Reports to: VP, Impact
Team: Impact
Location: Hybrid (2-3 days/week in Oakland)
FLSA Status: Exempt
Salary Range: 175k - 195k annually plus 7.5% discretionary annual bonus
Priority application deadline is October 26
About the Role The Director, School Partnerships, a new role in the organization, plays a key management role on the Foundation's Impact team. Reporting to the VP of Impact, the role leads new school site investments in collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), beginning with a select group of elementary schools where we aim to transform the school experience and student outcomes.
This role brings the education expertise, school and district relationship management, and project management capacity needed to translate ELP's Theory of Change into coherent, measurable school-level plans. In these schools, ELP is investing in several things at once, including, but not limited to, nutritious food, transformed schoolyards and high-quality play opportunities, literacy tutoring, and professional development for teachers. The Director works with the VP, Impact, and CEO to design the program so that these investments add up to more than the sum of their parts.
This role is a strong fit for a senior education leader who can move between strategy and execution, builds trust across schools, the district, and community stakeholders, and is energized by ELP's mission. They bring real education expertise, so principals and teachers see a colleague and not only a funder.
Key responsibilities include but are not limited to: Program Design & Strategy - Translate ELP's Whole Child, Whole School approach into a practical model for how the Foundation invests in a select group of OUSD elementary schools, including how schools are selected, how plans come together, and how the work actually gets done.
- Bring ELP's programmatic investments into one coherent plan at each school, so the pieces reinforce one another.
- Iterate on the model based on what implementation teaches us, codifying what works into a replicable approach that can grow to additional schools.
- Define what a strong ELP-OUSD school partnership looks like, and the enabling conditions, literacy strategies, and whole-child supports that shape student learning and experience.
- Collaborate across the Impact team with the Managing Director, Impact & Advocacy and the Director, Impact Investments to keep school partnership work aligned with ELP's broader impact and advocacy strategy.
Planning, Measurement & Learning - Build school-level plans with clear goals, activities, milestones, and owners, developed alongside school leaders.
- Partner with the OUSD Data team and ELP's Director, Impact Investments to define what success looks like at each school and build the measurement approach and feedback loops to guide decisions, surface problems early, and adjust strategy and tactics.
Implementation & Project Management - Drive multiple workstreams and outside partners toward the same milestones, keeping timelines, decisions, and accountabilities clear.
- Own a program budget of more than $4 million.
- With the Impact team, select and manage the implementation partners, contractors and consultants who deliver the work, setting scopes and expectations and holding them to results.
- Anticipate the realities of school life, from bell schedules to mid-year staffing changes, etc., to build plans that hold up inside a real school environment.
- Navigate ambiguity in a young, fast-moving program and keep the team focused on what matters most for kids.
District, School & Community Relationships - Build trust with principals, educators, community school managers, central office leaders, families and partners by showing up consistently and following through.
- Drive success of ELP programmatic work by supporting partners in a variety of ways besides funder, such as convener, implementor, and thought partner.
- Represent ELP's Impact work to funders, partners, community stakeholders, and others.
Qualifications - Substantial, progressively responsible experience in K-12 education, education nonprofits, philanthropy, or district partnerships, including direct experience in schools or districts.
- Proven experience implementing school- or district-level initiatives, in partnership with principals, educators, and central office leaders.
- Leadership experience in school improvement, partnership management, or education strategy.
- Track record managing complex initiatives with multiple partners, workstreams, timelines, and strategic tradeoffs.
- Experience owning a multimillion-dollar program budget and managing contractors, consultants, or vendors to deliver results within it.
- Strong facilitation, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to build credibility with educators, district leaders, community partners, and executives.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and relevant data or project management tools.
- Discretion with sensitive information and enthusiasm for ELP's mission.
Work Environment - Hybrid position: this role is expected to spend regular time on school sites in Oakland, alongside in-person meetings and participation in team or community events. The expectation is to be 2-3 days in the office or on-site each week.
- Occasional evening or weekend work may be needed to support organization-wide activities.
- This position requires reliable personal transportation, a valid driver's license, and the ability to be covered under Eat.Learn.Play.'s auto insurance.
Physical Requirements - While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:
- Constant keyboarding/data entry
- Frequent sitting
- Occasional standing, walking, bending/stooping, reaching overhead or forward, lifting 30 pounds
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
