Job Details

Executive Director, Wheelock Educational Policy Center, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development

Position Number: 7054862
Location: Boston, MA
Position Type: Executive - Other Executive

Executive Director, Wheelock Educational Policy Center, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development

Job Description
Executive Director, Wheelock Educational Policy Center, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development

Category
Charles River Campus --> Professional
Job Location
BOSTON, MA, United States
Tracking Code
26500998850402
Posted Date
4/2/2026
Salary Grade
Grade 51
Expected Hiring Range Minimum
$120,000.00
Expected Hiring Range Maximum
$160,000.00

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, training and internal pay comparison. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Position Type
Full-Time/Regular

Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development is a top-ranked college that focuses on cross-disciplinary research, experiential learning, and community engagement. We seek to empower our students, faculty, and staff to reshape the systems that impact learning and human development, more firmly centering them in justice, diversity, and belonging. To learn more about our college, visit www.bu.edu/wheelock.

BU Wheelock is one of the 17 schools and colleges that are part of Boston University, one of the leading private research and teaching institutions in the world today. With more than 37,000 students from all 50 states and 145+ countries, BU is among the largest independent universities in the United States. To learn more about Boston University, visit www.bu.edu.

About the Wheelock Educational Policy Center

Across the country, policymakers face urgent decisions that shape millions of children's futures. They need insights and evidence they can trust to get the call right. Yet researchers and policymakers often operate in parallel, not in partnership leaving critical insights untapped and missing chances to connect in ways that drive lasting change.

The Wheelock Educational Policy Center (WEPC) at Boston University is built to close that gap. We cultivate relationships and facilitate partnerships others can't. We co-create research agendas with policymakers and practitioners, balancing academic precision with real-world timelines. And we deliver rigorous, high-impact educational research with practical insights that system leaders can act on.

WEPC's work has informed teacher licensure policy, advanced efforts to diversify the educator workforce, and shaped national conversations on reading policy. We are now at an inflection point, growing in reach, deepening our partnerships, and launching new initiatives and we are seeking an Executive Director to lead us into that next chapter.

About the Role

The Executive Director is the embodiment of WEPC's mission - the person who holds the bridge between the world of rigorous academic research and the world of high-stakes policy decisions. This is not a traditional research center director role. It is an outward-facing, relationship-driven leadership position that demands equal parts strategic vision, fundraising tenacity, and the interpersonal skill to build trust with faculty, funders, partners, and policymakers alike.

The ED operates with significant autonomy to drive WEPC's growth and strategy, while functioning as a genuine partner to the Faculty Director - keeping them informed, earning their confidence, and ensuring that the center's direction reflects both research excellence and policy relevance. The best person for this role will think about WEPC's work every day, act decisively, and bring others along without needing to be the loudest voice in the room.

This is a rare opportunity to shape a young, high-potential center at a critical moment - and to do work that matters for students, educators, and the systems that serve them.

Position Logistics

Term: 3 years with continued commitment contingent upon additional funding.

Location: Boston-based hybrid preferred, fully remote considered for right candidate.

Essential Functions

Strategic Leadership and Policy Orientation (30%)

Establish and maintain WEPC's strategic direction and ensure the Center's work is consistently oriented toward policy relevance and real-world impact. This includes:
Develop, lead, and periodically refresh WEPC's multi-year strategic plan, setting annual and mid-term goals and operational priorities in alignment with the Center's mission and Boston University's broader strategic direction.
Serve as WEPC's chief policy sensibility - providing consistent, expert guidance that helps faculty and staff frame research questions, translate findings, and position work in ways that will resonate with decision-makers and drive meaningful policy impact.
Function as the in-house policy advisor and sounding board for research and communications before they reach external audiences, ensuring that WEPC's outputs reflect both academic rigor and practical policy relevance.
Oversee WEPC's portfolio of external partnerships with state agencies, school systems, nonprofits, and policymakers at a strategic level - stewarding existing relationships, identifying new opportunities, and ensuring continuity and depth across the Center's network.
Represent WEPC as a thought leader and spokesperson in national policy spaces, conferences, and convenings, contributing to the Center's visibility and reputation as a trusted partner at the intersection of research and policy.
Establish and maintain productive working relationships across Boston University, including with leadership at the Wheelock College of Education and relevant University-wide functions, ensuring WEPC is well-positioned institutionally and poised to benefit from cross-university collaboration.

