At Rocketship Public Schools, we believe in the infinite possibility of human potential. We believe that every student deserves the right to dream, to discover, and to develop their unique potential and it is our responsibility and our privilege to unleash the potential inside every Rocketeer we serve. Our non-profit network of public elementary charter schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. We are a collective of parents, teachers, leaders, and students working together to transform the future for underserved communities across our country. At Rocketship Public Schools, we are unleashing potential.
Position Description
The Senior Director, School Operations is the leader of Rocketship’s School Operations function across our national network of twenty-two schools. This critical role directly manages one National Operations staff member, serves as a direct coach for our seven Regional Directors of Operations (RDOs), and through them, serves as an indirect coach for our 20+ Business Operations Managers (BOMs) and hundreds of Operations Specialists (OSs). The SDSO reports directly to the VP, Program: East Coast as a member of the National Program Leadership Team. Though our network-wide Ops goals are a team effort across all of these valued teammates, as our network-wide leader of the School Operations function, the Senior Director, School Operations is ultimately our central owner of Ops outcomes across all regions and schools. And as anyone who runs a school knows, strong school operations directly support a school’s broader goals of student achievement and family/community relationship-building – making this role a foundational piece of our network’s overall success.
As part of this work, the Senior Director, School Operations owns the Operations talent pipeline, hiring, talent development, performance management structure such as evaluations and walkthroughs, and culture – creating and leading execution of systems and structures that allow our organization to select, support, and ensure success for these valued colleagues and all the categories of responsibilities they fulfill. This includes our schools’ success in running strong operations systems (e.g. arrival, breakfast, lunch, recess, dismissal) that meet the needs of our ten thousand students each day. It also includes efficient and effective running of Operations Services including procurement ($2-3m in purchases annually), facilities maintenance for our soon-to-be 22 school sites, student health and safety during a pandemic and beyond, and more.
The Senior Director, School Operations’s work spans the following essential functions:
Regional Director of Ops (RDO) & Business Operations Manager (BOM) support, development, and hiring (~30%)
- Evolve and execute systems and structures that ensure our regions and schools are staffed with strong, growing Ops leaders who are achieving strong operational outcomes
- Own and execute the vision for RDO leadership development at Rocketship, working closely with key regional stakeholders including Executive Directors in setting overall goals and in ensuring each of our ~7 RDOs receives tailored coaching and development (directly, via their manager, and leveraging external resources)
- Own the vision for BOM development at Rocketship, closely collaborating with RDOs and others to evaluate BOM development needs across the network, develop structures and trainings to build BOM skill, and ensure a combination of centrally-facilitated and regionally-led sessions to build skills in our important BOM team. This includes a strong focus on preparing BOMs to be successful leaders, managers, coaches, and skill developers for their Ops Specialist teams – both in service of strong Ops systems outcomes for our students, and in service of Ops Specialist career progression, especially toward BOM roles (see below for more details)
- Coordinate the hiring/selection process for new RDOs and BOMs, including sourcing and screening
- Evolve and oversee RDO and BOM onboarding, leveraging support from experienced RDOs and BOMs
- Deepen our partnership and further align our practices with Rocketship’s “instructional side of the house,” including ideally working together to find opportunities to fully integrate some functions and/or initiatives over time (e.g. potentially at some point transitioning BOM hiring to the broader Talent team to be integrated with Rocketship’s AP hiring efforts)
Operations Specialist (OS) development and Ops Rising Leaders program (~20%)
- Closely collaborating with RDOs and other key stakeholders, own and oversee execution of Rocketship’s vision for Ops Specialist development and career pathways – including the path for them (and other staff) toward BOM
- Evaluate OS development need trends across the network, develop structures and trainings to measure and build skills, and ensure BOMs are successfully developing the necessary competencies in their OS teams to set them up for success in their current role and beyond
- Evolve our framework for OS career pathways and increase its in-school use to drive OS development and career progression – both toward the BOM role and toward a variety of other opportunities within our organization (e.g. Lead Server, tutor->teacher, Office Associate->Office Manager, IT Technician, etc.)
