Position: Academic Program Director
Reports to: Executive Director of Innovate Pikes Peak
FLSA Status: Exempt
Employment Status: Full-Time
Opening Date: August 21, 2026
Closing Date: September 7, 2026
Salary Range: $90,000 - $110,000 annually. Final compensation will be based on qualifications, and experience.
For any questions regarding this application, or if you experience any issues submitting your application, please contact [email protected]. Please do not contact any other Chamber staff regarding this position.
Position Scope:
The Academic Program Director of Innovate Pikes Peak (IPP) provides programmatic and operational leadership for regional career pathway development across school districts, industry partners, postsecondary institutions, BOCES, workforce partners, and other education stakeholders. This position is responsible for translating IPP’s regional vision and strategic priorities into collaborative, sustainable, and actionable implementation plans.
The Academic Program Director coordinates complex, cross-sector work that requires strong project management, stakeholder engagement, operational planning, and follow-through. This role leads through credibility, trust, collaboration, and influence, working with autonomous school districts, higher education institutions, employers, BOCES, and community partners that may have distinct priorities, capacities, calendars, and community needs.
Key aspects of this position include:
- Regional career pathway development, coordination, and implementation.
- Industry consortium leadership, coordination, and stakeholder engagement.
- Work-based learning development, coordination, and employer partnership support.
- Rural strategy development, access planning, and program execution.
- Multi-district collaboration across school districts, BOCES, postsecondary partners, and workforce stakeholders.
- Stakeholder engagement with CTE leaders, school counselors, employers, education leaders, students, families, and community partners.
- Project management, operational planning, milestone tracking, and implementation systems.
- Postsecondary partnership development and alignment of pathways with community colleges, four-year institutions, technical education providers, credentialing bodies, and apprenticeship pathways.
- Asset mapping and alignment with existing district, BOCES, postsecondary, workforce, and regional programs to identify gaps, reduce duplication, and support scalable pathway development.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
The Academic Program Director is responsible for leading programmatic implementation, pathway development, stakeholder coordination, and operational execution for Innovate Pikes Peak (IPP), including the following:
Programmatic Leadership
- Leads regional career pathway development and implementation across participating districts, industry partners, postsecondary institutions, BOCES, workforce partners, and community stakeholders.
- Develops and coordinates work-based learning opportunities, including employer engagement, student experiences, and industry-connected programming.
- Coordinates industry-sponsored projects and supports employer participation in student programming, pathway design, and career-connected learning activities.
- Leads rural programming and access strategies in collaboration with rural districts, Pikes Peak BOCES, employers, and regional partners.
- Coordinates and supports industry consortia, advisory groups, employer partners, and stakeholder collaborations that advance IPP’s pathway priorities.
- Serves as a district-facing partner for CTE leaders, school counselors, school administrators, and education stakeholders to support pathway implementation and alignment.
- Coordinates with community colleges, four-year institutions, technical education providers, credentialing bodies, and apprenticeship providers to align pathways with postsecondary and workforce opportunities.
- Aligns IPP programming with existing district, BOCES, higher education, workforce, and regional initiatives so that IPP connects, scales, and fills gaps rather than duplicating successful work already underway.
- Manages project plans, milestones, timelines, deliverables, and follow-through to support effective implementation of IPP priorities.
Strategic Planning
- Converts IPP’s strategic priorities into actionable implementation plans, project roadmaps, timelines, and operational work plans.
- Supports the development and execution of Year 1 and Year 2 implementation priorities as IPP moves from pilot activities to broader regional implementation.
- Identifies operational barriers, partner needs, resource gaps, and implementation challenges that may impact program delivery and recommends solutions.
- Maintains a working map of career-connected learning assets already in place across districts, BOCES, postsecondary partners, workforce partners, and regional programs to help direct IPP’s efforts toward genuine gaps.
- Builds repeatable and scalable models for district onboarding, employer engagement, pathway validation, rural programming, student experiences, and partner implementation.
Program Implementation and Pathway Development
- Leads implementation of priority pathway work across advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defense, cybersecurity/software, healthcare, construction, and other sectors identified by IPP.
- Coordinates pathway development with school districts, CTE leaders, school counselors, postsecondary partners, employers, workforce partners, and community stakeholders.
- Supports shared pathway models that serve students across multiple districts without unnecessary duplication of existing successful programs.
- Maintains awareness of participating districts’ pathway assets, constraints, goals, calendars, readiness, and implementation capacity.
- Builds and sustains trust across autonomous districts with differing priorities and capacities by advancing shared work through collaboration, credibility, and influence rather than formal authority.
- Coordinates postsecondary connections, including concurrent enrollment, industry-recognized credentials, technical education, and registered apprenticeship pathways, to support student progression beyond high school.
- Translates employer and industry needs into developmentally appropriate student experiences sequenced from early career exposure through applied learning and work-based learning.
- Coordinates employer participation in panels, tours, classroom engagement, mentoring, capstones, internships, industry-sponsored projects, and related student experiences.
- Works with rural districts and Pikes Peak BOCES to support rural programming, employer exposure, access strategies, and equitable pathway participation.
Continuous Improvement and Innovation
- Designs, implements, evaluates, and improves systems for collaborative and non-duplicative career and technical education pathways in the Pikes Peak region.
- Uses data, stakeholder feedback, implementation learning, and partner input to strengthen IPP’s programming model and improve program outcomes.
- Provides accurate updates regarding progress, impact, risks, barriers, milestones, and alignment with IPP’s goals and strategic priorities.