Center and Staff Leadership (30%)

The ED is accountable for the organizational performance, culture, and operational effectiveness of WEPC. This includes:
Lead, manage, and develop WEPC's professional staff across multiple work groups, fostering a high-performing, mission-driven culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Serve as a talent champion for WEPC's core faculty - building the partnership infrastructure, managing external relationships, and handling the administrative and logistical dimensions of research partnerships so that faculty can focus on the design, conduct, and management of research.
Establish annual and mid-term operational plans and goals for the Center; monitor progress, allocate resources, and adjust plans as needed to ensure WEPC meets its commitments and advances its strategic priorities.
Develop and maintain the Center's budget with signature authority; make strategic resource and expenditure decisions, ensure fiscal responsibility, and report on financial performance to the Faculty Director and College leadership.
Manage significant financial and external risks associated with the Center's partnerships, funding relationships, and programmatic commitments, engaging senior university leadership as appropriate.
Oversee the launch and development of new initiatives, including WEPC's Policy-Aligned Research Agenda Building Lab (PARABL), ensuring they are well-positioned, appropriately resourced, and aligned with the Center's strategic goals.

Development and External Relations (40%)

Build and sustain the partnerships and external relationships that ensure WEPC's long-term sustainability and impact. This includes:
Build and steward strategic relationships with foundations, individual donors, and institutional funders - investing in these connections with the same intentionality and depth as research partnerships and serving as the Center's primary development officer.
Oversee the identification, development, and pursuit of grants, gifts, and other funding opportunities; work in close collaboration with faculty and staff to craft compelling proposals and ensure rigorous stewardship of investments.
Cultivate both project-specific and general operating support, working toward a self-sustaining funding model with a near-term goal of $1 million in annual revenue.
Develop and execute a communications strategy that advances WEPC's public profile and thought leadership - including contributions to public-facing publications, policy briefs, and media engagement - in close collaboration with faculty and staff.
Represent WEPC externally through speaking engagements, conference participation, and convenings, actively building the Center's presence and influence within the education policy field.
Ensure effective handoff and continuity of existing funder and partner relationships during leadership transitions and across the life of the Center's work.

About the Candidate

WEPC is seeking a leader who combines deep policy fluency with the relational instincts, entrepreneurial drive, and operational maturity to lead a growing research center at a pivotal moment. The ideal candidate is not necessarily someone who has held an Executive Director title before - but they bring a clear and compelling through-line of experience at the intersection of education policy and research-practice partnership, and they are ready to lead at this level.

The successful candidate will bring a track record of building and sustaining high-stakes relationships with funders, policymakers, and practitioners. They will be equally comfortable in a meeting with a foundation program officer, a state superintendent, a tenured faculty member, and a junior staff member - and they will know how to earn trust and bring out the best in each. They understand how policy decisions get made, how research needs to be framed and timed to be useful, and how to help others develop that instinct without heavy-handed direction.

This person operates with genuine autonomy and sets their own agenda, but functions as a true partner to the Faculty Director - keeping leadership informed and invested, surfacing decisions that require alignment, and building an institutional relationship grounded in confidence and mutual respect. They bring an entrepreneurial orientation to a university setting: they are nimble and decisive, but they also understand that operating within a large institution requires strategic patience, political awareness, and the skill to navigate internal complexity without losing external momentum.

WEPC's ED is a humble leader - someone who sees their role as creating the conditions for others to do exceptional work. Faculty feel supported and freed to focus on research. Staff feel like owners of the mission. Partners feel like genuine collaborators. The ED is the connective tissue of the Center: visible externally, steady internally, and consistently oriented toward the outcomes that matter for students.

Required Skills

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree in education, public policy, public administration, or a related field strongly preferred.
A minimum of 8 years of progressively responsible professional experience, including at least 5 years in a management or leadership role with direct supervisory responsibility.
Demonstrated experience working at the intersection of education research and policy - including meaningful experience inside or in close partnership with government agencies, policy nonprofits, think tanks, foundations, research-practice partnerships, or comparable organizations.
Proven track record of building, managing, and sustaining high-stakes external relationships with funders, policymakers, or institutional partners.
Experience developing and managing organizational or departmental budgets, with demonstrated responsibility for financial planning and fiscal oversight.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to represent an organization publicly through speaking, writing, and media engagement.
Experience managing teams across multiple work groups, with a demonstrated ability to develop staff and build high-performing, mission-aligned cultures.

Preferred Qualifications:

Established networks within the education policy community at the state or national level.
Experience with grant writing, development, and fundraising in a nonprofit, university, or think tank context.
Familiarity with research-practice partnership models and the operational dynamics of university-based research centers.
Experience working within or alongside a higher education institution, with an understanding of university governance, budgeting, and institutional culture.
A track record of launching or scaling new initiatives or programs in an entrepreneurial or start-up environment.

Confidential Data:

All information (written, verbal, electronic, etc.) that an employee encounters while working at Boston University is considered confidential. Employees must adhere to university and departmental policies, guidelines and procedures, and all applicable laws and regulations at all times.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, natural or protective hairstyle, religion, sex, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military service, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, or because of marital, parental, or veteran status. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

Required Skills

Job Location: BOSTON, MA
Position Type: Full-Time/Regular
Salary Grade: $120,000.00-$160,000.00

To apply, visit https://jobs.silkroad.com/BU/External/jobs/316540