Executive Director, AP Social Science - AP Social Science Department Head, Curriculum & Assessment

Executive Director, AP Social Science 

College Board - AP & Instruction 

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 Type: This is a full-time position 

About the Team  

The AP Curriculum and Assessment Team at College Board (125+ staff) collaborates with colleagues across all aspects of the AP Program to develop, manage, and deliver AP’s 43 courses in a wide variety of subject areas. AP® is a rigorous academic program built on the commitment, passion, and hard work of students and educators from secondary schools and higher education. AP provides willing and academically prepared high school students with the opportunity to study and learn at the college level. AP’s course teams comprised of educators and disciplinary experts ensure that course curricula are aligned to higher education expectations and reflect the state of the art in the discipline, contribute to instructional resources and tools for teachers, and develop assessments that allow students in these courses to demonstrate their mastery of course content and skills. AP leads in strategic use of AI to expand student access, strengthen instructional design and professional support, and enhance assessment creation and exam analysis. The Social Science department, which includes Human Geography, U.S. Government and Politics, Comparative Government and Politics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Business with Personal Finance, and Psychology, is currently made up of 19 (22 in 2027) people supporting 7 courses in the AP portfolio. 

About the position 

The Department Head owns the quality, validity, disciplinary alignment, and accuracy of every AP course and exam in their department, and makes the final call on assessment content, exam design, and scoring. They own the strategy for growing each subject, particularly initiatives that move more students from zero to one qualifying AP Exam score, and they own all public-facing activities for their subjects. 

The Social Science Department Head leads 19 (22 in 2027) people: 3 managers, 14 individual course experts, 1 Assessment Fellow, and 4 generalists who work across multiple subjects within the department, organized into 7 course teams. 5 of them report directly to the Department Head. The Department Head is accountable for the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of their team’s work. 

As a member of the C&A Leadership team, the Executive Director advises the Vice President (VP) of AP Curriculum and Assessment and the AP&I Senior Vice President (SVP) on all initiatives related to the courses they lead. Their work reaches the VP and SVP decision-ready: a clear recommendation, the evidence and tradeoffs behind it, and the specific decision needed and by when. 

Additionally, each Department Head independently leads a cross-C&A workstream. The workstream is an enterprise-facing deliverable with a clear, stated outcome that other College Board teams and senior leaders rely on, and the Department Head is accountable for delivering it and for bringing what it learns to enterprise decisions. Workstreams support critical enterprise targets, for example zero-to-one mission metrics, test security, and assessment innovation with generative AI. The specific workstream is determined based on business needs, as well as the interests and strengths of each Department Head, and will likely shift over time as business needs evolve. Department Heads may have one additional FTE who reports directly to them and manages the daily work of the workstream. 

The Department Head’s perspective matters both within and well beyond the department, and it comes from two roles. As the leader of their department, they know what will hold up for validity, fairness, and disciplinary rigor in their subjects. As the leader of a cross-C&A workstream, they carry that knowledge into enterprise decisions about how AP C&A courses and exams across all departments use generative AI in assessment, how we protect test security, where we invest across the AP portfolio, and how we reach more students. Together, the department and the workstream give the Department Head a direct hand in what College Board decides and how it is carried out. 

You Will

• Social Science Department: Own the validity, quality, and accuracy of approximately 6 to 7 annually-developed test forms for each of the 7 Social Science exams.  

• Articulate and execute an integrated strategy for the growth and maintenance of AP’s suite of courses and exams within their department, with a particular focus on increasing zero-to-one AP qualifying scores.  Decide the priorities and sequencing for curriculum, assessment, and instructional asset deliverables for courses within their department. 

• Serve as a member of the AP Curriculum and Assessment Leadership team along with other AP Department Heads and C&A cross-functional leaders collaborating on the cross-disciplinary strategic vision for and core deliverables of the AP curriculum and assessment team. 

• Bring decision-ready recommendations to the VP and the SVP: a clear position, the supporting evidence, the tradeoffs, and the decision needed. 

• Bring your department’s expertise and your cross-C&A workstream’s results to enterprise-wide decisions on assessment, AI, test security, and portfolio growth. 

• Lead your cross-C&A workstream and deliver its enterprise-facing outcome, as defined with the VP. 

Assessment Development and Scoring 

• Make the final decision on all assessment content in your department. You approve every authoring and revision, applying assessment best practices and leveraging generative AI to improve efficiency and quality. 

• Own how assessment content moves through iterative review with course team members in your department, the Assessment Production team, Test Development Committees, and Chief Readers. You resolve competing input and make the final call. 

