Executive Director, Assessment - Assessment

Executive Director, Assessment

College Board – AP&I 

Location:This is a remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have theoptionof being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office). All CB employeesare required tooccasionally travel to meet in person for business purposes.

Role Type:This is a full-time position.

About the Team

The New Course Design(NCD) department leads the research, design,development, and launchof new coursesand their associated exams,instructionalresources, and teacher professional learning programs, ensuringconsistency across these inter-related AP Program componentsand thatthey are engaging, feasible, and grounded in evidence. After launching a new course, the NCD departmentfocuses on continuous improvement of new courses, exams,instructional interventions,andteacherprofessional learning programs. NCD partners closely withthe Learning and Assessment division to design and validate new item types for use in new, career-focused AP exams, and then integrates with AP ProgramEnablement to produce the annual examversionswithin the Bluebook digital testing platform (copyright, editorial, layout, design), and todevelop annual rubrics and training materials necessary to conduct the annual AP Reading of student responses. 

About the Opportunity 

As Executive Director,New AP CourseAssessments, you will ownthe exploration and identification ofassessmentdesign optionsfor6-8 new career-focused AP courses currently in focus, and thenevery new course the department builds. Youwillthenbe responsible forongoing assessment development for new courses,frominitialtest blueprintsthrough pilot exam versionsand into ongoing, year-over-year assessment itemandversiondevelopment. You willpartner closely with assessment innovation leaders within the Learning and Assessmentdepartmentto identify, select, refine, and implement innovative item types for the AP Exams for the new career-focused AP courses,, selecting the rightblendofformatsand modalitiesfor each course(e.g.,traditional, skills-based, project-based, or performance-based)based on what most validly measures the target skills, and prioritizing formats that support employer recognition or industry credential status where relevant. You'll partner closely with theCollege Board’s Psychometric departmentand curriculumexpertsto keep course design and assessment design moving together, and you'll build the internal case, and the stakeholder buy-in, for new assessment approaches alongside the traditional formats that remain part of our portfolio.

You are someone who can hold both rigor and reinvention at once:in addition to your core expertise in design of authentic, relevant assessments, you arefluent enough in psychometric fundamentals to have credible technical conversations, and skilled enough in stakeholder management to bring skeptical partners along on new approachestoassessment.

In this role, you will:

Assessment Design & Development (40%)

• Partner with Learning and Assessment innovation leaders to identify, select, refine, and incorporate promising and innovative item types within the New Course AP Examsand that clearly and distinctly measure the skills identified as the targets of measurement for the new course, thereby inspiring productive and relevant classroom focus and student practice. 

• Lead design and development of test blueprints and pilot exam versions for new courses,partnering with AP Program Enablement toselect the assessment format, traditional, performance-based, or project-based,and scoring models that will enable on-time, accurate, and efficient scoring of free-response questions.

• Define and own assessment modelsthatgenerate, store, and enable studentutilizationofworkforce credentials, not just an exam score.

• Partner with AP Program Enablement toidentifyannualversiondevelopment and usage braiding plans and then take responsibility for managing and deliveringongoing, year-over-year assessmentitemand versiondevelopmentbeyondinitialpilot versions.

• Partner with Learning and Assessment torecommend and set the vision for newAPassessment models, working with measurement partners toestablishvalidity and defensibility for each format introduced; ensure this visioncascades across their direct reports and the NCD team.

Cross-Functional Partnership & Change Leadership (20%)

• Partner with the measurement/psychometrics team on exam version assembly, equating,and standard settings,including fornovel formats thatdon'tfit legacy models.

• Win buy-in from stakeholders attached to traditional assessment models; build trust andsharedownership ofnew approaches.

• Represent assessment considerations in cross-functional project reviews with curriculum, design, and program management partners.

Leadership & Team Management (40%)

• Build and hire a team of assessment design staffwho have subject matterexpertisein the new course domains and will enact the annual cycle of item andversiondevelopmentand administrationresponsibilities for the new course exams.

• Oversee calibration and training of subject matter expert panels on writing and reviewing all assessment types, new and existing.

• Sign off on assessment deliverables at each project decision point, i.e., the milestones where acourse'sassessment work must be approved before design canproceedto the next stage.

AboutYou

You have:

• 10-15+years in assessment design, test development,or curriculum leadership roles with direct, hands-on exposure to how assessment and measurement work, even if the role sat on the curriculum side rather than the psychometrics side.

• A demonstratedtrack recordof innovation in assessment design, ideally in skills-based, project-based, or credential-connected models.

• Working fluency inassessmentdata and psychometric output (item statistics, score distributions, equating concepts)sufficientto partner credibly with measurement specialists.

• Experience running complex, multi-stakeholder timelines against fixed external deadlines, such as field-testing windows and item-review cycles.

• A track recordof driving change and building buy-in across stakeholders with differing perspectives to advancenew approaches.

• Experience building and leading teams in a matrixed organization.

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 and comfort with learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively.

• Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal.

• A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receivingtimely, respectful feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning and user input.

• A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing what matters most, and continuously improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking.

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

• Authorization to work in the United States

About Our Process

• Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.

• While the hiring process may vary, it generallyincludes:resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise, panel interview,a conversationwith leadership, and reference checks.

What We Offer

AtCollegeBoard, we offer more than a paycheck- we provide a meaningful career, a supportive team, and a comprehensive package designed to help you thrive.We’rea self-sustaining nonprofit that believes in fair and competitive compensation grounded in your qualifications, experience, impact, and the market.

A Thoughtful Approach to Compensation

• The hiring range for this role is $144,000–$210,000.

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

You’llhave open, transparent conversations about compensation, benefits, and whatit’slike to work atCollegeBoard throughout your hiring process. Check outourcareers pagefor more.