Senior Director, Transformation

About the Organization 

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of tuition-free 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 275 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and 175,000 students and alumni.    

Our mission: Together with families and communities, we 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. 

Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. 

The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation trains and develops outstanding educators to lead KIPP public schools; provides tools, resources, and training for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations. 

About Our Values: 

• Excellent Results for Students: We value results over effort and know that our work is not finished until all students thrive.  

• Collective Impact: We are one team. We win together. 

• Courageous Action: Our belief in what we can achieve is unwavering, fueling our optimism and commitment to overcome any challenge. 

About The Position 

The KIPP Foundation is seeking a Senior Director (SD) of Transformation to drive strategic change and innovation across its operations.  The SD will be responsible for leading strategic transformation efforts across KIPP Foundation teams (i.e. Finance, Schools, Talent, etc.), while ensuring alignment with the organization's 5-year strategic plan. The SD will directly drive transformation processes, change management and stakeholder engagement and be held accountable for execution and measurable progress towards goals. The ideal candidate is a dynamic leader with deep expertise in managing large-scale change initiatives within complex organizations and directly influencing others through strong collaboration. The candidate must also possess strong project management skills and a keen ability to build high-quality, actionable and scalable processes. This is a high-impact role on the COO team, reporting directly to the Vice President of Transformation. 

Responsibilities 

Operational Excellence 

• Effectively partner with team leaders to quickly understand current state and required steps to transition users to new processes and tools 

• Monitor, analyze, and report on the progress of transformation initiatives 

• Conduct analysis to identify areas of improvement, uncover opportunities for innovation, and proactively manage and mitigate risks associated with business transformation, while developing contingency plans to address potential obstacles. 

Transformation Execution 

• Partner with team leaders to oversee day-to-day operations of transformation processes, ensuring timely delivery and maximum impact 

• Support the end-to-end management of implementation, including project plan creation and stakeholder engagement 

• Identify training needs for program owners by analyzing current strengths and weaknesses, and design targeted training interventions to develop capacity, enhance skills, and meet organizational goals 

• Responsible for assessing and greenlighting transformation initiatives and processes in alignment with determined criteria 

• Monitor, analyze, and report on the progress of transformation initiatives 

Stakeholder Management 

• Oversee and be responsible for team leaders integrating new systems and processes into existing operations and executing transformation projects effectively 

• Develop and implement change management strategies to influence team leaders and drive transformation initiatives 

• Collaboratively work with all relevant Foundation and regional stakeholders to formulate implementation, communications, and program strategies for successful change management and risk mitigation 

Skills and Mindsets 

Mindsets: 

• Mission & Student Focus: Demonstrates passion and commitment to KIPP’s mission and possesses the desire and ability to uphold KIPP’s core values (Focus on Excellent Results, Collective Impact, and Courageous Action) 

• Self-Awareness: Practices self-awareness at work, understanding that it is foundational to leading self, leading people, and leading results; uses reflection, self-understanding, and feedback to grow, and persist through challenges, and as a result, are cognizant of the impact of their behavior on others, and intentional about the decision to adjust or not adjust their behaviors. Displays an owner’s mindset by taking ownership of successes and failure. 

Skills: 

• Effective Work Management: Sets a clear vision for new or complex bodies of work. Develops and implements agile project plans, navigating difficult situations or conflicts while maintaining effective relationships with all stakeholders. 

• Process Management: Able to build and align goals and project plans with organization priorities; effectively develops and codifies cross-team processes relevant to their team’s work that improves work quality and efficiency; uses data to drive process improvements in support of organizational priorities. 

• Achievement and Outcomes Orientation: Demonstrated record of setting ambitious goals and achieving them with consistency. Invests in developing teammates’ skills and mindsets to address gaps in achieving team growth; determines what quantitative and qualitative data are most relevant to their goals and supports the team in creating and monitoring systems for collecting, reviewing, and acting upon data to drive outcomes; able to monitor progress, communicating status to the right stakeholders and adjusting plans to yielding desired outcomes. 

• Strategic Decision Making and Problem Solving: Effectively uses data to shape teamwide decisions and the learning agenda or evaluation of a function or significant initiative. Able to generate, implement, and evaluate solutions with a focus on scalability and sustainability. 

• Change Management and Communications: Effectively articulates case for change to multiple functions, teams, and/or offices through clear and compelling presentations, tailoring communications and engagement approach for different audiences. Effectively translates vision into actionable plans among across team stakeholders; Champions KF and networkwide change with all stakeholders. 

• Effective Teaming and Stakeholder Management: Has the interpersonal, diplomatic, relationship building, and communications skills necessary to develop successful working relationships with diverse constituents to deliver results; excellent communication skills with an aptitude for translating complex information into a clear and persuasive narrative; convinces others by identifying benefits for all. 

Experience and Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree is required, advanced degree preferred 

• 8+ years of experience in program or project management 

• 5+ Years of experience in a leadership role, directly or indirectly managing 2+ team members 

• Experience with learning and development, offering professional development, and/or adult coaching 

• Charter School Management or experience in a related field is a plus but not required. 

• Experience in large-scale change management, turnaround and restructurings, or related work 

• Ability to build replicable, repeatable systems and processes with strategic objectives and drive results. 

• Strong strategic problem-solving, project and process supervision, and stakeholder management skills. 

• Excellent relationship building, communication and collaboration abilities. 

• Experience in program governance, KPI development, and performance tracking. 

• Proficient in Microsoft Office and Teams 

Work Conditions 

• Travel requirements: 25% 

• Full-time position 

Location 

It is preferred, but not mandatory for this role to be based out of the NYC KIPP Foundation office. This role has the option of working from a remote office full-time.    

Compensation and Benefits    

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, and relevant experience.  The salary range for this position is $150,000 - $181,000. In addition, KIPP Foundation provides a variety of benefits to employees, including:  

• 25 holidays for + 18 days additional flexible PTO days (flexible PTO increases to 23 days for years 3 and 4 and to 28 days for years 5+). 

• 100% paid parental leave 

• 100% coverage of the premium for employee and 75% for employee + family’s medical/dental/vision plans. 

• Wellness benefits such as fitness reimbursements, discounted tickets to theme parks/attractions, backup care support for children and adults/elders, and our employee assistance program 

• Finance Security benefits include such as a 401K retirement plan with 4% match, employer-sponsored legal plans, life/disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts 

KIPP Foundation embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities with whom we work and the world that around them. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.