National Council for Mental Wellbeing Director, Learning Technology

About the National Council for Mental Wellbeing

The vision of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing is to make mental wellbeing, including recovery from substance use challenges, a reality for everyone. Despite overwhelming need, nearly 30 million people across the U.S. do not have access to comprehensive mental health and substance use treatment.

Founded in 1969, the National Council is a 501(c)(3) membership organization that drives policy and social change on behalf of more than 3,100 mental health and substance use treatment organizations and the more than 10 million children, adults and families they serve. We advocate for policies to ensure equitable access to high-quality services, build the capacity of mental health and substance use treatment organizations, and promote greater understanding of mental wellbeing as a core component of health and health care. Through Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), we have trained more than 4.5 million people in the U.S. to identify, understand and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges.

The National Council operates as a remote-first organization, with employees working from locations across the United States.

The Opportunity

As Director, Learning Technology, you will help the National Council expand and improve its learning offerings by translating learner needs and program priorities into effective technology solutions. You will lead the continued development of an established learning technology ecosystem, including a custom-built platform, and help shape what it can do next. The opportunity is to understand the problems learners and program teams need to solve, explore the technical possibilities and guide the development of capabilities that make a meaningful difference.

From the start, you will work with product, program and learning colleagues to understand how the platform is used, where learners and teams encounter challenges, and what new use cases require. You will get to know its architecture, integrations and workflows, translate needs into functional specifications, and work with developers and vendors to carry improvements from design through testing and release. The product and program teams provide the business needs for the National Council’s learning ecosystem; you will bring the learning technology expertise and technical judgment that help turn those choices into practical, sustainable solutions.

Our programs serve different audiences, funders and learning goals, and learning paths are not always linear. A learner may enter through an assessment or survey, browse a catalog, receive a recommendation, or move through content based on outcomes, competencies or prior activity. The platform is already built to support complexity that conventional learning management systems do not easily accommodate. You will build on that foundation as learner needs and program use cases evolve.

This role will appeal to someone who enjoys exploring technology and building useful products, and who is equally curious about the people, business needs and practical constraints behind them. Working with Enterprise Technology colleagues and directly managing a team of three, you will guide platform decisions and delivery while keeping the system reliable, adaptable and sustainable as it grows.

Key Responsibilities

Learning Technology Strategy and Development

• Lead platform strategy, architecture and the technical roadmap for the National Council’s learning delivery ecosystem, with particular responsibility for the custom learning platform. Partner with product and program teams to connect business goals and user needs with opportunities to improve and extend the system.

• Develop a deep understanding of how National Council programs deliver learning, including non-linear pathways shaped by assessments, recommendations, competencies, outcomes, audience needs and program or grant requirements.

• Partner with product and program colleagues to shape functional specifications for new capabilities and enhancements. Translate business requirements and learner needs into clear platform requirements, workflows, user stories and acceptance criteria, contributing a technical perspective on feasibility, dependencies and tradeoffs.

• Make thoughtful build, buy, configure and integrate decisions in partnership with product and Enterprise Technology, preserving custom capabilities where they create meaningful value and using commercial tools where they are the better fit.

• Use learner feedback, platform data and operational insight to identify opportunities for improvement. Develop measures with product and program colleagues to understand how platform enhancements support learning and business outcomes and guide further development.

Platform Development and Technical Leadership

• Develop a deep understanding of the platform’s functional design, architecture, data flows, integrations and operating model to lead its continued development and day-to-day operation.

• Evolve the platform to accommodate new use cases and workflows while maintaining its coherence and reliability. Guide design choices that add useful capabilities and keep the system maintainable as it grows.

• Partner with developers, vendors and internal technology colleagues on solution design, APIs and integrations, identity and access, data and analytics, security, accessibility, scalability, reliability and performance.

• Guide solution design and review proposed technical approaches, helping developers and partners work through tradeoffs and ensuring new capabilities meet learning and business needs.

• Maintain strong functional and technical documentation so knowledge of the platform is durable and shared rather than concentrated in a single person.

• Lead enhancements and releases through testing, change management and operational readiness, bringing new capabilities into use while ensuring continuity for active learners and programs.

Cross Functional Collaboration

• Explore emerging needs and new use cases with product, program, curriculum, operations and technology colleagues, and shape a learning technology roadmap that supports the organization’s evolving goals.

• Develop clear intake and delivery planning practices with product and other partners so ideas can move from discovery to implementation. Work together on priorities, feasibility and sequencing, keeping stakeholders informed as enhancements take shape.

