▶️ The Incubation Architect: A systems-thinker who views school development not as a checklist, but as a long-term investment in citywide excellence. They possess the technical expertise to design and oversee a high-performing charter school and leader incubation program - from fellow recruitment and coaching to new school planning and launch - and the strategic instinct to refine that model as Baton Rouge's education landscape evolves.

▶️ The Veteran School Practitioner: A leader who brings the on-the-ground credibility of a former principal to every conversation. They are equally comfortable discussing high-level portfolio strategy and the nuances of what it actually takes to open and sustain a great school - from culture-building in the first year to improving outcomes for the most underserved students.

▶️ The Talent Strategist: A developer of people who understands that a city's school system is only as strong as its pipeline of great leaders. They are capable of building grow-your-own programs, principal residencies, and coaching systems by navigating complex partnerships with higher education, local districts, and national organizations - and they measure success by the leaders they leave behind.

▶️ The Collaborative Diplomat: A high-level influencer who can build community across a diverse ecosystem of school operators, district leaders, technical providers, community stakeholders, and policy makers. They have a proven track record of moving stakeholders with disparate opinions toward a unified vision for what excellent schools in Baton Rouge can and should look like.

• May 1: Priority Application Due Date

• May 8: Zoom Screens End

• May 11 - 15: Project Phase

• May 18 - 22: Virtual Coffee Chat with Team

• May 25 - 29: Semi-Finalist Round on Zoom

• June 8 - 12: Final Interview Days (in-person in Baton Rouge, LA)

• July 1: First Day

THE OPPORTUNITY

New Schools for Baton Rouge (NSBR) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 with the goal of ensuring every student in Baton Rouge has access to an excellent school, inspiring all students, and preparing them for success after high school. NSBR works with families, school partners, and community leaders to identify citywide needs in education, then provides grants and develops strategic partnerships to address these needs. NSBR fundraises, nationally and locally, to enable these investments in the city. NSBR has invested $85 million to support students, families, and schools. The organization is poised to continue supporting the city at this scale in the coming years.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Managing Director of School Leadership (MDSL) is a critical new senior leader role for NSBR. In this role, you will be an important partner to the Leadership Team responsible for ensuring all students in Baton Rouge will achieve at high levels. As MDSL, you'll help to implement and oversee NSBR's new school development and school support strategies to ensure NSBR portfolio schools achieve consistently excellent results. In addition, you'll be a part of a high-performing team to develop strong relationships with school operators, external training partners, and the local communities. As MDSL, you will report to Maggie Runyan-Shefa, NSBR's Strategic Advisor for School Achievement. NSBR is a hybrid organization; you will be expected to work in the office and in the field approximately 80% of the time and from home approximately 20% of the time.

As Managing Director of School Leadership, you will:

Oversee the programmatic development of a high-performing charter school and leader incubation program

• Together with the Leadership Team and the Growth Team, implement learning from local and national leaders in order to build school incubation programming and supports for school incubation pathways

• In collaboration with the Growth Team, update the plan for school growth by developing and maintaining deep knowledge of both Louisiana and national education landscapes

• Work with internal and external partners to design and implement impactful programming for principals and school incubation fellows

• Build and maintain meaningful relationships with key programmatic partners, local education and community stakeholders

• Allocate and manage financial resources to support each new school's planning and launch

• Lead recruitment of fellows for incubation and existing principal programming, coordinating internal and external selection teams for the fellowship and playing a key role in final decision-making

• Lead the coaching of fellows, driving NSBR's incubation programming work and identifying programmatic partners based on fellow's unique needs

Implement a strategy to ensure all NSBR partner schools achieve at consistently high levels

• Implement a multi-year achievement vision, strategy, and plan that supports new and existing NSBR partner schools to catalyze student achievement throughout the city

• Manage and allocate NSBR's resources to help move Baton Rouge charter schools to high-quality

