Director, Digital Ops & Support

#25-30167

Westchester, Illinois, USA

Job Category

Information Technology

Full-Time/Part-Time

Full-time

Overview

Budgeted Annualized Salary: $130k - $145k

Job Description

Position Overview

Follett Higher Education is a leading educational service provider and omnichannel retailer, providing students, faculty, staff, parents, and fans with the course materials, learning tools, and retail services needed to successfully support the collegiate journey. Follett Higher Education supports over 6 million students through its 1,100 physical and 1,750 eCommerce campus stores across North America.

The Director of Digital Operations & Support is responsible for support, operations, execution, and troubleshooting of the key strategic program Follett Access, which touches 400 campuses, as well as overall support of Follett Support Center, Customer Support Center, and Willo Support. This role is directly responsible for hiring, training, developing, and strategically leading a team of Digital Operations Managers and Support teams, as well as serving as a liaison for any outsourced support partners, ensuring strong account management and adherence to KPIs for service. This position is responsible for leading the team on Auditing & Compliance reports, collaborating closely with product teams to ensure issues are identified and addressed, leading program analysis efforts to ensure maximized profitability in execution, and producing reporting via Power BI, excel, and other reporting tools. This position works collaboratively and cross-functionally with the Follett Access Success and Implementation teams, Product and Engineering teams, and with course materials and store field teams and reports directly to the VP of Learning and Technology Integrations. Responsibilities include providing deep customer understanding, developing and executing strategic initiatives, cultivating and maintaining partnerships, innovating business models and process, and managing teams that own the end-to-end management of all strategies. This position requires the ability to think strategically about Follett's course material delivery business and operations at a macro and micro level to improve customer value and the value Follett provides to our campus partners.

Responsibilities

Leadership and Strategy:

• Define, structure, and execute operational and strategic initiatives by developing work plans, gathering, and synthesizing relevant data, leading analyses, and developing final recommendations for senior management and the broader organization.
• Lead the Support teams in providing exceptional customer service, aligning team goals with organizational objectives.
• Develop and implement strategies to improve overall service delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Establish performance metrics, ensure the team meets or exceeds service level agreements (SLAs), and identify areas for ongoing improvement.
• Drive innovation within the Support Center by implementing new technologies and support tools to enhance efficiency.
• Analyze current support processes and identify areas for improvement, including ticket resolution times, team workflows, and customer communication protocols.
• Lead initiatives to automate repetitive tasks and streamline customer interactions.
• Stay updated with industry best practices and emerging technologies to maintain a cutting-edge support center.
  
  
  
  

People Development:

• Attract and retain top talent to meet the growing needs of the support center.
• Lead, coach, and mentor a team of support specialists, supervisors, and managers, fostering a high-performing, customer-focused environment.
• Manage a team of team members, leads, and managers, as well as outsourced business partners.
• Design and implement training programs to enhance team skills, product knowledge, and customer service techniques.
• Ensure strong training and ensure SLAs are met/exceeded for outsourced support teams.
• Create an effective work environment, setting a positive tone, establishing performance expectations, and driving accountability through motivation.
• Ensure the team maintains subject matter expertise and adheres to best practices in the ed-tech space as well as in product management, operations, support, implementation, and strategic vision.
• Identify and enable opportunities for professional development to ensure team growth and succession planning.
• Build and mentor a high-performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and customer-centricity.
• Provide strong leadership in problem-solving and conflict resolution to ensure the team delivers exceptional results.
  
  
  
  

Financial Acumen:

• Own and execute platform/program targets to achieve goals related to strategic initiatives, revenue growth, and operating income.
• Develop and execute quantitative analysis and deliver data-driven insights.
• Develop, manage, and oversee the financial aspects of the Support team management, including budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation.
• Ensure that the team adheres to budgetary constraints while maximizing profitability and cost-effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities for revenue growth, such as upselling additional services or expanding existing partnerships, ensuring alignment with financial targets.
• Analyze the margin and profitability of Access programs and provide reporting tools to address shortfalls/opportunities, as well as ensure overall program success via Excel, Power BI, and other platforms.
  
  
  
  

Program Operations & Strategic Execution:

• Lead cross-functional teams, internally and externally, through execution and own accountability for the final metrics, while ensuring stakeholders are engaged and informed.
• Oversee daily operations of the Support Center, including ticketing systems, resource allocation, and escalation procedures.
• Facilitate communication across business groups and stakeholders throughout the course materials cycle.
• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and prepare regular reports on support center performance, including customer feedback, issue resolution times, and team productivity.
• Ensure that clients receive the highest level of service during and after implementation, with a focus on long-term success and satisfaction.
• Gather feedback and data from clients to drive product enhancements, service improvements, and best practices for future implementations.
• Strategically review trends and work cross-functionally with other departments (e.g., sales, IT, operations) to ensure a seamless customer experience and swift resolution of complex or high-priority issues.
• Act as a liaison between customers and technical teams, ensuring customer feedback is incorporated into product and service improvements.
• Implement strategies to proactively reduce common support issues and enhance the customer journey.
  
  
  
  

Requirements

• Master's Degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• 7 years of progressive experience in product management or business management within a technology, media, or education firm.
• 7 years of multiple-team management experience involving but not limited to team member growth plans, hiring, termination, and general oversight.
• Experience successfully navigating and driving change in complex organizations.
• Experience with partnerships involving product integrations.
• Strong knowledge of software development processes, business administration, and logistics functions.
• Demonstrated writing and verbal presentation skills, enabling her/him to prepare and present information and recommendations to a diverse and often senior audience.
• Able to self-manage progress against milestones and deliverables with a high degree of accountability and personal urgency.
• Ability to shift from strategic thinking to tactical execution.
• Owns 360 degrees of implementation, support, and operations for areas.
• Collaborative problem-solving and working style to drive change through influence.
• Experience in translating business needs into product features and technical requirements.
• Proven success in academic technology.
• Proven success in program product management.
• Proven success in program operationalization to execution.
• Proven success in program sales growth.
• Proven success in building strategic partnerships with internal and external parties.
• Well-versed in academic program technical workings such as LMS and SIS Content Provisioning.