How to Apply

A cover letter and resume are important submissions for the hiring team to get a sense of your experience. In the cover letter, in two pages or less, please let us know how this role aligns with your career aspirations and skill set. Submit both a cover letter and resume as one file (because of system limitations).

What You’ll Do

The Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan is seeking an experienced, innovative, and collaborative Director of Content and Product Strategy. In this role, you will report to the Chief Learning Officer and will lead the development and evolution of a diverse online learning portfolio that advances the University of Michigan’s mission and strategic goals. You will shape the overall product and content strategy, ensuring the portfolio aligns with learning, business, and brand objectives while leveraging data to inform growth and innovation. You will collaborate closely with faculty, academic units, and internal teams to identify opportunities for new offerings, enhance engagement, and support faculty innovators throughout the end-to-end lifecycle of their initiatives. Your leadership will help define the future of U-M’s online learning landscape, ensuring that offerings remain impactful, sustainable, and aligned with emerging trends in digital education.

Who We Are

About the Center for Academic Innovation

Through curricular innovation, tools for student success and equity, and educational research and analytics, the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation is building the future of education. Our vision is a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives. To realize our vision, we make it our mission to collaborate across campus and around the world to create equitable, lifelong educational opportunities for learners everywhere.

About Online Learning at CAI

The Online Learning group within CAI consists of five teams that collaborate with others across the Center and University to design and develop online learning experiences that support the future of education for a global community. We work with faculty and academic unit leaders to envision how they can expand reach and impact, advance innovative teaching, and support greater access and lifelong learning through the design and development of integrated online learning experiences. Our teams focus on the following areas:

• Strategic sourcing of new opportunities for online learning;
• Developing internal and external partnerships that promote engagement with learning experiences;
• Providing program management services throughout degree program development and operations;
• Supporting end-to-end design and development of online learning experiences, including design management, learning experience design, and iteration of learning experiences after they have launched;
• Supporting learners’ success and engagement in live courses and programs.

For more information, please visit our website: Academic Innovation. 

Responsibilities*

Portfolio & Product Management

• Establish an optimal mix of product offerings to meet a broad range of learning, business, mission, brand, and marketing needs.
• Establish and guide a sourcing framework that attracts and supports the needs of academic unit leadership and diverse faculty experts in order to highlight strengths across U-M’s academic units.
• Engage in data-informed decision-making regarding growth of online and hybrid portfolio offerings, balancing goals of the Center, academic units, and the University.
• Ensure that the online portfolio leverages the most effective product capabilities and platform features to optimize learning experiences and meet portfolio goals.
• Develop and implement a framework for lifecycle management of online courses and programs, including content refresh cycles, sunsetting criteria, and sustainable continuous improvement strategies.
• Support efforts to enhance the discoverability and engagement of the online learning portfolio across platforms.
• Stay informed about advancements in learning technologies, AI, and emerging digital learning tools, integrating relevant innovations into content strategy where appropriate.
• Collaborate with team members to develop product research frameworks to assess and improve content effectiveness.
• Collaborate with finance, operations, and market strategy teams to develop financial and pricing models that balance mission-driven goals with fiscal sustainability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop clear processes and handoffs that support development and operationalization of the online learning portfolio.
• Maintain an informed current understanding of the digital learning credential landscape including trends in non-credit, alternative credential, and online and hybrid degree programming relevant to U-M’s online learning strategy, and engage in efforts to share knowledge and shape the landscape where appropriate.

Faculty & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong connections with faculty, academic unit leaders, and the campus community to identify opportunities for innovation and strategic growth for U-M’s online and hybrid learning portfolio.
• Design and facilitate conversations and working sessions with academic unit leadership and faculty experts to generate new innovative content and product opportunities in the online and hybrid learning space.
• Develop and maintain documentation that helps collaborators understand CAI’s supported online learning product portfolio, including breadth and depth of content in the portfolio, as well as product features, capabilities, and service offerings.
• Develop and implement engagement strategies that recognize key milestones in the online learning portfolio, bringing the innovator community together to celebrate their initiatives’ achievements.
• Oversee strategies to assess and enhance the faculty innovator experience throughout the end-to-end engagement lifecycle, from initial collaboration to implementation, support, and ongoing impact, while establishing opportunities for re-engagement around new ideas and future initiatives.

