® to expand opportunities for students and help them develop the skills they need. Our BigFuture® program helps students plan for college, pay for college, and explore careers. Learn more at cb.org.

Mission

Clearing a path for all students to own their future.

What Guides Us

At College Board, our work is guided by four Operating Principles, and we seek team members who not only align with these principles but actively live them out in their day-to-day work​.

• Prioritize and Simplify– We focus on what matters most, reduce complexity, and move quickly when needed.

• Say and Receive– We give and receive feedback candidly and kindly, welcoming growth and healthy debate.

• Go for Greatness– We pursue excellence using data, iteration, and bold thinking to raise the bar.

• Lead as One College Board– We build a culture of trust, inclusion, and shared responsibility for long-term impact.

We Value and Provide Growth, Recognition, and Purpose

In addition to a competitive salary and benefits, we offer:

• Annual bonuses and opportunities for merit-based raises and promotions

• A mission-driven workplace where your impact matters

• A team that invests in your development and success

✨Learn More ✨

Learn more about College Board’s Operating Principles, Our Remote-first Workplace Policy,Benefits, Recruiting Process and More.

EEOC statement

College Board is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We’re committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.