Senior Director, Custom Programs & Global Delivery

CEA CAPA Education Abroad; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

CEA CAPA Education Abroad is seeking a Senior Director of Custom Program Development to translate growth priorities into scalable programs. You will lead design, budgeting, and global delivery standards while guiding a team of managers and directors across cross-functional partners to deliver academically sound, financially viable study abroad experiences.

You will collaborate with Institutional Relations and Global Operations to optimize the custom program lifecycle, balancing student quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• 8+ years in education abroad with 3+ years in a leadership role.
• 5+ years of progressively responsible experience managing custom and faculty-led initiatives.
• Strong financial acumen, including forecasting, resource allocation, pricing strategy and profitability analysis.
• Strong analytical and performance management skills, with the ability to translate data and reporting into actionable business decisions.
• Proven ability to take initiative and lead large-scale projects while collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment on goals, priorities and execution.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Exceptional communication, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
• Growth mindset with a commitment to innovation, continuous improvement and organizational learning.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Salesforce (or similar CRM).
• Master’s degree or significant senior-level experience leading multidisciplinary teams preferred.
• Experience living, working or studying in multicultural environments preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Salesforce, reporting platforms and data visualization tools preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Custom Program Development team, setting clear priorities, accountabilities, and service standards.
• Supervise the Operations Manager and Director of Global Custom Program Operations, connecting program development with global delivery.
• Build a collaborative, high-performing culture grounded in ownership, accuracy, problem-solving, and follow-through.
• Align team capacity and resources with the highest-priority opportunities.
• Coach the team to balance creativity and responsiveness with quality, financial discipline, and scalability.
• Develop team talent through coaching, mentoring and career development, helping employees build skills and expand responsibilities.
• Lead custom program strategy and development, including design, feasibility, budgeting, pricing, proposals and delivery handoff.
• Partner with Institutional Relations leaders to evaluate and prioritize high-potential opportunities.
• Support the team in translating US partner needs into compelling, academically sound, operationally viable and financially sustainable programs.
• Advance growth through creative solutions without compromising student experience, quality, or execution.
• Lead the strategy to expand custom program capabilities to new markets in alignment with organizational priorities.
• Strengthen the custom value proposition using partner feedback, market insight and delivery lessons.
• Annually review the custom program portfolio and development practices, recommending where to streamline work, focus resources and refine or discontinue offerings that no longer deliver strategic or partner value.
• Align priorities, timelines and accountabilities across Institutional Relations, Global Operations and other key teams.
• Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives from concept through implementation.
• Create clarity, resolve competing needs and sustain momentum when priorities or solutions are undefined.
• Resolve complex development and delivery issues by convening the right stakeholders and driving decisions.
• Translate complex information into clear recommendations for leaders and teams.
• Work collaboratively with cross-functional leadership to optimize the full custom program lifecycle, from intake and design through delivery, evaluation and renewal.
• Monitor dashboards and metrics for pipeline, proposals, conversion, forecasting, cycle time, quality and profitability.
• Use data to identify trends, evaluate trade-offs and turn analysis into action.
• Partner with Finance to evaluate program economics, set margin and FX assumptions and align bids with growth, profitability and sustainability goals.
• Advance global delivery standards aligned with the organization’s Playbook of Excellence and a consistent, high-quality partner experience.
• Improve consistency, quality and scalability through clear standards, workflows, handoffs and controls.
• Ensure programs meet organizational standards and The Forum on Education Abroad Standards of Good Practice.

Skills

Leadership

Financial acumen

Analytics

Cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Change management

Salesforce

Excel

Multicultural experience

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Salesforce

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

CEA CAPA Education Abroad is seeking a Senior Director of Custom Program Development to translate growth priorities into scalable programs. You will lead design, budgeting, and global delivery standards while guiding a team of managers and directors across cross-functional partners to deliver academically sound, financially viable study abroad experiences.

You will collaborate with Institutional Relations and Global Operations to optimize the custom program lifecycle, balancing student quality