Associate Director, Product Solutions and Development Operations

We are seeking an Associate Director to join the Foundation in its mission of benefitting, supporting, and enhancing the California Community Colleges—the largest and most diverse system of higher education in the nation. The Foundation for California Community Colleges is on a mission to double its impact in the next 10 years. We are a group of relentless optimists and innovators in education, working collaboratively with public and private partners to help improve the student experience and expand pathways to economic and social mobility in communities across California.  

What You’ll Do 

At the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FoundationCCC), we’re not just building systems—we’re helping shape the future of the largest and most diverse system of higher education in the nation. Our mission: to double our impact over the next decade by creating equitable, innovative pathways for over 2 million students and the communities they call home. The Associate Director of Product Solutions and Development Operations will: 

• Lead and evolve the Foundation’s DevOps and Solutions Architecture strategy, aligning it with organizational goals. 
• Design and sustain high-performing, secure cloud-native infrastructure using AWS, Azure, or GCP. 
• Champion DevOps best practices—including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code (IaC), and systems automation—to improve system resilience and deployment efficiency. 
• Evaluate emerging tools and technologies to keep our tech stack at the forefront of innovation. 
• Mentor and grow a collaborative, agile team of DevOps engineers and solutions architects. 
• Partner with internal stakeholders and external vendors to ensure systems meet technical, compliance, and product excellence standards. 

Attributes for Success  

• Relevant BA/BS, equivalent work experience, or a combination of both 
• Minimum of five years of related work experience in software engineering with at least two years in a solution or system architecture role 
• Proven experience supporting and scaling distributed systems, APIs, and cloud-native applications. 
• Strong understanding of databases (SQL/NoSQL), API design, and integration patterns (REST, GraphQL, messaging, etc). 
• Familiar with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP. 
• Working knowledge across tech stacks—frontend, backend, and infrastructure. 
• Strong knowledge of cloud-based orchestration, and serverless systems. 
• Experience with DevOps principles and CI/CD pipelines for streamlined development and deployment. 
  Proficient in using a wide range of technology platforms, including Zoom, Microsoft Office, Teams, Outlook, Salesforce, and Google Workspace. 
• We’re recruiting for mission-driven, passionate, equity-minded individuals with a strong desire to impact and change people’s lives for the better 
• Our work holds great weight and responsibility, and the opportunity to impact the lives of millions 
• Innovation, creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurship are encouraged as employees work to achieve organizational goals 
• FoundationCCC blends the impact of a non-profit, the culture of an entrepreneurial start-up, and the scale of a state agency 
• Team members are hired for their expertise in niche areas across our areas of impact and higher education overall, and for their knowledge of business, philanthropy, technology, communications, and more 
• We have a commitment to professional development and an emphasis on shared leadership, to ensure growth for employees and the organization overall 

What we Offer 

FoundationCCC is fully committed to a “remote-first” philosophy, and recruits and hires talent across the state in fully remote positions, where virtual work is possible. Our headquarters are located in Downtown Sacramento, just blocks from California’s State Capitol.  

Benefits 

• Competitive compensation, generous PTO, holidays  
• Medical, dental, and vision plans, Flexible Spending Accounts, and Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and Wellness offerings 
• CalPERS retirement program and optional 403(b) and 457 Retirement plans 
• Tuition reimbursement 
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness certified employer  

If you have any additional questions, please email us at [email protected].