Senior Manager, Central Office Operations

  • Full-time
  • Hiring Start Time: Immediate Start (Home Office)
  • HO Team: Special Projects

Company Description

Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit network of high-performing, public charter schools providing an outstanding K-12 education in historically under-resourced communities. We have proudly built schools that reflect our student population, with more than 60% of our teachers and staff across our network identifying as a person of color. Uncommon currently manages 53 schools serving more than 20,000 students in five cities: Boston, Camden, New York City, Newark, and Rochester. We are proud that Uncommon graduates persist in and graduate from college at five times the rate of their peers nationally. We achieve this by offering strong academic, co-curricular, and social-emotional learning that prepares students for success in college and beyond.

Job Description

This role leads and supports critical strategic, operational, and cultural work across Uncommon and particularly within the central office. The Senior Manager will lead daily operations and facilities management for Uncommon’s central office, ensuring service-oriented support of central office staff and delivery of operational excellence. As a project manager and member of the Home Office Operations Team, you will work with leaders from across the organization to further Uncommon’s mission and our vision for the central office with a focus on strengthening the quality and efficiency of central teams’ delivery of excellent services to schools.

Core Duties and Responsibilities 

This full-time role requires on site work at Uncommon’s office in downtown Manhattan. 

Operations & Cultural Leadership

  • Manage an Office Manager and Receptionist to:
    • Manage daily operations and facilities management of Uncommon’s 24,000 sq ft central office
    • Ensure all front desk inquiries are addressed in line with Uncommon’s high expectations around employee support
    • Develop professionally through coaching and feedback
  • Strengthen Central Office culture through design and implementation of both daily operations and strategic initiatives, as well as serving as an active culture carrier and leader, including:
    • Leading planning and execution of Central Office staff meetings
    • Overseeing communication vehicles
    • Developing and monitoring culture plans
  • Improve efficiency and impact through management of relationships with IT, vendor services, and building management
  • Develop and manage $.5MM budget in accordance with organizational and team priorities
  • Partner with Senior Director of Home Office Operations and COO on strategic and annual planning for central office team operations
  • Represent central office on cross-functional teams - e.g. related to health and safety, communications, etc.

Strategic Planning, Operational Effectiveness, Leadership Support & Project Management

  • Play an instrumental role in running strategic and annual planning processes for 20 central office teams
  • Develop systems and support measurement of Central Office effectiveness
  • Develop and manage tools to support project roll-out, execution, and monitoring (e.g., project plans, dashboard, key performance indicators, templates, etc.)
  • Lead and execute on strategic projects, including spearheading cross-functional work, conducting research, providing analysis and developing recommendations that move senior stakeholders to make decisions and drive toward action
  • Conduct research on key internal & external topics for key workstreams
  • Perform analysis to identify trends and tee up data-driven recommendations
  • Provide support for Uncommon’s leadership meetings, including developing a scope and sequence, assembling materials, and summarizing meeting content and action steps

Qualifications

  • Strong project management as well as time and task management skills, enabling multiple projects to be completed on time
  • Operational mindset and ability to create systems and processes designed to achieve consistent excellence
  • Eagerness to roll up your sleeves and contribute to Uncommon’s mission and vision for the central office through tasks big and small
  • Ability to build relationships and work effectively across teams and with diverse stakeholders
  • Highly organized with strong attention to detail
  • Excellent and creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills
  • Willingness to serve as an on-the-ground culture carrier and leader
  • Ability to learn quickly, to pivot when needed, and to be effective in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
  • Ability to structure complicated information to facilitate effective decision-making and process improvement
  • Excellent communication skills

Additional Information

Uncommon Schools offers salaries commensurate with experience and a very generous benefits and vacation package. All staff members receive extensive professional development and are equipped with a laptop computer and all necessary supplies.

Uncommon Schools 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 meaningful 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.