Senior Associate Director of Strategy & Operations

  • Full-time
  • Hiring Start Time: Immediate Start (Home Office)
  • HO Team: Co- CEO

Company Description

Uncommon Schools is a non-profit network of 53 outstanding public charter schools in grades K-12 across New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Our mission is to start and manage outstanding urban public charter schools that close the achievement gap and prepare students from low-income backgrounds for success in college and beyond. We are accomplishing that mission every day, with a college graduation rate that is well above the national average and thousands of stories of our students and alumni achieving their dreams.

Job Description

Director or Senior Associate Director of Strategy and Operations (team will determine level depending on candidate background and experience)

Location: NJ/NYC

 

Position Overview

The Director / Senior Associate Director of Strategy and Operations is an essential member of the Uncommon Schools’ President’s Team and will focus on supporting and systematizing the management of our schools. The President’s team scope encompasses all our K-12 schools both in instruction and school operations and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the organization. Managed by the Chief of Staff to the President, the role will support strategy and vision execution for our school management team and work with our school staff as well with our Home Office functions.

 

Responsibilities:

 Strategic Planning and Project Management

  • Advise Chief of Staff, President on school management and school initiatives
  • Drive and manage Presidents strategic planning process and execution
  • Develop frameworks and strategic approaches to challenges or improvement needs
  • Develop and manage materials and deliverables to support initiative/project roll-out, execution, and monitoring (e.g., project plans, dashboard, key performance indicators, templates, etc.)
  • Manage stakeholders on projects, ensuring timely and qualitative communication, facilitating meetings as needed
  • Support and/or lead R&D and innovation projects and processes

School Management and Liaison

  • Manage and support key senior leadership team meetings
  • Create, develop, maintain school health dashboards/metrics/reports to monitor and allocate school resources
  • Identify and problem solve school management issues and codify best solutions/practices
  • Develop data reports and stronger systems around data; working with Data Analytics team
  • Drive and operate President’s talent work around school leadership: rubric, performance review, recruitment/hiring, etc.

President Team Support and Management

  • Manage President communication: creating and managing plans, drafting internal and external messaging, operationalizing the plan, managing stakeholders
  • Develop materials for President presentations: executive, senior leadership, and team meetings
  • Gather input from instruction, operations, and HO functions for decision making and business improvements
  • Administer President’s office operations including owning the budget, on-boarding, and home office ad hoc requests

Qualifications

Desired Qualifications:

  • Exceptional and creative problem-solving, critical thinking, and strategic planning skills 
  • Facility to move comfortably between high level strategic thinking and intricate details 
  • Ability to translate and structure complicated or a lot of information in order for effective decision making and progress towards goals
  • Strong project management as well as time and task management skills, enabling multiple and large scale projects to be completed on time 
  • Ability to learn quickly, to pivot when needed, and to be effective in a fast-paced, dynamic, entrepreneurial environment
  • Able to work autonomously and thoroughly with independent self-reflection, as well as take direction as needed 
  • Outstanding ability to lead and drive change, including influencing and motivating others through relationship building
  • Alignment to and urgency around Uncommon’s mission 

Educational background:

  • A Bachelor’s Degree required, Advanced Degree preferred (MPA, MBA,  or other relevant degree)

Minimum Experience:

  • Minimum 5 years of working experience managing complex and/or cross-functional projects
  • Experience in project management and/or management consulting or other relevant fields
  • Education background preferred but not required

 

This role may require occasional travel to all Uncommon regions

Additional Information

Uncommon Schools offers competitive salaries commensurate with experience and a comprehensive benefits package.  Aside from extensive professional development, all our staff members are equipped with a laptop computer, email, and all necessary supplies.

Uncommon believes in the importance of being a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization that enables our students and staff to thrive. We are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. At the same time, we work to ensure an inclusive community through creating a space for important dialogue about issues of race and identity for our staff and students.  As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.