Associate Director, Program Management

At Curriculum Associates, we believe in the potential of every child and are changing the face of education technology with award-winning learning programs like i-Ready that serve a third of the nation's K-8 students. For more than 50 years, our commitment to making classrooms better places, serving educators, and supporting accessible learning experiences for all students has driven the continuous improvement of our innovative programs. Our team of more than 2,500 employees is composed of lifelong learners who stand behind this mission, working tirelessly to serve the educational community with world-class programs and support every day. At Curriculum Associates (CA), we believe a diverse team leads to innovations that help educators and students succeed. We are seeking an experienced Associate Director, Program Management to lead large, cross-functional programs that bring high-quality instructional products and services to market. In this role, you will drive alignment across Product, Engineering, Content, Design, Marketing, Customer Success, and other Go-to-Market (GTM) teams to ensure programs deliver on our strategic objectives and meet the needs of the educators and students we serve. The impact you'll have:

• Lead the successful delivery of complex, multi-year programs that advance CA's product strategy and organizational goals
• Translate vision into clear program outcomes, milestones, timelines, and success measures
• Bring clarity and structure to ambiguous situations, helping teams align on priorities and decisions
• Strengthen the connection between Product and GTM teams to ensure clear communication, organizational readiness, and cohesive deliverables throughout the product lifecycle
• Drive continuous improvement in program management methodologies, tools, and standards across the company

What you'll do: Program Leadership

• Initiate, define, and socialize program goals in alignment with organizational strategy
• Build and manage the integrated program plan, ensuring coordination, transparency, and accountability across teams
• Lead programs through the full product development lifecycle—including Discovery, Definition, Development, and Launch—ensuring clarity of scope, timelines, and deliverables at each stage.
• Facilitate phase transitions and stage-gate checkpoints; ensure teams are aligned on requirements, acceptance criteria, and readiness expectations.
• Oversee multiple workstreams and ensure balance of scope, time, cost, and quality
• Identify, manage, and mitigate risks, issues, and interdependencies
• Ensure accurate and timely documentation and reporting—including timelines, decision logs, risk registers, and program updates

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Maintain open, collaborative, and solution-oriented communication with stakeholders at all levels
• Drive alignment between Product, Engineering, Content, Design, and GTM teams; proactively synthesize complex information and ensure clarity across groups
• Facilitate decision-making processes and ensure shared understanding of tradeoffs and priorities
• Build trusted relationships that foster cross-team collaboration and accountability

Go-to-Market (GTM) Partnership

• Partner closely with Product Marketing, Customer Success, Sales, Professional Learning, and Operations teams to ensure organizational readiness for product launches and major milestones
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to ensure downstream teams understand feature intent, customer value, and milestone timing throughout the development cycle
• Ensure GTM partners are engaged early in the product development process and prepared for launch through clear timelines, messaging, and resource planning
• Provide downstream teams with clear visibility into timelines, feature sets, risk areas, and program decisions
• Anticipate GTM needs and ensure proactive planning for messaging, implementation pathways, training, and customer-facing collateral
• Serve as a connector across Product and GTM functions to promote consistent communication, aligned expectations, and coordinated execution

Team Leadership & Operational Excellence

• Manage and develop a team of program managers, providing coaching, guidance, and professional growth opportunities
• Define and champion program management best practices, templates, tools, and metrics across the organization
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, streamline workflows, and increase operational efficiency
• Capture and disseminate lessons learned to strengthen future programs

What we're looking for:

• 7+ years of program or project management experience leading large, cross-functional programs
• Demonstrated success partnering with GTM functions such as marketing, sales, operations, and customer-facing teams
• Experience managing products or programs through the full development lifecycle—from early discovery through launch and post-launch iteration
• Strong understanding of software development processes, content development workflows, or combined hardware/software/content ecosystems
• Excellent strategic thinking, analytical skills, and structured problem-solving abilities
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to influence without authority
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity and bring clarity and stability to complex situations
• Strong organizational skills with a bias toward action, follow-through, and accountability
• Experience using modern program management tools (e.g., Jira, Asana, Smartsheet, Confluence)
• Prior people-management experience leading project or program managers
• A collaborative, low ego working style aligned with CA's mission and values
• Experience in EdTech, Educational Publishing, SaaS, or other technology-enabled product environments strongly preferred

Pay Range - This role's range is $81,500. - $139,500. The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that Curriculum Associates considers in making compensation decisions based on our Compensation Philosophy. Actual base pay within that range will vary based upon several factors including, but not limited to, prior experience and relevant skill sets. At Curriculum Associates, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances for each case. This role is also eligible to participate in the company bonus plan. The Company recognizes that minimum wage varies by location and will ensure all compensation decisions comply with applicable state and local laws. Benefits - Benefit eligible employees (and their families) are covered by medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees can enroll in our company's 401k plan and receive an employer match. Employees have access to a flexible vacation and sick policy in addition to twelve paid holidays and a winter office closure between Christmas and New Year's, as well as a number of additional perks and benefits. Application deadline: January 30, 2026. This is subject to close earlier if there is a high volume of applicants or a qualified hire is made. Apply tot his job Apply To this Job