About The Position 

The Senior Director, Regional Impact provides direct, in-region support and coaching to the Chief Academic Officers and Chief Schools Officers within a defined portfolio of regions, driving their progress against KIPP’s One KIPP academic anchor metrics. Working deeply with a subset of regions, this leader helps build a strong instructional vision, translates ambitious student achievement goals into every classroom and school, and installs the instructional systems that sustain results. This role is in the business of building capacity — in the individual leaders they coach and in the systems and structures of schools and regions as a whole — so that every student experiences an equitable, excellent education. 

The Senior Director reports to the Vice President of Regional Impact and is an integral member of the Schools Team, partnering closely with peers to replicate effective practices across KIPP’s national network. Success in this role requires building credible, trusting relationships with regional and school leaders — learning the specific needs of their regions and delivering differentiated support that meets leaders where they are — while upholding a common network-wide bar of excellence and leveraging continuous improvement methods to drive specific student outcomes within the One KIPP priorities. The Senior Director balances support for leaders’ development with accountability for outcomes, exercising sound judgment in complex, high-stakes environments. This is an ideal role for a seasoned instructional leader — most likely a former principal or principal supervisor — with a proven record of driving results through others who is now ready to make a wider impact on student outcomes across KIPP’s national network. 

Responsibilities 

Coaching and Developing Leaders Toward Excellence 

• Serve as a partner to a portfolio of Chief Academic Officers and Chief Schools Officers to install and improve the academic systems that lead to academic results. 

• Coach the CAOs and CSOs in their portfolio to build the knowledge, skills, and mindsets required to sustain those systems. 

• Fluently leverage core tools — including the Academic Progress Monitoring and Cohesive Coaching Systems Rubric and One KIPP Leadership Competency Model – and continuous improvement methodology — to develop leaders on the moves that drive student results. 

• Follow through reliably on the adoption and mastery of high-leverage leadership practices among CAOS and CSOs and the impact they have on student outcomes. 

Progress Monitoring and Driving Student Outcomes 

• Monitor student achievement against key agreed-upon measures across the portfolio of regions they support. 

• Monitor the adult actions — adoption and mastery of key practices — that yield those student outcomes, using them to inform course corrections, shared learning, and the identification and spread of bright spots. 

• Recommend key learnings and improvements to our shared One KIPP strategy rooted in the correlation between what regional leaders are doing and the results they are achieving. 

Academic Systems Expertise 

• In partnership with the Regional Superintendent and VP of Regional Impact establish a bar of excellence for the systems that regions must run to ensure student growth and achievement at scale. 

• Teach our bar of excellence for academic systems and what it will take to achieve it through coaching and direct instruction at virtual and in-person convenings. 

• Refine our bar of excellence based data analysis and monitoring across regions in the portfolio 

• Coordinate a team of additional content experts pulled into support each region based on regional priorities and need to drive towards their goals. 

Skills and Mindsets 

• Mission and 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-Management: 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 and use of time to ensure systems are yielding desired outcomes. 

• Data-Driven Actions and Decisions: Efficiently defines the right metrics to evaluate work and ensures critical team actions, decisions, and recommendations are driven by data; effectively works with team to resolve issues around data to ensure sound data-informed decisions. 

• Problem Solving: Addresses the root of problems and removes obstacles from work. Understands how solutions may unearth other obstacles further downstream. Shows initiative in generating and recommending ideas and solutions within their own workstreams. Anticipates risks and develops proactive solutions that support their team. 

• Communication and Change Management: Effectively articulates case for change through clear and compelling presentations and translates this into actionable plans. Effectively tailors communications and engagement approach for different audiences to deepen investment and drive actions and behavior change that would lead to org-wide goals. Acts as a champion for change with cross-team stakeholders. 

• Collaboration: Has the interpersonal, diplomatic, relationship building, and communications skills needed to develop successful working relationships with diverse constituents to deliver results. Evolves and adapts plans and approach with diverse stakeholders to drive results. Possesses excellent communication skills with aptitude for translating complex information into clear and persuasive narratives that convince others by identifying benefits for all. 

• Instructional Leadership: Highly skilled in leading the internalization and planning processes, conducting observation/feedback meetings. Can effectively provide real-time feedback, lead weekly data meetings, and set academic goals while monitoring progress. 

 

Experience and Qualifications 

• 10+ years of experience working in schools, combining teaching and school leadership experience, with demonstrated impact on student achievement results. 

• Demonstrated record of exemplary school leadership — most likely as a principal or principal supervisor — with a proven track record of meeting student outcome goals through the leaders you develop. 

• Proven ability to coach and develop school and regional leaders effectively, with measurable and sustained impact on their practice and results. 

• Strong track record of using quantitative and qualitative data to monitor progress, diagnose root causes, and drive timely course corrections across schools or regions. 

• Experience using continuous improvement cycles to drive learning and results; training in Relay Graduate School of Education’s instructional practices strongly preferred. 

• Experience in K-12 school leadership strongly preferred. 

Work Conditions 

• Travel requirements: Extensive Travel: 31-40% (65–90 days per year) 

• Job Type: Full time, Exempt 

Location 

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

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 $156,000-$188,500. 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