Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Digital Promise

Status: Full-time, exempt employee

Reports to: President & Chief Executive Officer

Salary: $295,000 to $305,000

Deadline: Resume reviews begin immediately. Best considered by mid-July.

About Digital Promise

Digital Promise is a global nonprofit that connects research, practice, and learning technology to prepare every learner, not just for today, but for everything that follows. We connect educator networks, translate learning science into practice, build pathways that guide learners from school into careers, and help systems ensure every learner thrives.

Guided by ambitious, 10-year Impact Goals, Digital Promise ensures that historically and systematically excluded learners have meaningful Powerful Learning experiences, access to education systems equipped to support their success, and pathways to postsecondary credentials that lead to economic mobility and well-being. 

Digital Promise bridges the gap between research and practice by embedding research and development (R&D) throughout their work. By uniting a diverse ecosystem of educators, researchers, and software developers, Digital Promise translates insights into sustainable solutions to put research into action and drive the purposeful use of technology in education. Through future-facing networks like the League of Innovative Schools, and initiatives like Artificial Intelligence in Education, Digital Promise fosters experiences designed to equip learners for a changing future.

Digital Promise is a fast-paced, high-growth, $85 million organization with a diverse, hardworking, and geographically dispersed 180-person team. Internally, Digital Promise fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment that embraces innovation and a shared sense of purpose. With a strong emphasis on teamwork, integrity, and a passion for shaping the future of learning, Digital Promise cultivates a culture that inspires creativity, compassion, and a commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of those it serves.

Learn more about Digital Promise’s work to shape the future of learning at digitalpromise.org.

Leadership Opportunity

Digital Promise seeks a strategic and action-oriented Vice President & Chief Operating Officer (VP & COO) to serve as a strategic partner to the President & CEO and a key architect of the organization’s next phase of growth and impact. As one of three Vice Presidents and a core member of the Leadership Team, the VP & COO is Digital Promise’s business leader, overseeing long-term strategy implementation, impact, culture and financial performance.

The VP & COO brings a balanced approach to innovation and operational excellence. They will design and strengthen systems that enable Digital Promise to continue scaling while ensuring that organizational infrastructure remains people-centered, mission-aligned, and adaptable within a fast-moving and entrepreneurial environment. The VP & COO will lead a broad portfolio that currently includes People & Culture, Finance, Operations, Contracts, Strategy, and Data, Product & IT (DPI). Through these teams, they will steward the internal systems, planning, and operational frameworks that support Digital Promise’s staff and mission delivery.

With a unique enterprise-wide vantage point, the VP & COO plays a critical role as a connector and integrator across Digital Promise’s work, translating strategic priorities into coordinated action across the organization. By partnering closely with senior leaders, they will identify opportunities, anticipate challenges, and align resources, talent, and operational capacity to advance shared goals. 

The VP & COO will lead with a coaching mindset that emphasizes inclusivity, belonging, transparency, and accountability. They will foster a high-performing culture grounded in Digital Promise’s values while guiding teams through continued organizational growth and change. This leader will bring strong emotional intelligence, systems-thinking, and strategic agility to a role that requires both visionary leadership and disciplined execution.

The role requires the ability to see both the big picture and the details—understanding how decisions in one part of the organization affect the whole, fostering collaboration across teams, and ensuring that leaders have the information, support, and infrastructure needed to execute effectively and maximize impact. Specific responsibilities include:

Operational & Strategic Leadership

• Set a multi-year operational framework that aligns Impact Goals and infrastructure functions to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of programs and services.
• Lead implementation of strategies, systems, and metrics that strengthen organizational performance, scalability, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Partner with the President & CEO and Leadership Team to align organizational strategy, annual planning, budgeting, and operational priorities.
• Ensure organizational infrastructure—including technology, information systems, operational processes, and data systems—supports innovation, scale, and efficiency.
• Lead approach to risk management, including oversight of legal agreements, contracts, compliance, and organizational policies.
• Develop and implement approaches to knowledge management and organizational learning that strengthen collaboration and institutional effectiveness.
• Support the President & CEO with governance matters, including committee management, board development, and staff reporting; serve as committee liaison where appropriate.
• Evaluate organizational performance and recommend strategies that improve operational effectiveness, sustainability, and return on investment.
• Lead and support development of complex partnerships and strategic opportunities that may include new business models, collaborations, or merger and acquisition activity.

