Engagement Director - School Improvement
- Job Title
- Engagement Director - School Improvement
- Job ID
- 27587137
- Work From Home
- Yes
- Description
-
About Mass Insight
Mass Insight Education & Research is a Boston-based nonprofit serving schools and districts nationwide. We partner with states, districts, schools, and other stakeholders across the U.S. to create equitable K-12 education systems and programs, so that each student is prepared to fulfill their academic potential and life ambitions.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We strive to be an organization that lives into its beliefs around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). We welcome and expect our current and future team members to join us on this collective journey. You can find our DEI Belief Statements here.
About the School Improvement Team
The school improvement team is a diverse group of passionate, thoughtful, kind, and analytical leaders and learners. Our team includes many former teachers, school and district administrators, and our team brings significant experience in research and nonprofit work.
We regularly meet as a whole team and as in project teams to ensure that we have the most perspective possible to make internal and external decisions. We support our partners by asking questions that get to the heart of the matter, cheerlead, and expertly facilitate diagnostics, planning, and performance management. Our team builds our local relationships and context in order to build our partners’ investment and capacity. In all of our work, we share a deep commitment to equity, which manifests in our self-awareness, systems analysis focused on dismantling inequitable policies and practices, and in expert thought partnership.
Engagement Director Position Summary
Mi’s work includes conducting needs assessments, facilitating planning, and supporting partners to implement and continuously improve strategies that increase equitable experiences and outcomes for all students. We also support the development and implementation of district school improvement zones, cross-district school improvement networks and state-wide school improvement strategies. We are seeking an Engagement Director to join our staff as a member of the School Improvement team.
At Mass Insight, an Engagement Director holds two major responsibilities: leading and developing an internal team of Engagement Managers and spearheading complex client engagements which will require interacting with leaders at multiple levels - school, district, and state. The Engagement Director reports to the VP of Program and Strategy and is an integral member and leader of the School Improvement team. It is expected that they will take on major responsibilities quickly. As most secured client engagements focus on transformational efforts at both a school and systems level, this position will manage a team that will play a significant role in implementing several school-wide improvement efforts targeted at the school level but also the larger infrastructure of a school system. We also often partner with state education agencies to assess, articulate, and improve strategy for supporting district and school-level effectiveness and improvement.
Within 12 months in the role, a new Engagement Director on the Mi team will typically be able to take on the buckets of work listed below:
Project and People Management- Lead a team to the outcomes set forth in scopes of work
- Hold decision-making over most elements of a client engagement from the scoping phase to completion
- Navigate nuances across stakeholders, advocate for and allocate the appropriate team resources, and manage the overall success of a portfolio of partner engagements
- Leverage internal organizational resources (e.g. time, people, money) to strategically drive results towards contract and organizational outcomes
- Develop, manage, and report on project budgets
- Spend significant time growing our leaders to be highly effective at doing all of the above themselves
- Develop engagement managers to the next level of their own skill in all of these things.
- Manage the most executive relationships in the client space (superintendent, commissioner, other executive leadership)
- Engagement Directors themselves, and/or through support to others, deftly navigate the most difficult, contentious and/or highest stakes politics and decisions to ensure impact, success, and optimal reputation of Mi
- Lead the management of all aspects of a scope of work
Internal Leadership- Design and facilitate significant components of staff learning and meetings (e.g. team step backs, Quarterly, all staff, department meetings, etc.)
- Take responsibility along with all Engagement Managers and Engagement Directors for ensuring effective resource distribution across the entire Mi engagement portfolio
Business Development- Spend 25% of their time on developing new business through networking, RFIs, RFPs, grants, and “courting” prospective clients
- Secure client engagement renewals and proposes/positions new services to existing clients (when appropriate)
Top candidates for this role must have:- 10+ years relevant experience
- Bachelor’s degree
- Experience working in or with schools and/or school systems and/or the orgs that support schools (districts, state agencies, nonprofits, charter management orgs, etc.)
