Senior Director, Higher Education Strategic Initiatives College Board - Governance, Membership, and Global Higher Education Remote, California based highly preferred Location: This is a fully remote role Type: This is a full-time position About the Team This role is within the Strategic Higher Education team but will be working very closely with the State and District Partnerships teams. The Strategic Higher Education unit and the State and District Partnerships teams are dynamic, high-energy teams focused on expanding opportunities for students by partnering with educators. The Strategic Higher Ed team works with higher education institutions, states, and state systems of higher education to advance College Board programs and goals. The team provides leadership across the organization on higher education strategy and holds primary relationships with enrollment and admission leaders across the country. The State and District Partnerships team partners with educators in state departments of education, school districts, schools and educational organizations to expand opportunities for students to own their futures through College Board programs including assessments (AP, PSAT, & SAT), BigFuture, and College Board Search. About the Opportunity As the Senior Director, Higher Education Strategic Initiatives, you are responsible for developing, coordinating, and influencing higher education public policies that improve the student educational pipeline and outcomes, with an immediate focus on enabling the growth and acceptance of Advanced Placement access courses in California. You will do this by bringing, building and maintaining strong and mutually beneficial relationships with the major public higher education systems and institutions in California (including the University of California and the California State University systems, the Community College Network, and other state level Higher Ed associations). You are the College Board "expert" on California-specific higher education trends, policies, and the current goals and needs of these major higher education systems. You will leverage your know-how, experience and relationships in California to partner with Higher Education team members to help advance partnerships in other states. You are invested in and passionate about developing close working relationships with the university central offices, individual university campuses, and key university governance committees. You are solutions-oriented and will work closely with College Board's State and District leadership, Higher Education leadership, and account managers as well as with College Board senior leadership across the organization. In this role, you will: Relationship Management (50%) * Manage UC, CSU and community college system relationships to advance their understanding of the value of College Board's products and services. * Build strong relationships with UC, CSU, and CCC's central offices, administrative leadership and appropriate committees, and partner with and support the AP Higher Ed team in facilitating and coordinating key faculty and academic unit relationships in support of credit policy. * Provide intelligence and direction on a range of emerging trends affecting students getting ready, getting in, and getting through college at 2- and 4-year programs of study in California. * Design and conduct workshops and technical assistance trainings that help inspire California higher education officials and users to support the adoption of critical College Board products and services. * Working across internal teams in prioritized states, embed efforts to drive coordinated strategies and plans that align K12 and Higher Ed objectives and actions, with the goal of seamlessly supporting access and equity for all students. Strategy and Project Management (50%) * Work across multiple programs and teams within the College Board and with the major California higher education systems to initiate dialogue and generate