- Identifies opportunities to improve implementation systems, strengthen partner coordination, increase student access, and support sustainable regional pathway development.
Other Duties
- Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Education and Experience:
- At least eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience in program management, project management, education, workforce development, career-connected learning, business engagement, cross-sector partnership development, or a related field required.
- Bachelor’s degree in Education, Business Administration, Workforce Development, Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, Organizational Leadership, or a related field preferred.
- Demonstrated commitment to the vision, mission, and strategic priorities of Innovate Pikes Peak.
- Working knowledge of Colorado K-12 public education systems, including district governance, school and career and technical education (CTE) funding, concurrent enrollment, graduation guidelines, academic calendars, and the operational factors that affect district implementation. Prior employment within a Colorado school district is not required; however, demonstrated knowledge of and effective working experience with Colorado K-12 systems is required.
- Familiarity with Colorado’s postsecondary landscape, including community colleges, four-year institutions, technical education providers, credentialing bodies, concurrent enrollment agreements, and apprenticeship pathways.
- Knowledge of the regional workforce and industry landscape, including the ability to translate employer talent needs into meaningful, developmentally appropriate student learning experiences.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and influence without formal authority by building trust, identifying shared interests, coordinating stakeholders, and sustaining momentum among partners who are not required to participate.
- Ability to recognize and leverage strong programs already operating in districts and across the region, positioning IPP as a connector, coordinator, and multiplier rather than a duplicator of existing successful work.
- Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects, track milestones, coordinate deliverables, and produce high-quality results.
- Experience supporting college and career pathways, CTE programs, work-based learning, industry partnerships, education-to-workforce initiatives, or related career-connected learning programs.
- Familiarity with Colorado’s Work-Based Learning Continuum preferred.
- Ability to create, refine, and implement systems and processes that improve program operations, partner coordination, and implementation consistency.
- Experience building strong partnerships with educators, employers, students, families, workforce partners, and community stakeholders.
- Excellent relationship-building skills, including credibility with both education and industry audiences.
- Ability to work cross-functionally and productively across all levels of an organization and with external partner organizations.
- Strong active listening skills, including the ability to synthesize information, identify common themes, and translate ideas into actionable implementation steps.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare clear communications, summaries, updates, presentations, and implementation materials for varied audiences.
- Experience working in entrepreneurial, start-up, pilot, ambiguous, or evolving program environments.
- An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience may be considered.
Desired Qualifications:
- Project management certification, certificate, or formal project management training preferred.
- Experience with public speaking, facilitation, stakeholder presentations, or leading group discussions preferred.
- Experience developing college, career, workforce, or education-to-employment pathways aligned with business and industry needs preferred.
- Experience working with rural districts, BOCES structures, multi-district collaboratives, or regional education partnerships preferred.
- Experience convening or facilitating cross-organizational groups, such as industry consortia, advisory boards, collaboratives, stakeholder committees, or working groups preferred.
- Experience using project management platforms such as monday.com, Asana, Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or similar tools preferred.
- Bilingual or multilingual communication skills preferred when beneficial to student, family, employer, district, or community stakeholder engagement. Spanish fluency preferred.
Career Development Opportunities:
The Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC supports employee growth and development through performance feedback, professional development opportunities, and consideration for expanded responsibilities when business needs, employee performance, documented achievements, and organizational goals support such changes.
Any changes to compensation, job title, duties, responsibilities, or advancement opportunities will be evaluated based on objective, job-related criteria, including but not limited to performance evaluations, documented contributions, demonstrated skills, organizational needs, budget considerations, and applicable policies and legal requirements.
Nothing in this section guarantees a promotion, compensation increase, title change, or change in responsibilities. Career development opportunities and related adjustments are subject to organizational approval and applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Benefits:
The Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC offers a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. Benefits are subject to applicable plan documents, eligibility requirements, and organizational policies, and may include:
- Paid time off: 120 hours of PTO annually.
- Paid holidays: 10 paid holidays throughout the year, plus one floating holiday.
- Paid sick leave: 80 hours of paid sick leave annually.
- Health insurance: The Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC currently covers 90% of the employee health insurance premium and 50% of dependent coverage.
- Dental and vision insurance.
- 401(k) retirement plan and 401(k) matching, subject to plan eligibility requirements.
- Employee assistance program.
- Flexible Spending Account.
- Health Savings Account.
- Life insurance and accidental death coverage, subject to applicable plan terms.
- Short-term and long-term disability insurance.
- Free underground parking in downtown Colorado Springs.
- Access to an onsite fitness center.
- Performance-based bonus program, subject to eligibility, organizational approval, and applicable plan or program terms.
Work Schedule and Location:
This position is primarily performed onsite at the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC office in Colorado Springs, Colorado and in support of Innovate Pike Peak locations. Standard work hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required to support meetings, events, board activities, and other business needs.
Work Environment and Physical Demands:
The work environment is primarily a professional office setting. The employee regularly uses computers, telephones, and other standard office equipment and frequently interacts with employees, board members, elected officials, members, vendors, and other stakeholders.
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.
While performing the duties of this position, the employee will frequently:
- Remain in a stationary position for extended periods while working at a computer.
- Use hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, telephone, and other office equipment.
- Communicate effectively in person, by telephone, and through electronic communications.
- Move throughout the office and meeting locations to access files, office equipment, and meeting spaces.
- Occasionally lift, carry, push, or pull items weighing up to 15 pounds and occasional attendance at meetings, programs, events, or community functions outside of normal business hours may be required.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
The Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Pay: $90,000.00 - $110,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible spending account
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
