[Hiring] Principal, Strategic Transformation @Blackboard

Role Description

Blackboard is evolving. We are the originator of the learning management system, and our next chapter will redefine it. That requires a set of cross-functional changes our competition avoids: operating model, cost structure, systems consolidation, and how artificial intelligence changes every aspect of how we work. The Chief of Staff owns that agenda with the executive team.

This role makes it run. You will build and hold the picture of what is happening, through relationships as much as documentation. You will keep the operating rhythm honest, do the analysis behind the decisions, and stay on the follow-through until the work is done.

You will do all of it with artificial intelligence as your toolbox. We expect you to understand what we need deeply enough to build it yourself, in weeks rather than quarters, and to set the pace for the rest of the company.

What You Will Do

• Hold the global view: one defensible picture of initiatives, progress, purpose, and routes to success.
• Run the rhythm: ensure transformation work is well run, including agenda, materials, and decision-making mechanics.
• Do the analysis: baselines, business cases, and benefit tracking, built with Finance.
• Carry assigned workstreams: take initiatives end to end, including diagnosis, design, delivery, and measurement.
• Surface what is uncomfortable: identify duplication, slippage, unowned work, and small risks early with evidence.
• Drive our evolution: find areas for rethinking and build tools to facilitate change.

What Success Looks Like

• First two weeks: A first read on the portfolio, meeting initiative owners, and delivering one honest observation to the Chief of Staff.
• First month: A complete and defensible baseline, predictable rhythm of reviews, and your first recommendation on prioritization.
• First year: Leadership relies on your view of the portfolio, decisions get closed, and your use of AI is adopted by other teams.

Qualifications

• You believe ownership is a first principle in everything you do.
• You work natively with modern artificial intelligence tools and have built things with them.
• You have run complex cross-functional work in an organization where nobody reported to you.
• You are comfortable in a spreadsheet and in front of executives.
• You write clearly and briefly.
• You follow through without being reminded.
• You are steady when priorities shift and communicate when something is not working.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

What We Are Not Looking For

• Someone who tracks status without understanding the work.
• Someone who needs a title to be listened to.
• Someone waiting for a team before they will take ownership of anything.
• Someone who treats artificial intelligence as a topic rather than a tool to build with.

Benefits

• The expected salary range for this position is $154,000 - $190,000.
• Placement within the pay range will depend on experience, skills, internal parity, and location.

Company Description

Blackboard is a leading EdTech company and SaaS provider that delivers the digital environment for transformational teaching and learning. We serve thousands of institutions with the industry's most AI-advanced LMS, Blackboard Ally for accessibility, and institutional effectiveness solutions that put educators and learners at the center.