Senior Director Product Creative Services

Job Overview

Explore Learning and Learning A-Z have come together to provide teachers with effective, research-based supplemental curriculum in literacy, math, and science—sparking joy in learning and supporting lifelong student success. As part of this integration, we are bringing our creative disciplines into one shared services organization to deliver cohesive, user-centered experiences across our product portfolio.

We are seeking a Senior Director of Product Creative Services to lead this new organization. This leader will unify and elevate creative functions—including art, animation, UX design and research, audio, and graphic design—while fostering collaboration and consistency across teams. The Senior Director will shape the creative vision, establish scalable systems and processes, and partner closely with product and engineering to ensure that every learner experience is engaging, impactful, and aligned to business goals.

• Design and optimize a new organizational culture, structure, and processes that align talent to strategic priorities and business outcomes.
• Lead change management initiatives to ensure smooth adoption of new creative processes, tools, and organizational shifts across diverse teams.
• Build and evolve a scalable shared services model that supports multiple product lines and initiatives.
• Coach and mentor leaders across functional areas—including UX research and discovery, art, animation, workflow design, and other areas—to elevate practice and drive continuous improvement.
• Foster a culture that attracts, retains, and grows top creative talent through intentional development pathways, inclusive practices, and recognition of excellence.
• Manage processes, resource allocation, and budgeting for each team, continuously looking for opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
• Proactively manage a complex set of stakeholders in different subject-focused departments, balancing investments across the portfolio and building trust across functions.
• Develop and implement efficient workflows, tools, and governance structures for creative production and asset management.
• Create the conditions for cross-functional innovation through deep listening, adaptive structures, and facilitation of collaborative design practices.
• Explore and apply emerging technologies—including AI—to improve creative workflows, drive innovation, and enhance operational efficiency.
• Demonstrate the business impact of investments in design research and execution and proactively identify opportunities for both additional investment and/or greater operational efficiency. Ensure that clear KPIs are set and tracked for impact, quality, and efficiency across all product lines and all creative functions.
• Establish and identify opportunities for variation to standards, styles, and best practices for product design that all team members are expected to adhere to.

• A degree or equivalent experience/training in business, product design, an aspect of software development, or a related field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience, including 5+ years of experience leading creative teams that include UX, Art, and Graphic Design.
• Specific experience with org design for teams that work as a shared service across a multi-product, broad-portfolio organization, with demonstrated alignment to business outcomes. Track record of evolving teams and systems to support growth across multiple product lines, evolving business needs, and innovations in tools like AI and ML.
• A deep understanding of the Agile development process.
• Advanced ability to understand, set, and manage budgets and proactively recommend investment and divestment options.
• Executive-level leadership and communication skills, including the ability to make difficult decisions and communicate with tact and directness to all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated success leading through ambiguity, navigating organizational change, and bringing structure to evolving teams, build culture, and evolve processes.
• Proven ability to coach people leaders of varied levels of experience toward effective talent and culture development.
• Ability to analyze…