• Approve every assessment form for every exam in your department, confirming that each aligns with approved curricula and all exam specifications. 

• Own the outcome of scoring for your subjects at the annual scoring event (in-person and online), and the production of all AP Reading assets for every exam in your department. 

Assessment Quality and Process 

• In collaboration with C&A’s leadership team, build a set of common, shared beliefs about AP’s assessment directions within the larger educational and assessment community.  

• In collaboration with AP&I assessment production divisional leadership, refine and improve assessment production practices to increase efficiency, quality, and reliability. 

• Transfer assessment learning to your department. Lead conversations within your department about current research and best practices in assessment, facilitating alignment, learning, and growth for all team members to improve quality and adherence to assessment standards. 

• Ensure all team members have the skills, tools, and knowledge to efficiently and with high quality, develop all assessment content within their subject areas.  

• Refine and improve question task models as well as exam design in alignment with broader College Board initiatives.  

• Monitor and enhance exam validity, reliability, fairness, and overall quality, including reader reliability in accordance with established Program thresholds. You decide when results call for a change to an exam, task, or scoring approach.   

• Make the final call on all assessment attributes, including validity, reliability, and quality, for all assessment types, exam designs, and scoring within your department.  

Lead and Manage Your Team and All Their Deliverables

Lead your team in the development of all course frameworks, exams, and instructional assets in your department:

• Set vision and priorities for the team, track and manage progress to goals, and provide coaching and support to ensure team members meet and exceed goals, remain engaged, and contribute meaningfully to our mission. 

• Cultivate an inclusive and high-achieving culture that enables all team members to live out College Board’s Operating Principles effectively.  

• Bring proven leadership experience and consistently embody College Board’s Manager Expectations in your work. 

• Manage and guide the development of high-quality curricular, instructional, and assessment assets aligned to AP specifications across your department. 

• Train and support all team members in assessment development practices, including quality, validity, and fairness; understanding of the item and test development lifecycle, and effective use of item authoring and item bank platforms  

• Ensure consistent implementation of standardized assessment procedures 

• Partner with assessment production managers to establish development project schedules and monitor assessment deliverables 

• Mentor team members in effectively facilitating test development committees and working with external stakeholders  

• Mentor team members in effectively recruiting for test development committees 

Curriculum and Instruction 

• Own the Course Frameworks within your department, approving learning outcomes that are clear and explicit, align with strategic priorities, meet college/disciplinary standards, and reach a broader audience of AP students. 

• Collaborate with the AP Professional learning team to support AP consultants and teachers. 

• Collaborate with the AP Program Enablement, Access, and Teacher and Student Instructional Services teams to support the development of instructional products that address unmet teacher needs and support outreach and constituent engagement efforts. 

Strategic Growth  

• Own the integrated plan and approach to public-facing activities and growth for all courses in your department. 

• Lead initiatives designed to increase zero-to-one AP qualifying scores for select subjects within your department. 

• Collaborate with the AP Higher Education team to co-develop and implement plans to raise college and university awareness of courses and exams within your department, including recruiting college faculty to participate in the AP Reading, co-leading the planning and execution of discipline-specific AP Faculty Colloquia events, and supporting Visiting and Virtual Fellows Programs. 

About You  

You (have): 

• A Master’s degree in a directly related discipline, and knowledge of current trends in the discipline (required), although a doctorate in the discipline is strongly preferred  

• Expertise in standardized assessment with at least 15 to 20 years of experience in standardized assessment development or related work; experience with digital assessment and teaching preferred 

• Expertise in people management with at least 10 years of experience leading a team 

• Experience presenting recommendations to senior executives and influencing enterprise-level decisions 

• Superior oral and written communication skills, with excellent technical proficiency and a customer-focused mindset 

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

• Demonstrated ability to implement processes and procedures, manage project plans and schedules, and maintain tracking documentation 

• Superior interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across all levels, and engage in giving and receiving constructive feedback 

• Ability to travel 8-10 times per year, plus up to two additional weeks for the AP Reading 

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 receiving timely, 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 generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise such as item review and analysis, live coding, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership and reference checks.    

What We Offer 

At College Board, we offer more than a paycheck- we provide 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. 

A Thoughtful Approach to Compensation 

• The hiring range for this role is $144,000–$205,000. 

• 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’ll have open, transparent conversations about compensation, benefits, and what it’s like to work at College Board throughout your hiring process. Check out our careers page for more.