Vice President, College Advancement

About The Position 

The Vice President, College Advancement will lead KIPP’s national strategy to dramatically increase college access, enrollment, and success for KIPP students—shaping the future of postsecondary outcomes for thousands of young people across the country. This role is especially compelling for a leader who wants to drive measurable, system-level impact: by 2030, KIPP aims to achieve 95% college enrollment, 85% four-year enrollment, and significantly increase the number of students attending the country’s best colleges. The VP will serve as the architect and drive the strategy, therefore setting the vision and direction, program and initiatives, that ensure our counselors, directors, regions, and students thrive.  

Reporting to the Chief of College Advancement & Partnerships, the Vice President will collaborate closely with senior leaders, regional teams, and external partners to align efforts and accelerate progress toward KIPP’s most ambitious goals. The role carries significant responsibility and visibility—translating data and insights into action, shaping national guidance for college counseling and completion, expanding the ecosystem of higher education partners committed to equity and student success. The VP will directly lead a talented team of seven and steward a culture defined by collaboration, innovation, candor, and a deep commitment to excellent results for students. This team works with humility and urgency, embraces continuous learning, and designs solutions and systems with regions, to ensure that every KIPP student has a strong postsecondary pathway. 

This position is ideal for a mission-driven, strategic, and relational leader who thrives in environments where ambitious goals, cross-functional collaboration, and transformational impact are central. The VP, College Advancement will play a critical role in shaping the next chapter of KIPP’s postsecondary success work—and in expanding opportunity at a national scale. 

 

Responsibilities 

National Strategy & Vision 

• Set and execute the national strategy for college access, enrollment, and success, ensuring alignment across regions and national teams. 

• Drive strategies to achieve KIPP’s 2030 goals: 95% college enrollment, 85% four-year college enrollment, and increased representation at top colleges. 

• Develop a long-term strategic roadmap integrating college counseling, match, financial aid, persistence, and institutional partnerships. 

• Leverage data to define key performance indicators, track progress, and evaluate program effectiveness. 

• Monitor national trends and emerging opportunities in higher education to ensure KIPP’s strategy remains responsive and relevant.  

• Represent KIPP as a national thought leader, engaging with colleges, funders, advocacy organizations, and other key stakeholders. 

 

Program Design & Implementation 

• Develop and refine scalable, evidence-based systems for college counseling and persistence support across the KIPP network. 

• Lead high-quality implementation of college advancement initiatives in all regions. 

• Operate within Network-Aligned and Centralized models, shifting from a high school–level director structure to a regional director accountability model, placing ownership of outcomes where strategic levers are strongest. This model strengthens cross-campus coherence, enables better partnership engagement, and aligns accountability with the scale of regional impact. 

• Deliver high-quality, in-time professional development for regional and school directors, with a focus on leadership management, and technical skills. 

• Leverage student feedback, and field insights to identify best practices and drive continuous improvement. 

• Lead initiatives that improve advising quality, including college match, FAFSA/financial aid completion, matriculation readiness, and summer melt reduction. 

• Partner with regional leaders to codify high-impact advising models and integrate them into school-based programming. 

• Collaborate with College Partnerships to ensure institutional commitments translate into measurable student outcomes. 

• Support progress toward persistence and graduation benchmarks: 30% 4-year graduation, 45% 5-year graduation, 60% 6-year graduation, as well as freshman and sophomore persistence goals. 

 

Team Leadership & Management 

• Lead and develop a high-performing College Advancement team of seven, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and student-centered outcomes. 

• Set clear goals, roles, and priorities aligned with national strategies and KIPP’s 2030 college access and success goals. 

• Coach and support team managers to strengthen leadership, execution, and alignment across the network. 

• Manage team budget and resources strategically to maximize impact while maintaining efficiency. 

• Build team capacity and capability through mentorship, performance management, and professional development. 

 

Stakeholder Engagement & Knowledge Sharing 

• Represent KIPP in national and regional conversations on college access, equity, and postsecondary success. 

• Communicate program progress, impact, and insights to internal stakeholders, funders, and higher education partners. 

• Partner with regional and school directors to strengthen capacity, share best practices, and build alignment. 

• Lead systems for knowledge management, cross-regional learning, and continuous improvement to scale best practices. 

• Ensure all initiatives and partnerships are tied to measurable student outcomes, including persistence to freshman spring (90%), sophomore year (85%), and graduation rates (4-year: 30%, 5-year: 45%, 6-year: 60%). 

 

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)  

• Achievement & Outcomes Orientation: Demonstrated record of setting and achieving ambitious goals for their departments in complex or ambiguous environment; uses data, research, and analysis to set a high bar of excellence for goal setting; effectively distributes and redistributes work among direct reports, teammates, and teams to optimizes goal attainments; effectively sets and fosters a culture that enables and celebrates teammates’ achievements and goals attainment. 

• Strategic Decision Making and Problem Solving: Effectively uses data to shape teamwide decisions and the learning agenda or evaluation of a function or significant initiative.  Able to generate, implement, and evaluate solutions with a focus on scalability and sustainability.  

• People Management & Development: Effectively ensures strong professional development and coaching for teammates through layers; proficient in the mechanics of succession management and performance management for teammates; able to coach manager of managers; skilled at setting and fostering a positive team culture in which teammates feel ownership and accountability for their own and the broader team’s work and results. 

• Post Secondary Planning Expertise: Understand of the factors necessary for post-secondary success including ACT/SAT and GPA implications, student aid, and career planning. A proven track record of connecting students to post-secondary match and counseling.   

• Process Management: Able to build and align goals and project plans with organization priorities; Develops and codifies processes that promote coordination, efficiency and efficacy across KF and the Network; Prioritizes processes that ensure sustainability and scalability; ensures team is finding efficiencies through process implementation and improvement, resource sharing, or other methods 

Experience and Qualifications 

• 10+ years of leadership experience managing teams through layers in a complex, matrixed organization. 

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred. 

• Proven track record of designing and implementing high-impact programs that deliver measurable improvements in student outcomes. 

• Deep understanding of public-school systems and experience implementing programs within that context. 

• Expertise in college counseling, postsecondary advising, career preparation, or progressive pathways; experience as a high school principal strongly preferred. 

• Experience managing education technology products, including collaborating with technical teams to select and customize platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Tableau) to meet practitioner and student needs. 

• Demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion, with experience working alongside students and families from under-resourced communities, many of whom may be first-generation college-goers. 

Work Conditions 

• Travel requirements: 50%, including KIPP school/region, and college/university visits and network-wide trainings and convenings

• 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 [$190,000 - $227,000]. 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 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 

KIPP Foundation embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities with whom we work and the world around them. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.