- Evolve our Operations Rising Leaders (ORL) program for OSs and other staff members interested in the BOM role. Work with the Talent team to further integrate with their Rising Leaders program. Increase the number of staff (and especially Ops Specialists) who come through the program prepared to be successful in the BOM role, especially in service of our DEI-focused Always Important Goal of elevating representative leadership within our network
School Operations team culture (~10%)
- Own and elevate our School Operations team culture nationwide for staff at all levels
- Engage directly and regularly with School Operations staff at all levels and in all regions to ensure a continued “pulse” on team perspectives and concerns
- Dig into Ops team (BOM, OS, RDO, other NeST) data on culture, satisfaction, retention, and cross-team/school NPS scores, and work across the team and with other stakeholders to evolve and meet our quantitative and qualitative goals on these key indicators
- Create and execute culture-related initiatives impacting the Ops team – in partnership with RDOs and other regional leaders, BOMs, Rocketship’s Talent team, and others
- Leveraging a diverse set of data and voices, identify areas of DEI-related strength and weakness within the School Operations team and create initiatives to continue to elevate diversity, equity, and inclusion across many aspects of the team and its work (e.g. representative leadership, sense of inclusion within the team, supplier diversity in procurement, etc.)
Other central School Operations work (~30%)
- Support a variety of other central School Ops efforts as needed, including serving as a central coordinator of Rocketship’s increasingly-regionalized COVID health and safety work
- Manage part-time Director of Operations Services in their work. This includes coordinating $2-3M in school-based procurement annually; ensuring purchase/contract compliance; owning facilities maintenance and improvements for our 20+ school sites; executing our weekly School Leader Central hub; and other central operations supports
- Serve as central coordinator of our org-wide COVID health and safety work. The decision-making and execution of this work is completed within our regions, but some central coordination is still required. This includes coordinating across national teams to provide guidance and support to regions; serving as a thought partner for RDOs both during broader check-ins and specific situations that arise; and supporting Rocketship’s tracking and response to COVID data across our network
- Own the frameworks for school operations topics (recess, lunch service, arrival, dismissal, physical space, other school-based systems, etc), working with RDOs and other key stakeholders to set expectations, define excellence, evolve and document standard operating procedures, and build tools to support regions and schools
- Lead other Operations-related work as needed
Program Team Leadership (~10%)
- Partner and Collaborate with the National Program Leadership team across all team functions - providing feedback and support to other parts of the team - Academics Team, Professional Learning, Families and Communities, etc.
- Participate in National Program Team structures and functions to support each Region of Rocketship Public School and on the National Level as well
- Contribute to National professional Development - Summer Professional Development and Mid Year Achievement Summit
- Plan and Lead RPL wide events logistics and operations in partnership with Professional Learning Team
- Promote and elevate the Rocketship Core Model Program across all schools
Skills and Characteristics
- Deep commitment to Rocketship’s mission, and desire to have an impact in an innovative and high-performing organization. Passion for unleashing potential in all students is a core part of our culture, and a critical value of successful “Rocketeers” across all roles!
- Profound understanding of elementary school success, including both best practices for school operations and a broader perspective on “how the pieces fit together” in a school to ensure all work supports student achievement and authentic family/community engagement
- Ability to manage, coach, and develop team members with diverse skill sets and backgrounds, and build significant management/leadership/coaching skill in others
- Ability to build strong partnerships across functional areas and across regions, with a flexible “one team mindset” in bringing diverse stakeholders together to successfully rally around (and execute against) a shared vision of success
- Strong project management skills and well-honed attention to detail paired with an ability to “zoom out” to a broader strategic lens
- An innovative, problem-solving mindset -- not satisfied with the way things are but constantly thinking about how we can improve things – always striving to set up systems and processes that are user-friendly, especially for school-based staff and students
- Enthusiasm for working in a fast-paced, dynamic, and ever-changing environment, with the ability to navigate occasional ambiguity
- Strong listening skills, and an enjoyment of collaboration with teammates with diverse opinions and backgrounds
Education Background and Work Experience
- Bachelor’s degree preferred
- 5+ years leadership experience overseeing the school operations function in one or more schools, with at least some of that time directly as a successful school-based Ops leader. This must include demonstrated success building an inclusive and positive team culture, and in developing team member skills
- 2+ years either successfully managing/coaching school operations leaders at multiple schools or successfully leading all functions (operations, instruction, etc) at one school. Either one must include experience in multi-level management (i.e. managing managers)
Physical Demands:
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. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and communicate with both adults and children. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally climb ladders. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high.
Compensation:
Commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent health and wellness benefits, 403b retirement plan, flexible spending account (FSA), and generous paid time off.
Rocketship Public Schools provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Rocketship Public Schools complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
Rocketship Public Schools expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Rocketship Public Schools’ employees to perform their expected job duties is absolutely not tolerated. Click here for our Sexual Harassment Policy.
For questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact Human Resources.
