Director, Curriculum Development

At 2U, we are all in on purpose. We are motivated by our mission – to eliminate the back row in education – and connected by our shared passion to deliver world-class digital education at scale. As the parent company of edX, the world’s leading online learning platform, 2U powers more than 4,000 online higher education offerings – from free courses to full degrees. Together with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporate partners, we are helping to unlock human potential.

What We’re Looking For:

The Curriculum Management Director is the primary Learning team liaison and relationship owner with external academic partner leadership for their assigned portfolio of curricula and learning products across 2U’s university and industry partners. The Curriculum Management Director is a main external point of contact for our content implementation vendor. 

The Curriculum Management Director oversees a portfolio of programs/products through each stage of the life cycle, ensuring each curriculum and/or product is developed according to defined requirements. They lead curricular planning and investment management for each program/product, as well as data-driven evaluation and continuous improvement efforts, providing strategic direction and support for the partner, the program, and the curriculum/product, in alignment with 2U business priorities and target investment. They may also engage in leading early curricular planning with prospective partners during the pre-contract phase. 

To do so successfully will require the ability to:

• Establish new and grow existing relationships with external academic partner leadership, Learning teams, 2U Program Leadership team, internal stakeholders, and our content vendors.  
• Impact and influence members of Learning Operations team to deliver high quality curriculum and products on budget, on time and meeting all program/program requirements
• Understand budgets, financial data, forecasting; implementing financial management processes and tools, as needed
• Thrive in an atmosphere of continuous change, while focusing on priorities, and constantly driving toward solutions
• Demonstrate sound judgment and be comfortable with independent decision-making;
• Manage multiple competing priorities
• Manage and prioritize concurrent projects and tasks with conflicting deadlines and resource demands to ensure timely, high-quality completion across all responsibilities.
• Collaborate effectively with other members of the Curriculum Management team as needed to achieve goals

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To:

People Management

• Participate in the hiring process, including interviewing and selecting candidates.
• Facilitate effective onboarding for new team members, ensuring a smooth transition and understanding of company culture and expectations.
• Set clear performance expectations and goals for team members; Conduct regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews; Provide constructive feedback and coaching to improve performance.
• Delegate tasks effectively and empower team members to take ownership; Communicate company vision, goals, and changes clearly and consistently.

Curriculum Planning & Investment Management 

• Ensure adherence to target budget for contracted curriculum build; communicate curriculum budgets and course level profiles/ targets to internal Learning teams.
• Track budgets using monthly financial data. Identify and escalate risks to target investment; recommend and drive implementation of solutions to remediate, as needed.
• Gather, define, and disseminate curricular requirements (accreditation, regulatory, institutional, program-specific.) Effectively communicate requirements to Learning teams to ensure all courses are developed to the highest standard of quality and meet agreed-upon requirements.
• For new programs, in partnership with external academic program leadership, develop and oversee plan for initial curriculum build considering all factors such as paths of study, faculty availability, etc. 
• Develop biannual strategic curricular plans for each assigned program to support business objectives, meet program priorities, and drive improvements within established investment parameters.
• Maintain quality of curriculum to meet program requirements and student needs via data-driven revisions and product enhancements.
• Prioritize, scope, and submit requests for ongoing course revisions and product enhancements in alignment with investment guidance, partner needs, product requirements, and business strategy.
• Provide known and projected course development & continuous improvement work to inform Learning teams and content implementation vendor resou