• Translate effectively between product, learning, program and technical teams, making complex choices understandable to non-technical partners and business needs actionable for developers.

• Manage external technology and development partners, setting clear expectations for scope, quality, timelines, documentation and support.

• Anticipate platform risks and dependencies and bring forward practical recommendations before they become barriers to program delivery.

Team Leadership

• Lead and develop a team of three, creating clarity around responsibilities, priorities and service expectations.

• Coach team members to deepen their learning technology, technical-product and operational capabilities, build shared knowledge of the platform and contribute to its continued development.

• Establish goals and measures for the team and ensure work aligns with Enterprise Technology and organizational priorities.

• Create an environment of accountability, collaboration, learning and respectful challenge.

What We Are Looking For

There are several paths to this role. Strong candidates may have grown through learning technology, LMS/LXP product ownership, education technology, customer education platforms, learning systems implementation, or a related product or technology discipline. We are more interested in the capabilities you bring than in a single prescribed career path.

Core Qualifications

• Significant experience owning, implementing or evolving learning technology products or platforms, with a strong understanding of how technology supports real learning journeys and program outcomes.

• Experience serving as a product owner, product manager, learning technology leader, systems lead or comparable role in which you translated user and business needs into platform requirements and delivery priorities in partnership with business and program colleagues.

• Strong technical fluency with modern web applications and integrated platforms. You do not need to be the primary software engineer, but you should be comfortable discussing application architecture, APIs, integrations, data flows, SSO/IAM, environments, testing, security and release decisions with technical teams.

• Working knowledge of learning technology concepts, standards and ecosystems, such as LMS/LXP platforms, SCORM and/or xAPI, learning content, assessments, catalogs, credentials, reporting and learning analytics.

• Experience guiding developers, implementation partners or technology vendors and evaluating whether proposed solutions meet functional and technical requirements.

• Experience managing a technical roadmap, balancing competing technical needs and leading enhancements or releases from discovery and requirements through testing, launch and measurement, aligned with business priorities.

• Ability to understand complex workflows, simplify ambiguity and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• People leadership experience, including coaching, setting expectations and building accountability.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

Especially Valuable

• Experience with custom or highly configured learning platforms, particularly environments that support multiple audiences, programs or non-linear learning pathways.

• Experience with Ruby on Rails or another modern web application framework, whether through development, technical product ownership or close partnership with engineering teams.

• Hands-on ability to configure platforms, prototype solutions, work with APIs or make targeted application changes. Comfort using AI-assisted development tools is a plus.

• Experience with AWS or another major cloud environment.

• Experience with LearnUpon or other commercial LMS/LXP platforms and integrating them with custom learning experiences.

• Experience in a nonprofit, association, education, public health or other mission-driven environment.

• Experience supporting learning programs shaped by grant, contractual, credentialing or reporting requirements.

A note on technical depth: We are looking for someone who can lead the ongoing development of a sophisticated technical product in close partnership with product, make sound decisions with developers and vendors, and understand how the pieces fit together. Hands-on configuration, prototyping or development experience is valuable, but is not a requirement for success in this role.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $155,000–$170,000. Salary decisions within the range are based on experience, education and internal equity.

The National Council offers a comprehensive benefits package, which includes (but is not limited to):

• Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance

• 403(b) retirement plan with employer contributions after 1 year of service

• Paid time off, including vacation, sick, personal, floating holiday, bereavement and observed federal holidays

• Parental support benefits, including adoption, fertility and surrogacy reimbursement and two weeks paid parental leave

• Free unlimited Relias professional development courses

• Annual professional development and tuition reimbursement funds

• Calm Premium access

This position can be performed remotely from anywhere in the U.S. Employees in this role must primarily work Washington, D.C. business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET.

How to Apply

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their applications promptly through our online portal. All applicants will receive a response. Please contact

hharris@positivelypartners.org

Candidates who advance can expect an initial phone interview with the Positively Partners team, a follow-up interview with the Vice President, Enterprise Technology, and a multi-part final interview with a range of stakeholders.

Positively Partners is committed to conducting an equitable, accessible search process. Accommodation requests during the interview process will be handled confidentially. Please email

search@positivelypartners.org

The National Council is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We embrace individuals from all backgrounds and perspectives, welcoming people of all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations and ages, as well as veterans, people with disabilities, and those with lived experiences in mental health and substance use challenges to apply. We are committed to fostering a welcoming environment and recruitment process for everyone.

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