Director of Talent Projects

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 54 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 32,000 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 fair world.

Founded in Houston in 1994 and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, we are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. KIPP Texas is a team and family with an unwavering commitment to creating classrooms, offices, and communities rooted in belongingness, academic success and joy.

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 278 schools with nearly 16,500 educators and 190,000 students and alumni.

The Director of Talent Projects plays a critical role in supporting the Chief Talent Officer (CTO) in
advancing a talent strategy that promotes a KIPP Texas’ Team and Family committed to excellence, belongingness, and joy for every Big KIPPsters. This role will lead strategic and operational talent projects, provide critical thought partnership to the CTO, implement talent team culture efforts, and build a data-driven eco-system to ensure the recruitment, development, and retention of high-impact educators, leadership, and staff. The Director works closely with Talent division leadership, SSP business partners, and school-based stakeholders to build a strong, mission-aligned workforce.

This role is perfect for a leader who is passionate about creating a joyful, excellent place to work where all Big
KIPPsters have a sense of belonging. If you are a talent leader who is highly organized, exceptional at turning ideas into reality, and outstanding at collaborating across departments to get things done, this role is for you. This is an incredible opportunity for an emerging talent leader to work alongside executive talent leadership, grow their professional skill set, and gain diverse experiences across the talent and HR functions.

Duties and Essential Job Functions:
1. Strategic support to the Chief Talent Officer (CTO)
● Act as a trusted advisor and provide strategic support to the CTO in managing key initiatives across Talent and Human Resources including:

• strategic collaboration across organizational divisions;
• leadership team support;
• strategic planning;
• special project management;
• data insights, action planning and progress monitoring; and
• external stakeholder management (KIPP Texas board members, talent and HR vendors and partners)

● Communicate on behalf of the CTO, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and alignment with organizational goals.
● Prepare the CTO for upcoming meetings, providing relevant briefing materials, research, and insights.
● Develop executive-level reports, presentations, and briefings for the CTO, synthesizing complex
information into clear and concise formats.

2. Administrative support to the Chief Talent Officer 
● Manage and optimize the CTO’s calendar, meetings, and travel arrangements, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
● Prepare meeting agendas, presentations, and briefing materials for internal and external stakeholders.
● Collect organizational insights and regularly provide the CTO with critical information about what’s happening across the organization.
● Serve as the primary point of contact for the CTO, handling correspondence, scheduling, and follow-ups.
● Anticipate needs, problem-solve proactively, and manage confidential information with discretion.
● Proactively anticipate and schedule important meetings, ensuring all necessary materials and
resources are prepared in advance.

3. Talent project management
● Lead and manage talent-related projects from inception to completion, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
● Develop project plans, set timelines, monitor progress, and ensure successful execution of key initiatives.
● Proactively identify challenges and implement solutions to keep projects on track.
● Coordinate cross-functional collaboration between HR, talent, SSP business partners, vendors, and other key stakeholders.
● Serve as a liaison between the talent team, school leaders, and external partners, ensuring clear communication.
● Organize and facilitate meetings, workshops, and trainings to support project implementation.
● Create presentations, reports, and materials that effectively communicate project impact.

4. Talent Team culture and engagement efforts
● Collaborate with talent division leadership to identify pivotal employee engagement and team culture priorities for the Talent Team.
● Translate culture priorities into projects, initiatives, and traditions, leveraging the voice of the talent team.
● Champion KIPP Texas’ core values and actively seek to incorporate core values in your work and culture efforts.
● Plan, execute, and lead the follow-up for high-level Talent Team Meetings, Retreats, and Step Backs, fostering collaboration, innovation, and alignment within the team.
● Coordinate with internal teammates from various departments to gather content and presentations.
● Facilitate discussions and lead working sessions during team meetings, ensuring that action items are identified, assigned, and tracked.
● Create a culture of appreciation and recognition within the team, celebrating birthdays, work anniversaries, and other significant milestones.
● Partner with managers to develop meaningful celebration plans for team members'; KIPP anniversaries, ensuring their contributions are acknowledged and valued.
● Monitor the health of the Talent division culture and engagement through championing participation and follow up for KIPP Texas staff employee engagement surveys.

5. Data management and reporting
● Maintain accurate and up-to-date records in Skyward (HRIS), SmartRecruiters (ATS), and all other talent and human resource platforms and systems.
● Assist with data collection, analysis, reporting, and visualization to support talent strategy and decision-making.
● Collaborate with the CTO to prepare and deliver talent/HR data requests, reports, briefings, presentations for board meetings, executive leadership meetings, and other high-level engagements.

6. Execute any other duties or projects as assigned by the Chief Talent Officer

Required Education and Experience:
● Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, preferred degree in human resource management.
● 6 years’ work experience in talent, human resources, or people operations.
● Experience working in K-12 public education, preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
● Articulate KIPP’s mission in a compelling manner to a variety of stakeholders and audiences
● Exceptional organizational and planning skills
● Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to influence others to results without positional authority

● Proven written and verbal communication skills
● Ability to bring entrepreneurial energy to the team
● Articulate, professional demeanor with strong self-confidence and initiative
● Ability to prioritize tasks and meet strict deadlines
● Ability to be flexible and adapt to changing priorities
● Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook)
● Proficiency using computers, printers, and copy machines.
● Knowledge of Skyward, SmartRecruiters or other HRIS, ATS, and talent software is helpful, but not required

Physical Requirements:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to
successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Considerable time is spent at a desk using a computer/laptop.
• Ability to move about in a school environment.
• Attending conferences or training sessions.

Work Environment:
The work characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing
the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet
• Typical office environment, usually located on a school campus within separate office space

Travel Requirements:
● 10% in-state travel expected

Compensation and Benefits

Salary is based on years of experience, degree of education, and level of expertise.

As a full-time KIPP Texas employee you are eligible to participate in all KIPP Texas’ benefit plans. KIPP Texas offers a robust variety of benefits choices with competitive rates, including medical, dental, and vision options, life insurance,  fertility, and disability plans starting as low as $25/month.

KIPP provides equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.