About Inquiry By Design
Inquiry By Design is a small, but fast-growing company offering a unique, integrated reading and writing curriculum for grades 3-12. Our inquiry-based, research-driven approach is built on the core belief that all students deserve, and even crave, authentic, meaningful work with engaging and complex texts.
It is an exciting time at Inquiry By Design. In the last 3 years, Inquiry By Design has doubled our district partners and now supports more than a quarter-million students each year. The Director of Curriculum will help propel our company to its next level of growth—moving Inquiry By Design from a regional presence to a national powerhouse.
Company Values
- We trust in each other, honoring diverse experiences and expertise.
- We take risks to honor our vision of “all students.”
- We are stronger together; we prioritize collaboration in all areas of the work.
- We care. Employees’ and clients’ well-being matters.
About This Position
We are looking for someone who will be a visionary leader instrumental in advancing our mission to deliver engaging, authentic learning experiences to students nationwide. This remote position requires a seasoned expert in K-12 literacy curriculum development, with a proven track record in managing complex project teams and designing effective educational content. The Director of Curriculum will work closely with the Chief Product Officer and other key IBD team members to shape the product roadmap, ensure high-quality curriculum revisions, and stay attuned to market demands.
Experience
- Extensive experience in leading and designing workflows for large and complex project teams in curriculum and assessment development.
- Sustained, proven success as a content expert in K – 12 literacy.
- Experience writing literacy curriculum across 6 – 12 (or some subset thereof).
Essential Functions
Primary Responsibilities
- Participates in the product roadmap development with the CPO.
- Consults, reviews, and gives feedback on the work of the project team.
- Influences organizational thinking regarding literacy overall, and specifically the ELA and SLA curriculum.
- Promotes IBD by writing blog posts, providing content for marketing /website, and helping to craft and review presentations.
- Continuously grows knowledge of teaching and learning in literacy.
- Maintains high awareness of market demands in the literacy ecosystem to inform the design of our curriculum / products and innovation.
- Leads execution of and contributes to designing the curriculum revision plan.
- Is an individual contributor on the design team.
- Provides professional learning opportunities for the curriculum design team.
- Provides subject matter expertise (SME) in literacy to support marketing and sales.
- Collaborates with individuals responsible for RFPs and state adoptions.
Team Responsibilities
- In a joint effort with the Curriculum Manager, leads weekly sprints and stand-ups.
- Manages the individual contributors on the curriculum design team and the Curriculum Manager.
- Iterates with the CPO on progress and barriers on curriculum projects.
- Provides professional learning for team members on an as needed or individual basis.
- Provides clear and consistent communication.
- Promotes and engages in collaboration within and across teams.
- Maintains awareness of what Marketing & Sales are working on and engages as appropriate.
- Directs and moves work in a project management environment on multiple and complex projects.
- Multi-tasks numerous workflows and coordinates meetings across 5 – 10 work teams. Ensuring each is on track and meeting timelines.
Project Responsibilities
- Collaborates with the CPO to develop a scope of work and define the project schedule (the project tasks and timeline).
- Collaborates with the Curriculum Manager to create working groups and assignments.
- Estimates resources needed to complete each component of the project.
- Creates, in collaboration with the CPO, the agenda for the kick-off, and weekly/daily structures for check-ins, stand-ups, and sprints.
- Implements the project schedule and makes ongoing adjustments as necessary.
- Facilitates sprints and assists Curriculum Manager with stand-ups .
- Distributes and monitors project responsibilities across assigned team members in collaboration with the Curriculum Manager.
- Leads a calibration process: identifying appropriate reviewers and /or team configuration, providing sufficient context, establishing clear areas of focus, and following processes for gathering and responding to feedback.
Skills and Abilities
- Knowledgeable of the research in education, including understanding of national literacy trends and issues.
- Anticipates strategic needs of districts, schools, and classrooms to influence the product roadmap.
- Takes on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency and enthusiasm.
- Effectively communicates by delivering multi-modal communications that impact the intended audience.
- Builds strong customer relationships and deliver customer centric solutions.
- Plans and prioritizes work to meet commitments aligned with project and organizational goals.
- Problem solves by effectively navigating ambiguity to move work forward and thinks creatively to solution in challenging areas.
- Instills trust and gains the confidence of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.
- Collaborates with CPO on the use of resources to meet schedules and goals.
- Innovates regarding processes and operational policies, methodology, and solutions.
- Drives results by executing upon direction from CPO to coordinate the work effort needed to meet project schedules and goals.
- Actively promotes IBD and engages in behaviors that support the company culture.
- May write and publish for external audiences.
- May present at conferences.
- Travel as needed (up to 20%).
*Duties and responsibilities may change. All Inquiry by Design employees are encouraged to be flexible and responsive to changes in scope of duties.
Inquiry By Design is honored to be an equal opportunity workplace. We realize that by creating teams rich in diverse thought and experience, our people, company, and customers are free to thrive. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), age, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification or characteristic under applicable local laws. In addition, Inquiry By Design values privacy and the protection of personal information.
Compensation and Benefits
- Annual salary range $90,00 – $120,000. depending on experience (May be an opportunity for an annual bonus if company meets revenue goals and employee meets or exceeds job expectations)
- Health benefits (medical, vision, dental)
- Company-matched retirement plan (4% of salary)
- Flexible spending accounts
- Annual company retreat
- Unlimited PTO
Submission Due Date
August 12, 2024
Application Requirements
Please submit both a resume and cover letter at https://www.inquirybydesign.com/career/director-of-curriculum/ as pdfs and save in filename format “LastName_FirstName_Resume_DirectorofCurriculum.pdf” and “LastName_FirstName_CoverLetter_DirectorofCurriculum.pdf.”
For questions contact hello@inquirybydesign.com.