Director, People Operations (FY26)

DonorsChoose makes it easy for anyone to help a teacher in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education.

Since 2000, more than 6 million people and partners have contributed $1.8 billion to support 3 million teacher requests for classroom resources and experiences. Projects range from drums to teach music students new rhythms, to books that affirm students’ identities, to shoe-making materials for an unforgettable lesson in engineering. We proudly serve all US public schools, public charter schools, and Head Start centers, and work to direct donations to the schools facing the greatest barriers to opportunity.

DonorsChoose has been recognized as a best place to work by GOOD Magazine and the  Nonprofit Times, while Fast Company named DonorsChoose one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World—the first time a charity has made this list. Our dedicated team works from across the United States to bring classroom dreams to life.

About the People & Talent Team

The People & Talent Team cultivates an inclusive culture of excellence at DonorsChoose, by hiring, retaining, and investing in a high-performing team who share an unwavering passion for educational equity. Our work is powered by the belief that diverse and lived experiences across our organization make us better able to do great work. We gather feedback, measure our impact, and iterate on the employee experience to ensure that everyone is celebrated and supported throughout the employee lifecycle. 

About the Role

DonorsChoose is seeking a strategic, collaborative, and results-oriented Director, People Operations (DPO) to lead the organization’s people operations function across payroll, benefits, compensation, HR policies, compliance, and people data and systems. The DPO will design and implement scalable, equitable, and legally sound practices that support a distributed workforce of 200+ employees across 25+ states, ensuring that our people operations infrastructure meets the organization’s needs. In close partnership with leaders across the People & Talent team, the DPO will strengthen our compensation framework, benefits strategy, and HR technology ecosystem while embedding practices that advance transparency, consistency, and equity throughout the employee lifecycle. The DPO will also drive the development of reliable data systems and dashboards that deepen organizational insight and inform decision-making.

The Director will report directly to the Vice President, People and Talent, manage two direct reports, and lead strategic projects on behalf of the team, with the core responsibilities outlined below.

In this role, you will oversee an equitable approach to the following work: 

Payroll and Benefits Strategy and Management

• Own the organization’s payroll and benefits strategy as a core operational capability, ensuring compliance, equity, scalability, and team efficiency and accuracy for a distributed, multi-state workforce; serve as the final decision-maker and approver for payroll
• Set the strategic direction for payroll operations, anticipating regulatory, organizational, and workforce changes; translate complex legislative and regulatory developments into clear operational requirements and lead the team in org-wide implementation
• Assess and make recommendations to ensure DonorsChoose maintains competitive, equitable, and innovative benefits that set it apart as an employer of choice
• Lead benefits renewals and vendor strategy, including evaluation, selection, and negotiation, balancing cost, impact, employee experience, and organizational priorities in line with organizational goals
• Own employee-facing benefits and payroll communication strategy, ensuring clarity, transparency, and trust, and enabling leaders and managers to confidently communicate changes and tradeoffs
• Build and lead the operating model for payroll and benefits execution, setting clear expectations, decision rights, and accountability for all members of the team and related partners

HR Policy Development and Compliance

• Own DonorsChoose’s HR policy and compliance strategy as a core organizational capability, serving as the final decision-maker on policy interpretation and