Professional Development Program Specialist

Job Details

Description

I. Purpose

The Program Specialist provides advanced customer service for ASHA Professional Development’s learning products, offering direct support to learners facing complex or escalated issues. The incumbent investigates root causes and collaborates across departments to design, implement, and refine solutions. They also serve as the primary liaison to ASHA’s frontline customer support team and surface learner trends that inform broader improvements.

II. Key Responsibilities

• Resolve complex learner issues. Provide direct support to learners experiencing escalated or ambiguous challenges—investigating root causes, coordinating with other teams when needed, and ensuring each issue is fully resolved.
• Create and manage workarounds for ongoing learner issues. Identify root causes of learner issues, design sustainable fixes or workarounds, and coordinate their implementation and ongoing management across relevant teams and systems.
• Empower ASHA’s frontline customer support. Partner with the Action Center to identify support trends and help frontline staff succeed—clarifying boundaries, sharing feedback, and ensuring a smooth learner experience across tiers.
• Serve as a learner feedback channel. Identify and share patterns in learner challenges, helping the APD team understand real-world system pain points and continuously improve the learner experience.
• Set up and refine learning products. Configure courses in the LMS and perform quality assurance checks across interconnected systems (AMS, ecommerce, LMS) to ensure accuracy and consistency.
• Strengthen cross-functional collaboration. Collaborate across the organization to identify gaps in support processes, create scalable solutions, and develop tools and resources that improve first-contact resolution and overall learner experience.
  
  

IV. Autonomy & Decision Making

The program specialist is expected to work independently, serve as a subject-matter expert in learning support operations, and proactively identify and address systems or process issues. The specialist exercises sound judgment in coordinating across teams, implementing solutions, and creating or updating procedures as needed. Guidance is available for high-risk or novel issues, but the specialist is generally expected to take ownership of problems from identification through resolution. The specialist also serves as an important feedback loop, actively and consistently sharing learner challenges with the APD team and advocating for better learner experiences.

Qualifications

V. Qualifications & Skills

Knowledge Typically Acquired Through

• 3 or more years of experience in a problem-solving or operations-focused role; ideally involving customer support in a complex technical or systems environment
• Experience navigating multiple business systems (e.g., LMS, CRM, AMS, ecommerce) and collaborating across teams to resolve system-based issues
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent years of work experience
  
  

Skills

• Advanced proficiency with business systems and tools including CRM, LMS, and ecommerce platforms
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot and resolve issues that span multiple platforms or integrations
• Demonstrated ability to design and document sustainable workflows that support operational scale and consistency
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills; able to navigate ambiguity and develop practical solutions
• Clear and effective communicator across technical and non-technical audiences
• Skilled at collaborating with cross-functional teams to resolve complex issues
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize support trends into actionable feedback for process and product improvement
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain internal resources, documentation, or training tools that enable frontline or partner support teams to succeed.
• Highly organized with the ability to independently prioritize multiple concurrent tasks in a fast-paced environment
  
  

VI. Universal Expectations of ASHA Staff

At ASHA, we believe in working together to make well-informed decisions that will advance the association and the discipline of human communication sciences and disorders; teamwork is vital to achieving our mission, vision, and maximizing impact. As committed stewards of the organization, we care deeply about our professions, members, and staff, and building a strong and welcoming community. We strive to ensure that everyone's voice is heard and valued. We are dedicated to helping each other grow and innovate by encouraging open communication and continual learning. Our focus is on delivering excellent service and value to members, advancing equity, and promoting diversity, inclusion, and the power of science and research.

VII. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

ASHA is an equal opportunity employer. As such, it is ASHA’s policy to provide equal opportunity to all qualified applicants and employees without regard for race, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation or LGBT status, genetic information, citizenship, or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ASHA's Bylaws. This policy applies to recruiting, hiring, transfer, promotion, compensation and benefits, upward mobility, training and development, access to facilities, termination, and other personnel actions.

VIII. Disclaimer

This job description reflects the primary responsibilities of the job but is not a detailed description of all duties which may be required of someone in the position. All ASHA staff are expected to take on additional responsibilities from time to time and to help their colleagues.