Job description
If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.
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.
Primary Responsibilities
Portfolio Narrative & Reporting
- Aggregates new development, redevelopment, course improvement, and maintenance data into a unified portfolio view covering status, risk, upcoming milestones, and trade-offs.
- Translates operational detail into strategic insight for PDEV directors, executives, and university leadership; produces executive-ready dashboards, briefings, and narrative reports.
- Establishes and maintains the data standards, cadence, and tooling that keep the portfolio view current and trustworthy.
- Surfaces cross-portfolio dependencies, conflicts, and decision points that no individual PM is positioned to see.
- Serves as the authoritative source on "what Program Development is doing" and “how long does something take?” for internal and cross-functional audiences.
Resource Planning & Internal Utilization
- Stands up and maintains a resource allocation and capacity model spanning the full Academic Program Development (APD) team.
- Tracks utilization rates, flags capacity gaps and surpluses, and provides the data foundation for managing surge capacity needs.
- Partners with Program Development’s integration developer to update WGU systems and tools to gather data efficiently.
- Partners with people leaders to forecast staffing demand against the portfolio roadmap.
General
- Maintains effective communication and coordination with embedded PMs, functional leaders, and executive stakeholders.
- Documents methodology, decisions, and assumptions so the portfolio view and operating models are durable across personnel changes.
- Provides mentorship and guidance to project managers and associate project managers on portfolio data, resourcing, and financial practices.
- Aggregates budget data from Design & Development project managers into leader-specific and portfolio-level financial views.
- Tracks cost-per-course, cost-per-program, and other unit-economic trends across the portfolio.
- Performs other related duties as assigned.
This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.
Qualifications
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong data communicator — able to translate operational detail into strategic narrative for executive audiences.
- Excellent quantitative and analytical skills, including resource modeling, budget aggregation, and unit economics analysis.
- Proficiency with portfolio reporting, BI, and spreadsheet tooling (e.g., Smartsheet, Coda, ServiceNow).
- Demonstrated experience in standing up frameworks and operating models from scratch, not just running existing processes.
- Strong understanding of project, program, and portfolio management methodologies and how to aggregate across them.
- Excellent oral and written communication; comfortable presenting to senior leadership.
- Works effectively across embedded teams without direct authority.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in a related field of study.
Experience
- Eight (8) years of project, program, or portfolio management experience in a large organization, including strategic planning, resource planning, and learning development operations.
- Demonstrated experience producing executive-level portfolio reporting or equivalent strategic data communication.
- Combination of education, credentials, experience, and/or demonstrable skills that equate to PMP certification at the PgMP (program management) or PfMP (portfolio management) levels.
Additional Requirements
- Onsite collocation is required
- Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Experience in lieu of education
Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.
Preferred Qualifications
- An advanced degree in a relevant discipline
- 10+ years of experience, preferably in an operations role for higher ed or a related field
- Experience in navigating a matrixed organization to achieve outcomes
- Demonstrated experience implementing AI or automation technologies within operational workflows.
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
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.