Professional Learning Operations Manager
Zearn · Remote · $70,000–$90,000 (stated in the posting)
The Purpose of Zearn
Zearn is the nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to inspire all kids to love learning math. Everything we do is driven by our belief that every kid is a math kid.
Our top-rated learning platform is designed to catch kids up and move them forward in grade-level math. And it works. Large-scale efficacy research shows students who use Zearn make significant gains in math proficiency, including the students who start multiple grade levels behind.
As a nonprofit, all of our work is driven by what is best for kids. At the same time, we operate as an intense and fast-moving technology company, inclusively solving hard problems that will impact current and future generations. The problems we solve require expertise in teaching, learning science, software development, design, video production, and countless other disciplines. As an organization that is always stretching to get to the next level of impact, every single person owns mission critical work.
If you’re ready to join our Team of problem solvers, and own work that will drive us to achieve impact at scale, we are looking for you.
Learn more about us at https://about.zearn.org/.
The purpose of the Professional Learning Operations Manager role at Zearn is to own the daily operational engine that powers the seamless delivery of more than 1,000 professional learning sessions to educators nationwide each year. By ensuring every session is appropriately staffed, operational workflows run flawlessly, and capacity constraints are proactively resolved, this role directly enables educators to build the pedagogical and platform expertise they need to help all students love and achieve in math. Operating in a fast-paced environment, the Manager keeps the operational train moving while steadily improving workflows, standardizing operating routines, and using data to make recommendations that help the team serve more educators while supporting sustainable facilitator workloads. This is achieved by:
Owning the daily execution of the systems and processes that move a professional learning session from booking through successful delivery.
- Manage the end-to-end facilitator assignment workflow across all virtual and onsite professional learning engagements, matching facilitator expertise and readiness to specific district and school needs.
- Balance complex scheduling trade-offs, including educator-facing impact, travel logistics, working-hour sustainability, and cost efficiency, to make sound, equitable staffing allocations.
- Manage operational changes to assignments and schedules, including reschedules, cancellations, open dates, and changes to session details, resolving time-sensitive delivery risks with minimal friction for educators and facilitators.
- Develop operational plans for multi-session deployments, customized district partnerships, and peak-volume delivery windows.
- Proactively communicate staffing decisions, schedule adjustments, and operational expectations to facilitators, managers, and cross-functional teams.
Balancing educator demand with facilitator capacity by using operational data to anticipate constraints and expand organizational reach.
- Track and analyze booking patterns, delivery pipeline, and facilitator utilization to maintain real-time visibility into operational capacity and constraints.
- Identify high-demand periods, geographic hotspots, and format constraints where educator demand may exceed internal capacity, forecasting risks well before they become delivery bottlenecks.
- Formulate proactive capacity and staffing recommendations for the Professional Learning Operations Director when demand trends indicate potential delivery constraints.
- Maintain clear, dependable views of training availability for Partnerships and internal and external stakeholders to ensure accurate booking timelines and commitments.
- Provide historical analysis to inform ongoing staffing strategies, and long-term delivery planning.
Managing and improving the operational processes and controls that enable Professional Learning to deliver reliably at scale, while continuously identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce operational risk.
- Oversee daily and weekly operational rhythms across the systems, tools, and workflows that support Professional Learning delivery, ensuring consistent, high-quality execution across a 1,000+ session portfolio.
- Serve as the primary escalation point for urgent operational issues, coordinating timely resolutions that protect the educator and facilitator experience.
- Identify recurring operational friction and implement practical improvements, including workflow simplification, lightweight automation, and reporting or quality checks.
- Establish and refine standard operating procedures and operational controls that support consistency, accuracy, and resilience as volume and complexity grow.
- Manage operational logistics for periodic internal Professional Learning team events, including the team's annual onsite workshop.
The Next Problems for this Role to Solve
- How do we reliably match the right facilitator to the right learning experience at the right time while maintaining cost efficiency and workload sustainability across a 1,000+ session portfolio?
- How can we use operational data to anticipate delivery bottlenecks and surge periods early enough to act before they impact educator experience?
- Where can lightweight automations, better use of existing systems, and structured quality controls eliminate administrative overhead and human error in our existing booking tools?
- How do we make our operating practices flexible enough to support new professional learning products, back-to-back delivery models, and evolving partner requirements?
- What routines, reporting mechanisms, and SOPs will help the team operate consistently as delivery volume and complexity grow year over year?
Skills You Bring to the Table
- Operational Stewardship & Execution: You thrive in the details and take deep pride in running an accurate, dependable operational engine. You understand that high-quality logistics and flawless administrative routines are foundational to a stellar service delivery experience.
- Systems & Workflow Optimization: You naturally spot inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and manual redundancies. You have a knack for leveraging existing tools, lightweight automations, and smart controls to make complex workflows faster, simpler, and less error-prone.
- Analytical Problem Solving & Data Fluency: You comfortably navigate spreadsheets, operational databases, and utilization reports. You can synthesize messy operational data into clear insights, spot underlying root causes, and present structured recommendations to leadership.
- Decisive Prioritization in Motion: You excel in high-volume, dynamic environments where delivery never stops. You maintain composure during unexpected disruptions, quickly distinguish between routine tasks and high-stakes escalations, and prioritize effectively to keep commitments on track.
- Collaborative & Empathetic Communication: You communicate complex operational updates, schedule shifts, and logistical dependencies with clarity, speed, and empathy, building strong trust with facilitators, school partners, and internal stakeholders alike.
Potential Markers of These Skills
- 3-5+ years of experience in training operations, learning operations, professional services delivery, workforce scheduling, or another high-volume service-delivery environment.
- Experience managing complex resource allocation, scheduling matrices, or staffing workflows across virtual and in-person delivery channels.
- Experience directly administering scheduling, training, learning, CRM, or related operational systems.
- Strong spreadsheet and data-management skills, including experience using data to identify exceptions and operational risks.
- Experience improving manual workflows through automation, system configuration, scripts, AI tools, or other practical technology solutions.
- BA/BS or equivalent professional experience.
This is an Individual Contributor Role
- Title: Professional Learning Operations Manager
- Reports to: Professional Learning Operations Director
How We Work
- We aim to create a numeracy movement. This is no easy feat, and no one of us can solve this on our own. Given that, Zearn is a transparent, collaborative, and open-to-feedback culture.
- Our work is often collaborative in nature:
- We own our deliverables in close collaboration with others
- We communicate openly, and share early thinking and drafts often
- We seek ways to create and improve systems, and work with each other to contribute thinking in both asynchronous and synchronous discussions.
- We create a sense of community through regularly sharing context so we can collectively solve problems to drive Zearn’s velocity.
Location
This role requires general working availability aligned with Eastern Time, including early-morning hours to support before-school educator needs.
Travel
This role is remote, however you will be required to travel for business and team gatherings, a minimum of 2 times per year.
Compensation & Benefits
The compensation range for this role is $70,000 - $90,000 per year.
We offer a competitive benefits package, including comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, 401K matching, parental leave, and a generous PTO policy. We also offer a collegial and passionate culture and the potential to positively impact the lives of millions of children.
To Apply: https://apply.workable.com/j/1796E9F3AB
Zearn is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.