Director, Equitable Culture & Climate

The Director, Equitable Culture & Climate is a forward-thinking and dynamic change agent who is responsible for the development of the vision, goals, and strategy for Alliance's scholar culture and equity initiatives in collaboration with Alliance staff and senior leadership. Reporting to Alliance’s Vice President, Scholar Culture, Belonging, and Equity, the Director, Equitable Culture & Climate will own the implementation of Alliance’s Culture of Learning strategy with a specific DEI lens to increase organizational capacity to embed DEI practices throughout scholar culture systems and experiences. This role is a heavy contributor to overall strategy and execution of Leader of Scholar Culture/Dean development. This is an ideal opportunity for someone who has a vision for and is passionate about creating an organizational culture that values and promotes intentional scholar culture founded on diversity, equity, and inclusion and ensures all scholars feel they are seen, heard, and valued.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Team Leadership and Management

• Directly manages and coaches the Equitable Culture and Climate Team, including Instructional Specialists, supporting a total of 25 (all) Alliance schools toward achieving ambitious goals and outcomes in a timely manner

• Facilitates regular check-ins with direct reports, providing feedback and development for progress to goal attainment

• Conducts regular outcome-driven team work planning, meetings, and progress monitoring practices

• Establishes and maintains the team’s portfolio model of direct school support

• Provides guidance and ongoing development experiences to team members toward a shared vision of a strong, equitable culture and climate

Functional Strategy Leadership

• Establishes functional-area vision, goals, and strategy in partnership with supervisor, including building scholar culture systems and strategic culture leadership to combat chronic absenteeism

• Co-leads Culture of Learning network strategy and guides the contribution of self and team in Implementation Teams aimed at providing direct-to-schools individualized support

• Develops and refines systems for dean development, including walkthrough and coaching cycles, in partnership with internal and external partners to ensure alignment to Culture of Learning priorities

• Identifies needs and leads the creation of systems, tools, and work plans that help facilitate the timely execution of functional strategy across schools

• Coordinates cross-functional collaboration to achieve goals and milestones that build infrastructure for equitable scholar culture and climate

• Plans and executes signature events and initiatives that foster inclusive school environments and celebrate cultural diversity, including scholar-centered celebrations, community engagement events, and DEI-related programming

Professional Development Design and Delivery

• Is a contributor to and co-designer of an outcome-driven learning arc for Leaders of Scholar Culture (LOSCs)/Deans, including structured cycles of practice, observation, and feedback in partnership with Teach Like a Champion

• Provide targeted coaching and modeling, including through structured walkthrough cycles, to help LOSCs/Deans grow in their ability to coach teachers and staff on scholar culture and engagement

• In partnership with home office teams, strategizes intentional shared spaces of learning and collaboration related to Equitable Scholar Culture and Climate

• Serves as a mentor to Specialists, school leaders, and Home Office staff to build equitable culture champions

• Leads the design and facilitation of professional development experiences, including those focused on identity and belonging to build the capacity of educators and leaders in implementing equitable and inclusive practices across the network.

Goals, Data, and Progress Monitoring

• Regularly monitors progress to goals, creates and implements plans of action, and communicates roadblocks in a timely manner to key decision makers and recommenders

• Supports the continued implementation of Alliance's anti-racist, pro-Black vision and strategy by utilizing network-wide progress-monitoring tools and providing actionable feedback to school leadership teams

• Maintains and iterates upon the internal data collection system related to scholar culture supports

• Uses data to inform strategic and operational decision-making

• Coordinates the collection and input of evaluation data used to measure ongoing program effectiveness of services and program outcome measures

Relationship Building

• Establishes strong, productive, and trusting relationships with the administrative team, school personnel, staff, scholars, and community to seek input on needs and address barriers to learning, equity, and inclusion

• Values diversity among team members and promotes cooperation and interaction within and across teams

• Carries a small caseload of priority schools based on strategic data points

THE IDEAL CANDIDATES WILL HAVE

• Commitment to Alliance’s core beliefs, educational philosophy, low-income communities, and communities of color;

• Excellent communication and media skills, both verbal and written;

• School leadership experience

• Teaching experience with a proven track record of strong classroom culture grounded in belonging, warm-demander practices, high expectations, and effective classroom management

• Coaching experience in a school or school system setting

• Experience designing and leading adult learning cycles (e.g., walkthroughs, coaching cycles) that build instructional and culture leadership capacity

• Demonstrated record of effectively leading other adults in creating change

• Leadership experience with frameworks for excellent teaching from Teach Like a Champion and Get Better Faster

• Reliable transportation to and from school sites and the downtown Los Angeles network home office

• Strong data collection, entry, and analysis skills

• Entrepreneurial spirit to thrive in a fast-paced and achievement-oriented environment;

• Detail-oriented with excellent organization skills

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build and cultivate relationships with school stakeholders

• Value in diversity among team members

• Composure in the face of high workload, competing or conflicting demands, ambiguous assignments, interruptions, and distractions

• Ability to recognize and respond to unanticipated events and requirements, and is willing to do what is necessary to get the desired result

• Willingness to go above and beyond to contribute to the success of a dynamic team committed to a new future for urban education;

• Understanding of the nuances of urban school environments and school culture;

• Experience managing multiple projects with strong administrative and organizational skills

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

• At least five (5) years of progressive professional work experience leading scholar culture strategy and systems within K-12 public schools

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher from an accredited college or university

• At least 3 years of working in a leadership position in a public school or school system

WORK LOCATION

This position is a hybrid role, which will include a combination of working from home, our network office, and travel to school sites. The successful candidate will be given a $400 work-from-home set-up allowance and receive a monthly stipend of $100.

BENEFITS

In alignment with our commitment to equity for our scholars, Alliance is committed to equity and transparency for our team and offers competitive salaries commensurate with experience as well as generous retirement and health benefits. This position is exempt.

• Relocation:Individuals residing outside of the Greater Los Angeles area are eligible for a relocation bonus of $5,000 for individuals and $7,500 for new staff with families/partners.

• Health Insurance:Medical, dental, and vision plan options that are covered at 100% of monthly premiums for individual employees and at least $1,000 per month towards medical family plan premiums. Please clickHERE for more information on health insurance.

• Retirement:Alliance Home Office employees are eligible for a retirement allowance equal to 7.5% of their regular yearly earnings. Please click for more information on retirement.

• Paid Leave:Regular full-time 12-month employees receive 8.5 weeks of vacation and paid time off. Full-time employees accrue 3 weeks of flexible paid time off per year and receive 27 other paid holidays as part of our network calendar.

• Professional Development:At Alliance, we believe in supporting staff growth and development. Home Office staff are allocated $500 per year for professional development expenses.

COMPENSATION

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested candidates should submit an application. If you advance to the next step, you will be contacted for a phone screen and/or interview. Only candidates who advance will be contacted.

If you would like to view the progress of your application, you can log in to your Candidate Home Account by signing in at the top right of .

This job description is subject to change at any time based on the evolving needs of the organization.