THE OPPORTUNITY

New Schools for Baton Rouge (NSBR) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 to ensure 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 $92 million to support students, families, and schools. The organization is poised to continue supporting the city at this scale in the coming years, while also launching a statewide growth plan to expand access to high quality charter schools across Louisiana. 

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Director of Growth plays a critical role in managing NSBR’s strategic growth initiatives and scaling the impact of our work by identifying, vetting, and funding high-quality charter schools to open new schools in Baton Rouge and Louisiana. In this role, you will be an essential partner to the Executive Director of Growth, the Achievement team, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). NSBR is a hybrid organization, and 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, with occasional travel within Louisiana and nationally.

As the Director of Growth, you will:. 

Implement the NSBR’s comprehensive charter growth plan to expand access to excellent schools for more Baton Rouge families

• Refine and implement the plan to expand the number of high-quality seats available to students in Baton Rouge

• In partnership with the Executive Director, manage NSBR’s master seats plan for both Baton Rouge and Louisiana, ensuring an annual pipeline of high-quality fresh-starts, expansions, and turn-around charter schools

• Oversee the process to cultivate and recruit new schools in Baton Rouge

• Actively manage the due diligence process for prospective operator investments, identifying and addressing key strategic questions and issues as needed and coordinating the team’s investment recommendations to the NSBR Board

• Oversee the development, approval, and execution of grant performance milestones, in collaboration with grantees and internal NSBR teams

• Continue developing and refining Growth team playbooks and standard operating procedures to ensure consistent and effective practices and operations

Support operators to get charter schools approved and launched successfully in Baton Rouge and throughout Louisiana 

• In partnership with the Managing Director of School Leadership, co-design, co-own, and co-operate NSBR’s new incubation program, ensuring future school founders have the knowledge, resources, and supports needed to launch high quality charter schools

• Assist operators with charter and grant applications, staffing and financial modeling, facilities development, operations, enrollment, and other key start-up activities 

• Work closely with operators during the first year of launch, expansion, or turn-around to ensure they meet grant milestones and deliverables

• Stay up to date on key policy issues as they arise -- including school accountability, charter authorization, charter renewal, funding, and district/charter policy — and prepare for an agile organizational or operator response to any policy changes

Manage the Growth team’s data reports, interval and external communication, and stakeholder engagement 

• Manage and update weekly NSBR Dashboard metrics

• Track, organize, analyze, and report school-level, city-level, regional, and state enrollment and trends

• Analyze core data sets and share insights across NSBR teams aligned with organizational objectives

• Develop and ensure timely submission of Growth team materials, including  internal and external memos, presentations, proposals, and reports for operators, funders, the NSBR Board, and other key stakeholders

• Manage strong productive relationships with current and prospective charter operators and school leaders, as well as District charter leaders and key LDOE charter staff

EXPERIENCE

• At least 3-5 years of relevant leadership experience, specifically: 

  • Charter school experience required, charter school start—up experience preferred

  • Expertise in charter school growth, policies, operations, facilities, and/or finance

QUALIFICATIONS

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

• Excellent written and oral communication skills—demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with school leaders and other education professionals

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

• Ability to learn quickly, accept and use feedback, work effectively under pressure, and manage a diverse workload

• Demonstrated track record of leading and working with high levels of excellence. High comfort with ambiguity and tolerance for uncertainty

• Ability to serve as an organizational leader both internally and externally

• Ability to influence without authority and commitment to high-quality conversational capacity and communication skills

• A high degree of self-awareness and a demonstrated commitment to learning and continuous improvement

• Proficiency with Tableau, Stata, Python, and/or SQL (preferred)

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree required

WORK DEMANDS

• Willingness to live in Baton Rouge or surrounding communities

• Willingness to work some weekends and evenings

• Occasional travel across the United States 

• Ability to travel frequently to conduct business with external partners and at school sites, across Louisiana, during and outside of typical work hours

COMPENSATION

This full-time position offers competitive compensation commensurate with experience and qualifications. The salary range starts at $100,000-$115,000. NSBR also provides a comprehensive benefits package that includes individual health and dental insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) plan with company-matching contributions.

APPLICATION

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please complete the application form using this link to apply for this position. 

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 Director of Growth role at NSBR the right next step for you, and why are you uniquely qualified for this role?

2. Describe a time when you managed a complex project. What structures and systems did you implement? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them?