Assistant Director, Seminar Production and Knowledge Systems

Assistant Director

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society's greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners.

About This Role

The Assistant Director is a high-level systems builder leading and transforming the Center for Leadership's seminar book production function into a scalable, high-quality, and strategically aligned capability, integrated with the Center's broader organizational strategy. This role sits at the heart of the Center for Leadership's work ensuring the intellectual materials that power Aspen seminars are produced with excellence and evolve to meet the needs of a growing global community. The Assistant Director will bridge the gap between high-level strategy and technical execution, overseeing the lifecycle of 100+ annual volumes including a complex copyright permissions process while modernizing internal systems and curating the organization's extensive readings library.

This individual will be responsible for refining the production team service delivery model. They will evaluate how resources are curated, shared, and produced, ensuring that the production workflow isn't just efficient, but is a scalable asset that supports existing partners and the Center's long-term vision. This position reports to the EVP, Center for Leadership. The salary range is $112,000 - $125,000. This position is located at the Aspen Institute's Washington, D.C. office. In accordance with our Reimagining Work policy, the Assistant Director should be willing to be in-person with colleagues a minimum of 40% of the time while having the flexibility to work remotely for the balance. In-person consists of meaningful connections with colleagues in an office, traveling to a different office or location to meet fellow staff members, at an Aspen event, at a meeting outside the office or other opportunities to meet in person with teammates and colleagues.

What You Will Do

Strategic Coordination & Relationship Building

• Stakeholder Relations: Serves as a primary liaison to internal programs for production needs, providing tailored support and navigating the specific preferences of diverse program leads.
• Strategic Planning: Participates actively in developing strategic priorities for the Center for Leadership's intellectual resources such as curriculum, moderators, and productionthe foundation for its leadership development workand integrates these priorities with the wider goals of the Center for Leadership.

Management of Seminar Book Production

• Team Leadership: Leads and develops a high-performing production team, ensuring the team remains motivated and aligned with organizational goals.
• Production Oversight: Directs the full lifecycle of seminar book production, maintaining strict quality control and ensuring all deadlines are met across multiple workstreams.
• Rights & Permissions Management: Oversees the process of securing legal permissions for all pieces used in publications, ensuring compliance with intellectual property standards.
• Prioritization: Exercises judgment in prioritization, trade-offs, and resource allocation across competing production demands.

Systems Innovation

• Process Innovation: Modernizes how seminar materials are produced by improving workflows, organizing knowledge resources, and thoughtfully incorporating new tools where they add value. Leads the exploration and implementation of AI-driven tools to support curriculum design, readings library organization, and permissions tracking.
• Resource Management: Transforms the internal readings library into a searchable, strategic asset; develops user-friendly systems to share intellectual capital across the global Aspen leadership community.

What You Will Need To Thrive

• Bachelor's degree in Information Science, Knowledge Management, Business Management, or related area required.
• Minimum 7 years of experience managing high-volume, multi-stage, fast-paced projects with precision.
• Experience leading teams and stakeholders through process transitions with empathy, clarity, and a focus on long-term buy-in.
• Experience with securing copyright permissions preferred.
• Strong systems-thinking skills, with the ability to design and manage interconnected processes across people, tools, and workflows.
• A proven track record of incorporating new technologies into systems and resource management to improve operational processes. Experience with database management (preferably with Salesforce or similar CRM system), AI models, project management tools, and knowledge management systems preferred.
• A proven track record of translating high-level organizational goals into daily operational realities.
• Strong professional written and oral communication skills and confidence interacting professionally with high-profile individuals.
• Strong interpersonal and customer-service skills, with the ability to build rapport across different cultures and backgrounds, maintain flexibility when working with various departments and remain calm under pressure.
• Willingness and ability to travel in the US and internationally as much as 15% certain periods of the year.

The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave. The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against. The Aspen Institute welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs, including the interview process. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about accessibility, please email hrsupport@aspeninstitute.org or call 202-736-2127 in advance of your visit. Requests for ASL or CART services should be made at least two weeks in advance when possible. We will make every effort to fulfill requests, subject to availability.