- 3+ years of consulting experience
- Experience managing managers
- Business development and/or sales and/or fundraising experience
- Willingness to travel 1-2x per month on average
- Previous leadership experience at the executive leadership level within schools or districts.
Mass Insight Development Framework
Mass Insight has identified a set of Core Competencies that it expects to see in all staff members. Candidates for the Engagement Director position will have multiple opportunities to showcase their skills and mindsets and how they align with the expectations for someone in this role. We commit to using what we learn during the interview process to co-create an onboarding and development plan with our new team members.
Core Competencies Engagement Director Skills and Mindsets Champions our theory of action - Understands and helps others to understand how our work can advance each element of the T of A with both Mi staff and partners
- Organizes and leads work to implement all elements of our theory of action
Believes in and grows people - Energizes others through a sense of optimism and commitment to the work
- Intentionally builds the skills and knowledge of both Mi staff and partners
- Empowers staff to lead their work with autonomy
- Effectively coaches Mi staff to meet individual developmental goals
- Provides feedback to other staff in a positive and constructive manner
Promotes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness - Interacts in both internal and partner relationships with a high level of self-awareness, recognizing how identity can impact perception and action
- Uses facilitation techniques to promote honest dialogue and expression of diverse, at times dissenting, perspectives to advance the work
- Supports an inclusive team culture that encourages diverse perspectives and innovative thinking
- Cultivates, develops, and retains diverse and skilled staff
- Identifies and challenges cultural assumptions at the individual, team, and organizational levels
Establishes partner trust - Develops trusted advisor relationships with partners that extend beyond individual projects
- Understands partner challenges and anticipates partner needs
- Consistently balances candor and transparency without antagonizing the partner
- Able to negotiate scopes of work/contracts that are true to both the theory of action and our commitment to use a design-based approach to meet partner needs
Manages projects to impact in spite of ambiguity - Makes effective decisions and prioritizes the work of self and/or team members based on partner and contract needs.
- Comfortable adapting to change and helps teammates manage their response.
- Responsible for assisting both project team and partner site with maintaining focus on key objectives, while being responsive to on the ground complexities.
Effectively Works as a Team Player - Effectively manages both team process and products to meet MI and partner goals
- Energizes others through a sense of optimism and commitment to the work.
- Provides recognition to teammates for behaviors that support and advance the work
- Establishes positive and productive team norms, models those norms and holds team accountable for adhering to them
Solves Complex Problems Systematically - Organizes projects to identify and address root causes
- Provides strong solutions to all problems related to contract
- Leads processes that solve partner and team problems
Continuously Builds Both Education & Specific Subject Matter Expertise - Has a solid and growing understanding of education reform (history, current research, emerging topics) and draws connections to Mi’s work
- Able to make comparisons and place Mi’s work in national context for partners and team members
Communicates Effectively - Actively listens and efficiently gathers and organizes relevant information
- Adjusts communication style depending on the audience and purpose
- Contributes to Mi’s knowledge and outreach through publications and speaking
- Capably represents Mi with partners and other stakeholders
Facilitates Effectively - Effectively facilitates problem-solving, decision-making, and action-planning meetings with partners.
- Appropriately uses team members in facilitating partner meeting
Compensation and Benefits
We’re proud to offer comprehensive benefits to staff:- A salary of $120,000- $160,000 commensurate with experience
- Excellent health, dental, and vision coverage
- 401k with a company match
- Tuition reimbursement for continuing education
- Generous paid time off
- Flexible work arrangements
Please go here for additional information www.massinsight.org/benefitsTo Apply
Mass Insight strives to build a staff and board that reflect the cultural diversity of the schools and districts that we partner with. Mass Insight is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, ability, age, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin. BIPOC and other individuals from historically marginalized groups are encouraged to apply.
Please apply and submit your resume here http://j.brt.mv/CompanyPortal.do?companyGK=29932&portalGK=17931