Lead Learning Designer

About the Organization

The Holdsworth Center is a non-profit organization founded and largely funded by Charles Butt, Chairman of H-E-B, a regional retail company.  Our mission is to impact, over time, the quality of K-12 public education for all Texas students by supporting and developing leaders. Based in Austin, Texas, we were founded in 2017 in honor of Charles’ mother, Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt, who was an educator, a philanthropist, and a lifelong champion for social justice.  

We partner with public school districts to help them grow outstanding leaders at all levels so that staff thrive, and students excel in every classroom.  At Holdsworth, we believe leadership isn’t just about titles.  We make a deep investment in leaders at both the district and campus levels, including teachers who lead students in the classroom and influence and lead their colleagues.    

The Holdsworth Center is seeking a Lead Learning Designer who shares a deep commitment to our mission and whose experience and vision will deepen our capacity and enhance our impact as we aim to be of service to public school districts across the state of Texas.  

Purpose & Responsibilities   
In the 2021-2022 school year, Holdsworth launched two new program offerings for district leaders: 

• The Superintendent Leadership Program, a cohort-based model for high potential early career superintendents. This program was initiated in recognition of the extraordinary challenges facing new superintendents in Texas in the current moment, along with the need to begin investing in the superintendent pipeline in Texas as an historic number of superintendents (in Texas and nationally) are projected to step down in the coming years.  
• The Holdsworth Leadership Collaborative, an 18-month program that has supported 14 districts to begin building their principal pipeline.  

The early success of these two new offerings has created opportunities for us to expand this work. Over the next several years, we plan to launch additional programs to support the superintendent pipeline in Texas (such as an aspiring superintendent program). We also plan to work with even more districts in future cohorts of the Collaborative.  

The Lead Learning Designer will join a team that designs, delivers and refines these programmatic offerings. Alongside other Lead Learning Designers and a team (including a Director, a Coordinator, and Managing Director), you will guide cohorts of district leaders through these programs and drive planning and research as we build new programs for the future.  

As a Lead Learning Designer, you will play a critical role in ensuring that our vision for impact in these expanded program offerings is realized. Your portfolio of work may include designing and delivering programming from any of our district leader offerings, and may change over time, depending on program needs and your particular skill-set and expertise.  

You must have a strong desire to help leaders in our programs thrive in their careers and lead their districts effectively, with strong knowledge of adult learning theory to guide best-in-class programming.  

Reporting to the Director of District Programs or to the Managing Director, you will work with talented, mission driven peers in a fast paced, dynamic environment to:  

• Lead the detailed planning of content, learning experiences, and logistics to help ensure that learning outcomes and objectives for each programming session are met, and that the content delivered through program sessions is part of a coherent and powerful arc of learning.   

• Serve as one of the “faces” of our programs, building relationships with leaders and increasing coherency of the overall program through on-site facilitation and delivery (most facilitation will take place at The Campus at Lake Austin and with groups ranging in size from 10 to 60+) 
• Work collaboratively with Holdsworth’s Superintendents-in-Residence to maximize their unique contributions to our work in the superintendent pipeline 
• Draw on personal experiences and academic concepts to deliver highly engaging and thought-provoking program sessions 
• Facilitate effective and engaging learning experiences that bring cohorts together over a multi-session journey, building a learning environment where leaders can effectively collaborate on a range of issues to grow their capacity and ability to lead sustainable improvement towards excellent and equitable outcomes for students 
• Attend assigned program sessions and work as a team to effectively facilitate program delivery 

• Work collaboratively with program coordinators to ensure flawless logistics and operations at each session 
• Support the team to develop and continually improve the curriculum for each of our expansion programs  
• Adapt and differentiate the curriculum to maximize leaders’ learning and achievement of learning objectives through the design, implementation and monitoring of learning assessments  
• Analyze data and use it to drive decisions and programmatic improvements 

Desirable candidates will have a range of prior experience and capabilities to include:  

• Strong alignment with organizational values—Drive for Excellence & Equity, Be of Service, Believe in People  
• Experience delivering high quality adult learning/training and proven ability to facilitate engaging, challenging, and thought-provoking discussion among diverse audiences, manage group dynamics, and use questioning techniques to identify solutions and actions rather than taking a wholly directive approach (with large audiences as well as smaller groups) 
• Experience in a leadership development and/or adult learning role (any sector) equivalent in scale and scope to this role, supporting the development of leaders of organizations through programmatic delivery  
• Ability to synthesize complex information and create clear and compelling learning experiences and materials; Thinks like a designer and is able to communicate information exceptionally clearly both in written materials and verbally 

• Intense curiosity to constantly learn, read, and increase one’s own knowledge base to inform design of programs 
• Strong project planning skills and detail orientation in order to effectively plan for multiple program sessions at one time 
• Self-motivated individual who demonstrates initiative without waiting for direction, openness to receiving feedback from peers and Holdsworth staff 
• Credibility with school leaders, faculty/experts, and our partner organizations  
• Ability to work well in a team environment, establish good rapport at all levels of the organization, collaborate with other faculty and experts and work with and relate to people from diverse backgrounds  

• Flexible; ability to adapt to an ever changing, growing organization as we pilot and learn from these new endeavors; Embraces a portfolio of work that may change over time 
• Experience using a range of design tools to create strong, engaging collateral and tools for learning (such as PowerPoint, Canva, or other similar design tools) 
• Working knowledge of the education landscape in Texas, including knowledge of the context within which our participants work  

Geography 

Austin, TX preferred 

Other 

This is a full-time role with frequent on-site work at the Campus at Lake Austin required. Some evenings and weekends may be required while executing program sessions with leaders. 

How to apply  

Interested candidates can submit a current resume and a cover letter detailing their interest in this Lead Learning Designer position and the work of The Holdsworth Center by clicking here: Lead Learning Designer application. If selected for the interview process, next steps are tentatively scheduled to begin in June 2022.  

The Holdsworth Center is committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. All employment decisions are based on job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.