Director, AP Engineering - New Course Design

Director, AP Engineering 

College Board — New Course Design 

Location: This is a remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the option of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office). All CB employees are required to occasionally travel to meet in person for business purposes.

Role: This is a full-time, term position that will last one year from the start date. This role has the potential to convert to a full-time, permanent position, depending on the course’s final approval for release, business need, and individual performance. 

Preferred Application Deadline: Friday, November 13th. Please keep in mind that College Board offices will be closed November 26th – November 27th and December 25th – January 1st so it is better to apply sooner than later. We are targeting a January start date.

About the Team 

The New Course Design (NCD) department leads the research, design, development, and launch of new courses and their associated exams, instructional resources, and teacher professional learning programs, ensuring consistency across these inter-related AP Program components and that they are engaging, feasible, and grounded in evidence. After launching a new course, the NCD department focuses on continuous improvement of new courses, exams, instructional interventions, and teacher professional learning programs. NCD partners closely with the Learning and Assessment division to design and validate new item types for use in new, career-focused AP exams, and then integrates with AP Program Enablement to produce the annual exam versions within the Bluebook digital testing platform (copyright, editorial, layout, design), and to develop annual rubrics and training materials necessary to conduct the annual AP Reading of student responses. 

About the Opportunity 

This is a one-year term role. Your work will be split between two streams: building the course's framework in partnership with the AP Engineering Advisory Committee and the Senior Director, Instructional Design and developing assessment items aligned to that framework in partnership with the Senior Director, Assessment Design. The time spent on each aspect of the role will shift as the course moves through the design process. 

If AP Engineering receives final approval for release, this role has the potential to convert to a full-time employee Director position with expanded, ongoing responsibility for the course's curriculum, assessment development, and annual AP Reading. 

In this role, you will: 

Course Framework and Advisory Committee Development (50-60%) 

• Serve as the content lead for AP Engineering, with primary responsibility for drafting the course framework, skill progressions, and learning objectives. 

• Partner with the Senior Director, Instructional Design and Director, Project Management to manage the AP Engineering Advisory Committee including industry practitioners, college faculty, and secondary school teachers by setting milestones, tracking deliverables, and driving the framework development process to on-time completion. 

• Facilitate meetings — in person and virtual, which may fall during the work week, evenings, or weekends — with the Advisory Committee to review and refine framework drafts. 

• Resolve conflicting Advisory Committee and field-test feedback with a documented recommendation to SD/ED. 

• Conduct outreach to teachers and organizations to engage them in feedback opportunities. 

Assessment Item Development (30-40%) 

• In partnership with the Senior Director, Assessment, manage the development timeline for assessment items and early scoring materials for AP Engineering, ensuring alignment to the course framework as it's built — including sequencing stimulus selection, drafting rubrics, and tracking deliverables against framework milestones. 

• Author and revise item content in coordination with the Senior Director, Assessment, ensuring items reflect both the emerging framework and AP's assessment quality standards. 

• Incorporate Advisory Committee, Test Development Committee and small-scale field testing feedback into iterative revisions of the framework and assessment items, keeping the two in alignment as both evolve. 

• Coordinate with psychometrics colleagues, via the Senior Director, Assessment, to check for viability of early item design against AP's validity and fairness standards. 

Instructional Resources and Professional Learning (10%) 

• Provide feedback on content-specific elements of instructional and professional resources developed by the Senior Director, Instructional Design and Director, Professional Learning. 

About You 

You have: 

• Master's degree in Engineering or a directly related discipline, and knowledge of current trends in the field (required); doctorate or significant industry credential preferred. 

• 5+ years of experience in professional learning, curriculum design, or standardized assessment development. 

• Experience translating research or standards (labor-market, postsecondary, or state CTE) into instructional or assessment design decisions. 

• Experience with digital assessment and/or classroom teaching (preferred). 

• Superior oral and written communication skills. 

• Excellent organizational and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and maintain close attention to detail, including proofreading. 

• Skill in process and procedure implementation, including adhering to project plans and schedules and maintaining tracking documentation. 

• Technical acumen; proficiency with Microsoft Office and browser-based tools. 

• Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills, including the ability to work with staff, SMEs, and industry partners at all levels. 

• Comfort operating with ambiguity — this course is still being designed, and priorities will shift as field test data comes in. 

• Willingness to travel up to 8 times a year, plus possible additional time for field test site visits or advisory committee meetings. 

All roles at College Board require: 

• A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work. 

• Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions. 

• Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal. 

• A learner's mindset: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and improving through iteration. 

• A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, and prioritizing what matters most. 

• A collaborative and empathetic approach: working across differences and contributing to a culture of shared success. 

• Authorization to work in the United States. 

About Our Process 

• Application review will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. This role will be posted for a minimum of 5 business days. The preferred application deadline isFriday, November 13th. Please keep in mind that College Board offices will be closed November 26th – November 27th and December 25th – January 1st so it is better to apply sooner than later. We are targeting a January start date. 

• The hiring process generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, a performance exercise (e.g., a curricular analysis memo and prototype sketch), a panel interview, a conversation with leadership, and reference checks. 

What We Offer 

• At College Board, we offer more than a paycheck — a meaningful career, a supportive team, and a comprehensive package designed to help you thrive. We're a self-sustaining nonprofit that believes in fair and competitive compensation grounded in your qualifications, experience, impact, and the market. 

• The hiring range for this role is $96,000 - $135,000. 

• Your exact salary will depend on your location, experience, and how your background compares to others in similar roles at College Board. 

• We aim to make our best offer upfront, rooted in fairness, transparency, and market data. 

• We adjust salaries by location to ensure fairness, no matter where you live.

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