Financial Leadership & Organizational Sustainability 

• Oversee the Comptroller and Finance team and partner on financial strategy, forecasting, and long-range planning.
• Lead the annual budgeting process and oversee multi-year financial projections that align with strategic priorities and organizational growth.
• Ensure robust financial reporting, analysis, and forward-looking projections that support effective executive and board decision-making.
• Support leaders across the organization in developing sustainable business models, revenue streams, and funding strategies that increase unrestricted capital.
• Foster an organizational mindset of strategic resource allocation and investment in support of mission impact and operational sustainability.
• Ensure strong internal controls, financial systems, and processes that support accountability, compliance, and effective stewardship of organizational resources.

People & Culture Leadership

• Oversee the People & Culture team and partner with the Deputy Chief of People & Culture to advance strategy that supports employee engagement, belonging, growth, and retention.
• Ensure that organizational policies, procedures, and practices are equitable, compliant, efficient, and aligned with Digital Promise’s values and mission.
• Champion a high-performance culture grounded in collaboration, transparency, coaching, and accountability.
• Support annual employee processes, including organizational goal-setting, performance reviews, compensation planning, and professional development initiatives.
• Serve as a strategic advisor and escalation point on organizational culture, employee relations, benefits administration, and change management matters.
• Guide leaders through organizational growth and evolving operational needs while maintaining strong communication, alignment, and staff support.

Data, Product, & Technology Leadership

• Oversee the Data, Product & IT team (DPI) and partner with the Senior Director of Data, Product and IT to develop and implement enterprise-wide data and technology strategy.
• Ensure Digital Promise’s technical assets, systems, and digital products are mission-aligned, user-centered, secure, and grounded in Inclusive Design Principles.
• Collaborate with teams across the organization to support development, delivery, and scaling of Digital Promise’s products, technical infrastructure, and data systems.
• Approve and oversee acquisition of hardware, software, and technology services needed to support organizational goals and operations.
• Advance data-informed decision-making and strengthen organizational capacity for analysis, measurement, and strategic learning.

Experience, Skills, and Qualities

The VP & COO position will be a challenging and rewarding opportunity that requires a diverse set of skills and experiences. While we understand that no single candidate can possess every qualification listed below, the following are priority areas:

• Minimum of 15 years of senior executive-level operational and financial management experience, preferably within complex, high-growth, mission-driven organizations.
• Passion for Digital Promise’s mission to shape the future of learning and advance equitable education systems.
• Demonstrated success of executive leadership within a rapidly evolving, complex, and highly matrixed organization of comparable scale. 
• Strong strategic and operational leadership skills, with the ability to translate bold organizational vision into actionable priorities, systems, and measurable outcomes.
• Significant experience leading change management efforts, including building consensus, guiding organizational growth, and supporting teams through transition and scale.
• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex ideas and operational realities into clear, actionable guidance for diverse audiences.
• Strong executive presence and experience working closely with boards of directors, including presenting operational, financial, and organizational performance data.
• Strong technological fluency and experience leveraging technology, data systems, and operational tools to improve organizational performance.
• A coaching-oriented style that fosters accountability, collaboration, inclusivity, and belonging.
• Demonstrated commitment to advancing equity-centered and values-driven organizational culture and practices.
• Significant supervisory experience, including developing high-performing teams and supporting leadership growth among direct reports.
• Systems-oriented mindset with demonstrated success implementing operational systems, policies, workflows, and organizational processes that improve effectiveness and efficiency.
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, resource allocation, and organizational sustainability planning.
• Experience overseeing organizational risk management, contracts, compliance, and operational infrastructure.
• Excellent judgment, emotional intelligence, integrity, and interpersonal skills; ability to effectively engage and influence diverse stakeholders and decision-makers.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative, and highly mission-driven environment.

Location & Travel

Digital Promise is a bicoastal organization with offices in Washington, D.C., and California. Employees work remotely across the United States. This position will attend six to eight team retreats (all-staff, leadership, and executive-levels) and on an as-needed basis. The VP & COO routinely travels to meet with employees and support and build organizational culture. Travel is approximately 20%.

Compensation

Digital Promise is committed to creating and maintaining equitable compensation practices by offering competitive salaries, conducting equity audits, and utilizing marketplace research and tools. Digital Promise’s salary bands are based on geography. The range for this position is $295,000 to $305,000. Benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance, employer-sponsored 401(k), and paid time off, including paid parental leave.

Application Process

Digital Promise is conducting this search in partnership with Good Insight, a national executive search firm serving the nonprofit sector. Interested applicants should upload a PDF resume and a detailed cover letter to www.good-insight.org/careers. 

Resume reviews begin immediately. For best consideration, please apply by mid-July. Early applications are encouraged due to the pace of the search. Please direct confidential inquiries to Carlyn Madden and Erin Lau at DigitalPromise@good-insight.org. 

Equal Opportunity Employer

Digital Promise is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.