Strategic Operations Program Manager

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Professional 308 Pay Range: $75,200.00 - $112,700.00

Job Description

Job Profile Summary:

As a Strategic Operations Program Manager for Western Governors University (WGU) and the School of Education (WSE), you hold a crucial Strategic operations and portfolio management position that profoundly impacts the school and student experience. Each Strategic Operations Program Manager leads a portfolio of programs, projects, and initiatives connected by a shared organizational goal or area of impact. The Strategic Operations Program Manager serves as a strategic thought partner who helps translate strategy into execution by coordinating people, processes, systems, and stakeholders to improve student and organizational outcomes. Responsibilities include facilitating organizational change, supporting process improvement efforts, coordinating cross-functional initiatives, maintaining portfolio visibility, and helping stakeholders successfully implement and sustain strategic objectives.

In this capacity, you are tasked with aligning products with strategic objectives, optimizing resource allocation, and driving successful execution to achieve desired outcomes. Strong leadership, strategic thinking, and effective collaboration with diverse stakeholders are paramount for success in this dynamic role. You will often provide the strategic perspective to stakeholders whose needs go far beyond their area of responsibility and will help to ensure initiatives serve the great WGU, WSE with a focus on the continuous improvement of the student journey.

Your success will be measured through the effective delivery of programs, projects, and initiatives that support strategic priorities, improve operational effectiveness, enhance the student experience, and deliver measurable outcomes for WSE and WGU. In this role, you will report to the Senior Manager, Strategic Operations.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Manage implementation, change, and strategic projects for the School of Education.

• Act as a liaison between academic program leaders, the college, and university stakeholders for the designated portfolio of work.

• Participates in and contributes to regular faculty, staff, department, and meetings with college partners as appropriate.

• Facilitate organizational change efforts through stakeholder engagement, impact assessment, communication planning, readiness activities, adoption support, and transition planning. Focuses on the student's academic journey to ensure that we deliver programs that are seamless, frictionless and deliver on our student promise of degree and career success.

• Lead and support process improvement initiatives including process mapping, workflow analysis, documentation, standardization, and continuous improvement efforts.

• Maintains a solid understanding of college and institutional goals and priorities as they relate to the student experience and the School of Education offerings.

• Coordinate cross-functional WSE initiatives by connecting stakeholders, clarifying roles and responsibilities, identifying dependencies, and facilitating issue resolution. Establish and monitor project, program, and initiative success measures to evaluate business impact, operational effectiveness, stakeholder outcomes, and student impact. Strategic Operations Program Manager Exhibit expertise in the unique needs of WGU students, particularly in engagement, retention, and satisfaction, leveraging this knowledge for strategic planning and ongoing improvement.

• Maintain a solid grasp of college and institutional objectives pertaining to the student's experience and the School of Education offerings.

• This individual is confident in reading and interpreting statistical information and data relevant to the student experience.

• Conduct post-project reviews to capture lessons learned, identify opportunities for improvement, and support organizational learning.

• Maintain visibility into assigned portfolio work through status reporting, risk identification, dependency management, and prioritization activities.

• Support intake and evaluation activities by helping stakeholders define objectives, scope, intended outcomes, impacted stakeholders, timelines, and measures of success.

• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:

• Possess a student and stakeholder obsession with a focus on driving successful outcomes.

• Possess an understanding of higher education, regionally specific student needs, industry and job market trends, and educational market trends.

• Often serve as a credible voice of the department with both internal and external partnerships.

• Execution focused with the ability to dive-deep and live in the details with a fast-paced weekly execution cadence.

• Ability to organize and coordinate activities and results within a highly matrixed environment and across cross-functional teams.

• Ability to collaborate with and lead teams, including those in a remote environment, while demonstrating excellence, integrity, and respect.

• Ability to build relationships and influence at all levels, both internally and externally.

• Proven ability to analyze data to identify trends and drive innovation and to be a change agent in a rapidly changing environment

• Possess sound judgement and critical thinking and decision-making skills.

• Possess strong oral and written communication skills.

• Knowledge of portfolio, program, and project management principles and practices.

• Knowledge of organizational change management principles, stakeholder engagement, and adoption strategies.

• Knowledge of process improvement methodologies and process mapping techniques.

• Ability to apply systems thinking to identify relationships among people, processes, systems, and organizational priorities.

• Ability to manage competing priorities while balancing strategic objectives, operational needs, and student impact.

• Ability to establish success measures and evaluate outcomes through qualitative and quantitative analysis.

• Leadership skills encompassing guidance, coaching, and training, aligned with WGU's leadership principles.

Competencies:

Organizational Impact:

• As a strategic thought partner, you will be responsible for the facilitation of project management activities tied to WGU and WSE initiatives and Programs.

• May provide input into new processes, policies, standards, or plans that impact overall WGU, WSE results.

Problem Solving & Decision Making:

• Ability to leverage a systems-thinking approach for improving existing processes and systems within WSE using significant conceptualizing, reasoning, and interpretation skills.

• Comfort with facing Problems and issues that are , difficult and require detailed information gathering and analysis and that typically affect multiple areas or specialties within WGU and WSE.

Communication & Influence:

• Demonstrated ability to collaborates cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders.

• May be required to influence others to accept alternate viewpoints, practices, concepts, and approaches; that may require providing briefings to leaders within WGU/WSE.

Leadership & Talent Management

• Responsible for providing guidance, coaching, and training to other employees in the department.

• Demonstrates the WGU leadership principles in all aspects of service to students, employees, and partners of WGU.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master's degree in a related area from an accredited institution.

• 4+ years of related experience to include a combination of being able to effectively plan and implement strategic initiatives with the goal of driving student outcomes, student satisfaction, and profitability.

• In lieu of a master's degree, a bachelor's degree + 7 years of relevant experience may be considered if candidates possess the necessary skills and knowledge required for the position.

Department Specific Minimum Qualifications:

• Experience developing, delivering, and evaluating strategies at post-secondary or similar mission driven institutions.

• Experience with successful collaboration across multiple departments and proven ability to produce results to operational improvements that impact the student experience.

• Ability to establish measures of success and evaluate outcomes through qualitative and quantitative analysis.

• Experience collaborating across multiple teams and stakeholder groups to achieve shared organizational objectives.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in higher education

• Demonstrated success bringing structure, alignment, and measurable outcomes to complex cross-functional initiatives.

• Experience with program management, project management, change management, process improvement, and portfolio management practices.

• Experience facilitating organizational change, process improvement, or operational excellence initiatives.

• Familiarity with departmental operations within WGU.

• Familiarity with strategic operations within the School of Education.

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.

• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.

Travel:

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Disclaimer: This Job Description has been designed to indicate the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications that are required of the employee to do this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment, and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.