Principal Designer, Work-Based Learning

Principal Designer, Work-Based Learning

College Board - Strategy Team

Location: This is a fully remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the option of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office).

Type: This is a full-time position

About the Team

The College Board is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that aims to clear a path for all students to own their futures. We focus on expanding access to higher education and helping students develop the skills they need for college and career readiness. We serve 7 million students annually – a reach unparalleled in a fragmented sector.

The College Board is launching a new exploratory effort to design and scale innovative ways for students to build durable skills — the collaboration, problem-solving, and communication abilities that employers value and that students carry with them for life.

Our team is in an exciting build phase — shaping the technology, people, and processes that will bring this program to life. We're assembling a cross-functional group of designers, engineers, product managers, and researchers who thrive on solving meaningful problems. Together, we're building tools that:

• Help teachers guide students through real-world, employer-driven projects
• Enable students to practice and strengthen durable, transferable skills while building professional connections
• Make it easier for employers to engage with future talent and invest in their communities

This work sits at the intersection of education and the workforce — translating our mission into experiences that prepare every student to succeed in whatever path they choose. You'll be part of a team creating something new: a program that brings the world of work into schools and helps students develop the skills that last a lifetime.

About the Opportunity

As a Principal Designer on this team, you will help shape and build a potential work-based learning program that connects classrooms to the real world. In this program, we aim for students to: Take on real business challenges from real employers, collaborate in small teams to analyze problems and propose solutions and gain firsthand experience working with professionals, building the social capital and confidence that open doors to future opportunities.

As the Principal Designer, you are a highly skilled, experienced, innovative maker and strategist focused on shaping the overall product experience strategy for this new program. You are a leader in your field with a track record of exceptional outcomes leveraging product and user-centered design best practices. As part of a senior product team, you'll evaluate ideas, develop prototypes, deliver high-quality design, and scale the program from thousands of students to tens of thousands of students – ensuring a high-quality experience for students, educators, and business partners. You will have the unique opportunity to bring an MVP to scale, ensuring it meets the needs and expectations of our users, doing the greatest good for students. You have an entrepreneurial spirit and are excited about the opportunity to develop and scale a new program in an ever-shifting education landscape. You will collaborate closely with others to drive user-centered design processes and deliver impactful solutions.

In this role, you will:

Conduct Research and Share Insights (30%):

• Conduct end-user research to gather insights into user needs, behaviors, and pain points
• Conduct external research on standards, trends, and design patterns for potential business opportunities and product improvements
• Collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to derive actionable insights that inform strategic decisions
• Develop user personas, service blueprints, journey maps, and other artifacts to guide the design process
• Analyze data and feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of products post-launch, providing actionable recommendations for continuous improvement

Lead Design Execution and Delivery (30%)

• Translate concepts into designs, creating outputs such as user flows, sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes, information architecture, and high-fidelity UI design
• Apply design systems, ensuring visual and functional consistency as appropriate
• Write and test content using plain language for clarity and accessibility
• Design and test user experience prototypes to validate design decisions
• Use industry-standard design tools like Figma to execute with proficiency and efficiency
• Experiment with generative AI tools to support ideation and prototyping

Support Strategic Planning (20%):

• Define and lead the overall product design and user experience strategy for the program
• Collaborate with a cross-functional team to ensure alignment with user needs and business goals and to ensure timely delivery of design artifacts
• Advocate for user-centered design principles and best practices within the program and across the organization
• Embrace and advocate for a culture of innovation and experimentation, exploring new ideas and approaches, iterating based on user feedback and data
• Stay up to date with industry trends and best practices in user experience and product design
• Mentor any junior team members in design and user experience methodologies and best practices

Collaborate and Communicate (20%):

• Work closely with a cross-functional team of product managers, engineers, and subject-matter experts
• Lead workshops and collaborative design sessions to share learnings, identify problems, generate solutions, and integrate cross-functional feedback into the programs and digital products
• Present design, research, and strategic recommendations to stakeholders and senior executives

About You

You have:

• A portfolio of your work included in your application. Please either link to your online portfolio in your resume or attach your portfolio as an additional document with your application.
• A Bachelor's degree in a related field (computer science, interaction design, HCI, industrial design, information science, social sciences, graphic design, etc.) and/or equivalent years of work experience
• Proven expertise and results in product design with end-to-end product experience
• Proven expertise in qualitative and quantitative user research methodologies
• An understanding of accessibility best practices
• Strong knowledge of and proficiency with various design tools
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate insights into actionable strategies
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with diverse teams
• Ability to think strategically and advocate for user-centered design principles
• Ability to mentor and upskill cross-functional collaborators and/or more junior designers in user-centered design best practices
• Self-motivated and proactive, with a strong sense of ownership and accountability
• The ability to travel at a minimum of 3-5 times a year to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business (including but not limited to traveling to client/user sites to engage with stakeholders)
• Authorization to work in the United States

All roles at College Board require:

• A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work
• Authorization to work in the United States for any employer
• Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and a comfort 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.

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 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 $163,000-$214,000
• 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.