Manager, Program Operations

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The Manager, Program Operations is a department level operational owner of the academic planning lifecycle, the end-to-end framework spanning demand planning, schedule build, gate review, registration operations, activity pay, and post-term analysis. The Manager ensures each phase is executed accurately and consistently for an assigned department and/or academic area, with the institutional knowledge and cross-functional relationships to sustain it through transitions and growth.

The Manager partners with academic leadership and central offices to plan and build data-informed schedules, coordinate affiliated faculty hiring and onboarding, administer activity pay, and drive continuous process improvement. The Manager leverages enterprise platforms, data analytics environments, and project management tools to manage records, analyze data, and document workflows that support institutional continuity.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Manage annual and semester course planning, demand projections, and section sufficiency, aligning section supply to enrollment trends, program goals, and growth objectives

• Leverage historical enrollment data, cohort progression patterns, curriculum tracks, and student pipeline data to build term-based projections before each schedule build cycle

• Develop and manage course schedules using data-informed planning, continuously improving processes

• Develop and maintain annual and semester cohort calendars and scheduling milestones

• Surface course gaps and section shortfalls each term to inform affiliated faculty hiring decisions before the schedule build begins

• Conduct audits of course assets, academic assignments, and instructor records to ensure compliance and data accuracy

• Identify process improvement opportunities through data analysis and present findings to leadership

• Build and enter course schedules into the SIS, ensuring course caps, waitlists, program attributes, meeting times, modality, and dates are accurate

• Administer availability surveys, section sufficiency reviews, and instructor invitations; manage the full scheduling production cycle through publication

• Participate in gate review prior to registration opening by verifying schedule accuracy, confirm instructor assignments are complete, flag unresolved conflicts, and escalate before the schedule is published

• Monitor registration in real time, tracking fill rates against projected demand; escalate sections trending off-projection with a recommended response before decisions become reactive

• Manage waitlist activity, surface unmet demand signals, and coordinate with the Registrar’s office on protocols

• Track and document post-publish schedule changes, instructor modifications, room changes, modality shifts, cancellations and communicate to relevant stakeholders

• Serve as an end-user of Banner, Workday Student, Argos, Salesforce, and project management tools, ensuring records are accurate and workflows are optimized

• Identify and implement workflow improvements across programs for operational efficiency

• Understand system integrations across the institution and with external partners to troubleshoot issues and support continuity

• Lead the hiring and onboarding of affiliated faculty, optimizing the process for efficiency and a high-quality faculty experience. 

• Serve as a primary point of contact for instructors, fostering a culture of continual improvement through feedback and process evaluations

• Collaborate with faculty and academic leadership on staff teaching assignments in alignment with operational deadlines and program needs

• Develop and deploy assignment invitations and contracts in alignment with program goals

• Work across departments to assess and deploy systematic processes for hiring coordination, activity pay, course registration, and data integrations

• Project future course planning needs based on course analysis, faculty availability, and staffing gaps; advise academic leadership on hiring projections

• Collaborate with the Registrar’s office and academic affairs on affiliated faculty compliance, audit functions, and job profile standards

• Partner annually with central offices to review affiliated faculty activity status and determine active or offboarding decisions, ensuring records are accurate and compliant

• Support operational functions related to external academic partnerships including online program management relationships

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