• Partner with the Managing Director of Growth to ensure the team has the right information and data to make strong investment and operational decisions to advance our work; serve as a subject matter expert for selection and investment decisions

• Support the Director of School Achievement to oversee school improvement grants and associated programming to ensure continuous improvement of student achievement data in partner schools; use information and insights from school walkthroughs and school achievement data to refine and deepen the work of the team

Oversee and manage key stakeholder and community relationships to ensure NSBR is positioned to do our best work

• Support the development of strong relationships with new and current operators in the NSBR portfolio to ensure partner schools have the support and autonomy they need to achieve ambitious results

• Manage the Director of School Achievement to develop a strong external relations strategy to ensure ecosystem collaboration to support our school improvement priorities, including with local district, higher education, and community partners

• Identify and partner with key national organizations to support high quality instructional programs in our partner schools

Manage and lead a high performing team to achieve ambitious outcomes

• Develop and implement a vision for an effective, growth-oriented team

• Lead the Achievement team to set annual goals that advance NSBR's priorities

• Support direct report in achieving their aligned individual goals and understanding how they contribute to NSBR's mission

• Ensure the growth, development, and retention of team members through expert management and coaching

• Manage team budget and resources, including time and effort of employees and consultants

EXPERIENCE

NSBR is seeking candidates with at least 6 years of relevant experience and 4 years of leadership experience, specifically:

• Experience as a school leader/site principal (required); CMO leadership experience (preferred) in K-12 public schools or private schools serving predominantly low-income populations (required)

• Proven educator (teacher development, achievement gains) who managed a high performing leadership team (required)

• Experience in school leadership training, coaching, and development

• Start-up experience (preferred)

QUALIFICATIONS

• Deep understanding of Baton Rouge context and education ecosystem and strong relationships with key stakeholders and education leaders

• Expert in leadership development, teaching and learning, and school improvement and start up

• Excellent organization skills; demonstrated ability to structure work into timelines and deliverables and think ahead proactively to address dependencies and roadblocks

• Ability to build community and influence across a diverse group of stakeholders including school districts, technical providers, operators and management organizations, and policy makers; track record of moving individuals with disparate opinions toward a unified vision

• Strategic thinking and problem solving, with the ability to identify the root causes of complex issues and synthesize data points clearly and efficiently

• Excellent written and oral communication skills; demonstrated ability to communicate effectively

• Resilience, strong work ethic, and outcomes orientation; demonstrated ability to balance competing priorities under stress and follow through despite sometimes tight or unexpected deadlines

• High degree of self-awareness with the ability to learn quickly, accept and use feedback, work effectively under pressure

• Demonstrated track record of leading toward excellence

• High comfort with ambiguity and tolerance for risk

• Strong team manager who is able to help others grow and develop

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree required, Graduate degree preferred

WORK DEMANDS

• Willingness to work in the office at least 4 days a week (Monday-Thursday)

• Willingness to work some weekends and evenings

• Occasional travel across Louisiana and the United States

• Ability to travel locally to various school sites and external partner organizations both during and after typical work hours

APPLICATION

To apply for this position, please complete the application form using this link.

The priority deadline for this role is _________, ______________ at 5:00pm CST. In the application form, you will be asked to answer the following questions [300 words or less per question] in lieu of a cover letter:

1. Why is the Managing Director of School Leadership role at NSBR the right next step for you, and why are you uniquely qualified for this role?

2. Tell us about an organization, initiative, or project you started and led that had a significant impact on student outcomes. What was the initiative, what did you do, and what were the results?

3. Describe a situation where you had to influence a decision maker who you didn't have direct management and/or authority over to make a change at the systems level. Preferably we'd like to hear about a decision maker you worked with outside of your organization. What were you hoping to accomplish, how did you approach the situation and what was the outcome?

COMPENSATION

This is a full-time role offering compensation that is competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications. The salary range for this role is $150,000-$175,000. In addition, NSBR provides a comprehensive benefits package that includes individual health and dental insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) plan with company-matching contributions.