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Role Description

The Executive Director, Student Activation, will build and lead a new team within AP responsible for direct-to-student tools and program experiences that increase program interest, first-time participation, and exam completion. This role exists to ensure students do not opt out of opportunity before they ever opt in. By owning student-facing access tools and content, the Executive Director ensures students see themselves in AP, take the critical steps required to participate and persist through completion.

Impact Metrics:

• Increase first-time AP participation, including within priority schools and districts.
• Increase program completion among students engaged through activation efforts.
• Increase reach from AP Potential identification to AP course enrollment.
• Launch and scale new student experiences (competitions, readiness badging) with measurable adoption and engagement benchmarks.
• Ensure strong cross-functional delivery, team performance, and continuous improvement.

In this role, you will:

• Develop Engagement Strategy and Plan for Scale (35%)
  • Set and own strategy for AP Potential as a core student activation tool.
  • Lead development of the student competition strategy for AP, identifying key partners, and mobilizing AP student participation at such events.
  • Lead a planning process to assess the creation of an AP Student Alumni Network as a tool to support student success and college and career planning.
• Launch and Manage an Activation Portfolio (35%)
  • Design, launch and manage AP Potential campaigns to students and parents in collaboration with partner teams within AP and across Divisions.
  • Integrate AP Potential campaigns into state and district strategy for student recruitment.
  • Develop student and family engagement opportunities and programming in collaboration with BigFuture to support AP participation within student college and career planning.
  • Develop the programmatic content and events to increase reach among first-time AP students in partnership with the Engagement and Reach Division and BigFuture.
  • Integrate middle school readiness badges to accompany the introduction of Pre-AP projects and support student practice.
• Team Leadership (30%)
  • Lead and manage a team responsible for student tools and engagement initiatives.
  • Set priorities, manage performance, and coach team members to achieve goals.
  • Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture aligned to College Board’s Operating Principles and Manager Expectations.
  • 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.

Qualifications

• Expertise in education, nonprofit environment, or college access with 10+ years of performing as a team leader/management role in the space for at least 5 of those years.
• A proven ability to drive performance and growth: you set high expectations, deliver real-time, evidence-based feedback, and coach team members to take smart risks, stretch their skills, and achieve meaningful impact.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, enabling you to navigate challenges and propose solutions that balance competing priorities.
• Outstanding communication skills, capable of conveying complex ideas to a range of audiences, from senior leadership to project teams to external stakeholders.
• Strong relationships and a track record of effective outreach to and engagement with students and families.
• A passion for innovation, always seeking new opportunities to achieve your goals and broaden your impact.
• Effective storytelling in service of compelling others to action.
• An eye for detail and quality, ensuring that all communications meet the standards for excellent and compelling engagement.
• Ability to assess talent, align resources with priorities, set clear objectives, and ensure goals drive actions across the team.
• The ability to travel monthly to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business.

Requirements

• 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.

Benefits

• At College Board, we offer more than just 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.
• The hiring range for this role is $152,000 – $215,000. 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.