Staff Supervision and Leadership

• Work closely with the Chief Learning Officer to provide leadership and vision for the Center’s online learning domain.
• Provide overall leadership for faculty partnership managers and product research team members.
• Determine appropriate and optimal distribution of effort across project assignments
• Develop the array of professional skills and a healthy team culture necessary to foster professional growth among team members and to provide exceptional design services
• Maintain a work environment that is respectful and encouraging of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice by setting clear guidelines for expected behaviors as well as leading team and individual conversations
• Ensure integrity of searches for motivated and highly qualified team members, and high standards for day-to day management and annual performance evaluations of team members.

Required Qualifications*

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Education, Learning Design, Business, Product Management, or related discipline)
• 7+ years of experience in an online learning, product strategy, content development role, including time in a strategic leadership and managerial role
• 3+ years supervising professional staff and managing budgets
• Experience managing online learning portfolios, including course lifecycle management, product strategy, and faculty engagement
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships with faculty, academic units, and institutional partners to support innovation and engagement.
• Ability to develop and execute strategies that align with institutional goals, market needs, and emerging trends in digital learning.
• Strong analytical skills with experience leveraging data to guide product decisions, assess program impact, and drive continuous improvement.
• Familiarity with trends in online learning, alternative credentials, and hybrid education, including the use of AI and emerging technologies in digital learning.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to design and facilitate conversations with diverse stakeholders engaging with innovative concepts and ideas
• Experience leading teams, mentoring staff, and fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and professional growth.
• Experience in a complex organization building partnerships with diverse groups of individuals, gaining their support and commitment
• Demonstrated ability to foster inclusive environments and support diverse perspectives in the workplace and in developing digital learning initiatives.

Modes of Work

The work requirements allow both onsite and offsite work and an employee has an expected recurring onsite presence. On occasion, the employee may be required and must be available to work onsite more frequently if necessitated by unit leadership or their designee and/or the job requirements.

Additional Information

Salary Information

The general salary range for this position is $130,000 – $145,000. Candidates can expect to be paid a competitive and equitable salary. Factors used to determine salary include education level, experience, knowledge and skills for the position and internal equity within the unit. All candidates are encouraged to discuss salary questions to honor alignment and transparency throughout the recruiting process.

Please Note: This is a 5 year term limited position with the possibility of renewal depending on funding.

The mode of work for this position is Hybrid. The work requirements for this position allow both onsite and offsite work and you will have an expected regular and recurring onsite presence. On occasion, you may be required and must be available to work onsite more frequently if necessitated by our center’s policy and domain leadership or by your job requirements.

Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States.

The salary for this position will be based upon the selected candidate’s education and experience.

Excellent benefits are available, for details, see http://benefits.umich.edu/ 

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) is committed to inclusion in our organizational work, culture, climate, and the products we create. We strive to recruit, develop, and retain a diverse team as a reflection of our commitment to our work designing equitable and inclusive learning and work environments that are necessary for the university community to make progress on solving societal challenges. CAI draws on each of our team member’s unique backgrounds and experiences to guide our everyday work in the center, and our team collaborates with students, staff, and faculty on projects that center our commitment to DEI work. All interested applicants, including those from groups historically marginalized by educational privilege, are encouraged to apply.

Organizational Statement on Harassment

We believe all individuals deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes mutual respect and a safe space for collaboration. Any concerns shared with Individuals with Reporting Obligations in the Center for Academic Innovation will be reported to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office to be reviewed and addressed, and the Center for Academic Innovation encourages reporting of any forms of harassment including sexual and gender-based harassment.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.

Decision Making Process

Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.