Senior Director of Special Projects

Company Description

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 59 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 34,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose —college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

Founded in Houston in 1994, and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in our classrooms, in our offices, and in the communities we serve is unwavering. We are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join our Team and Family and champion equity, chase excellence, persist with purpose, bring joy, and help us rise together.

KIPP Texas is part of the national KIPP network of 255 college-preparatory public charter schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Nationwide, KIPP students complete four-year college at a rate of 36 percent, comparable to the national average for all students and approximately three times higher than the average of students from low-income communities.

You can see all our job opportunities at https://kipptexas.org/join-our-team/.

Job Description

ROLE OVERVIEW:

KIPP Texas is seeking a Senior Director of Special Projects to join their team. In this role, the Senior Director will initially report to the Chief Operating Officer, transitioning to reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Fall 2023. The Senior Director will play a crucial role in supporting the Senior Leadership Team and collaborating closely with the CEO on various strategic initiatives that align with KIPP Texas' 2025 plan. With a focus on effective coordination and communication, the Senior Director will ensure the successful execution of KIPP Texas' strategy by facilitating collaboration among the statewide departments, the KIPP Texas Senior Leadership Team (T2), and the organization's senior-most leadership members (One Song Team). Moreover, the Senior Director will serve as the project manager for key initiatives across departments within KIPP Texas, while also spearheading state or regional-level strategic projects that contribute to the organization's mission and overall impact.

You know you are successful if: 

• You communicate and embody KIPP Texas’ culture and core values
• You increase and facilitate high-impact coordination among cross-functional teams, especially One Song, to support KIPP Texas goals and priorities
• You serve as a critical thought-partner to the CEO and T2 (senior leadership) team, while providing sound counsel and maintaining complete confidentiality;
• You support the CEO in developing critical communications, presentations, and correspondence; accompany the CEO to critical meetings and/or serve as representative at meetings or functions she is unable to attend;
• You provide coordination and oversight in the development and execution of strategic initiatives and special projects for the CEO, organization, and network;
• You demonstrate master-level facilitation skills, zooming in on the problem to solve, and zooming out to make connections for solutions with the appropriate stakeholder input.
• You facilitate effective leadership team meetings ensuring the team is focused on the most critical strategic and tactical issues, making decisions, monitoring organizational progress on key indicators, and cascading communications through the organization

Key Responsibilities

• Represent the interest of the organization and serves as a liaison for T2 via phone, email, and in-person with internal stakeholders
• Support senior leadership through progress monitoring of key performance indicators, prioritizing discussion, decision making and driving the strategy of the organization based on cross-functional connections to achieve specific outcomes on behalf of the organization in a timely and effective manner
• Support in setting the agenda/scope and sequence, prepare briefings, memos, or presentations to communicate findings as appropriate for T2 and One Song's engagement
• Engage with senior leadership,