Senior Director, Technical and Program Operations

Senior Director, Technical and Program Operations

Redwood City, CA (Hybrid)

Learning Commons is Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s education initiative, which aims to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. Learning Commons became the name of our education efforts in 2025 to build on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s work over the past decade to advance learning science and help translate that research into classroom practice.

At Learning Commons, we pair technology with grantmaking to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. We aim to translate what learning science tells us about how students learn best into classroom practice. With the advent of generative AI, that translation work can be accelerated and scaled to have a greater impact.

Our mission is to bring learning science into the tools used every day by teachers and students, ensuring that technology reflects the realities of classrooms and strengthens teaching and learning.

In today’s fragmented edtech landscape, school districts are often left piecing together products that don’t always align with curricula or instructional needs. While AI holds enormous potential to support educators, it can only deliver on that promise when grounded in research, high-quality educational data, and expert evaluation. That’s why we’re building open, public-purpose infrastructure — datasets, rubrics, and resources — that help raise the standard for educational tools and create more consistent, impactful learning experiences for all students and teachers.

At our core, we are builders, and our unique builder philanthropy approach is what sets us apart from other education funders. Take a closer look at the highlights and significant milestones of CZI’s first eight years of education work.

Shape the future of learning! We’re seeking an experienced Technology & Program Operations Senior Director to lead our team and drive impactful initiatives at the intersection of technology and education. You will report directly to the President of Learning Commons and partner with the rest of the Learning Commons leadership team on operational strategy and operational execution to help us work well cross-functionally and deliver excellent products and partnerships.

This is a great opportunity to build and lead the Learning Commons operations team which will include functions like Technical Program Management to drive product and engineering processes;
Program, Marketing and Partnership Operations which organize our partnership support, grant-making and go-to-market efforts; and Business Operations which oversees planning and resourcing. You will also be a key advocate and collaborator across central CZI functions like Finance, People, Recruiting, Central Technology Infrastructure and more.

Overall, you will work with Learning Commons leadership to set the operational cadence of our teams to help us execute swiftly and work collaboratively internally and with partners to help us maximize our investment towards greater impact on educators and students. You’ll collaborate closely with leadership, product, engineering, and partnerships teams to ensure alignment, drive efficient decision-making, and accelerate the delivery of transformative solutions.

• Drive Impact: Partner with other Learning Commons leaders to set an operational strategy for our resources - time, people, funds - that enables us to do unique cross-sector work across philanthropic, education, and technology sector values and strengths
• Optimize Process: Lead and support overall organizational execution and team culture by designing and directing program management practices and processes that enable our strategic goals, tactical work, and the culture and values we need and desire. We see process as a manifestation of culture and believe it can facilitate the inclusivity we desire and the execution speed and quality we need.
• Foster
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Work with product, engineering, marketing and partnership leaders to lead and manage the significant processes that support team alignment, execution, and accountability.…