Senior Professional Development Lead - Operations

Posted Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 4:00 AM To be considered for this position, please upload your resume and cover letter at the prompt. Founded in 1955, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with more than 120,000 members. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies . I. MAJOR FUNCTION: The Senior Professional Development Lead is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and lifecycle management of NASW’s professional development products. This role owns the roadmap and performance of revenue-generating, non-dues products, including continuing education and digital platforms, ensuring they deliver strong member value, align with organizational goals, and achieve financial sustainability. Working cross-functionally with NASW departments, the Senior Professional Development Lead translates member needs and market insights into scalable, high-quality product offerings and continuous improvements across the portfolio. II. MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES: Owns the end-to-end product lifecycle for NASW professional development offerings, including ideation, discovery, prioritization, launch, optimization, and retirement. Develops and maintains product strategies and road maps for continuing education and related digital products. Partners with subject matter experts including in marketing, technology, and with operations teams to define product requirements, value propositions, pricing considerations, success metrics, and go-to-market alignment. Ensures seamless and high-quality user experiences across all professional development products and partner technologies. Serves as the primary product owner and liaison for external vendors and platform partners, managing requirements, timelines, enhancements, performance expectations, and ongoing optimization. Uses customer research, member feedback, usage data, and market analysis to inform product decisions, prioritize enhancements, and identify growth opportunities. Defines and monitors product performance metrics, including engagement, satisfaction, adoption, and revenue, and uses insights to drive continuous improvement. III. MINIMUM WORK REQUIREMENTS: Skills: Strong product ownership skills, including roadmap development, prioritization, and lifecycle management. Ability to analyze product performance data and customer insights to drive strategic decisions and improvements. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex requirements for diverse stakeholders. Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence without direct authority. Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills. Knowledge: Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications, or a related field preferred. Social work degrees are welcomed. Knowledge of product management principles, user experience considerations, digital platforms, and data-informed decision-making. Familiarity with marketing technology, learning platforms, and customer engagement tools preferred. Experience: 5+ years of progressively responsible experience in product management, digital product ownership, or a closely related role. Non-profit experience highly preferred. Corporate experience welcomed. Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-channel or platform-based products from concept through launch and optimization. Demonstrated ability to balance multiple product initiatives simultaneously, adapting to changing priorities while maintaining quality, alignment, and strategic focus. Experienced in presenting and communicating with senior management and executive leadership, including a board of directors Experience working with vendors, technology partners, and cross-functional internal teams. Proficiency with product, analytics, and collaboration tools required. IV. ATTRIBUTES Results driven: Sees the big picture, develops and monitors key performance metrics, and takes appropriate risks to produce the desired results. Not content with simply maintaining the status quo. Business acumen: Sees opportunities and emerging trends, and is knowledgeable about the operations, unique needs, and goals specific to member-driven, not-for-profit organizations. Sets priorities wisely and knows how to make tough resource allocation decisions, always finding a way to forward strategic initiatives. This individual knows how to translate strategy into action and enjoys solving tactical and process problems to meet strategic goals. Partnership: Builds trust internally and externally and must be viewed as highly professional, discreet, and accountable. Organizational agility: Has a thoughtful, respectful communication style that fosters an open environment, enabling thought-provoking discussions and collaborative decision making. Perceptive: This individual is creative and intuitively recognizes opportunities and takes appropriate action. This is a union position and is hybrid (3 days in office, 2 days remote). This position is eligible for NASW benefits: Health/Dental/Vision Insurance, Paid Time Off, Paid Parental Leave, 401(k) retirement plan and more. NASW is an equal opportunity employer. As such, NASW is committed to promoting and providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. The selection of personnel, including new hires and promotions, will be on the basis of qualifications designed to ensure appointments of persons able to effectively discharge the duties and responsibilities of their position. The Association will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), marital status, veteran status, physical or mental disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. The Association will also abide by applicable Affirmative Action requirements mandated by any federal contracts.