Detroit Public Schools

Senior Director - Knowledge Management

Detroit Public Schools$99K — $134K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree (or higher) in information management systems, computer science, business management, public administration, or related field; Master's preferred.
  • Experience deploying modern web applications and integrating with data sources.
  • Leadership experience in enterprise knowledge management or digital product initiatives (5+ years).
  • Experience leading teams (3+ years) and building a positive culture with accountability for outputs.
  • Extensive knowledge of Microsoft 365, SharePoint Online, and Power Platform tools.
  • Expertise in information architecture and content management.
  • Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and manage the Knowledge Management team, aligning goals with divisional priorities.
  • Oversee performance management and foster team ownership and accountability.
  • Design and execute the product roadmap for The Hub and Student Hub.
  • Serve as the product owner for the Parent Hub, specifying requirements and delivery.
  • Build networks for content ownership across departments, ensuring effective space management.
  • Develop the District's internal knowledge management strategy and governance framework.
  • Set objectives for information access and report on usage metrics across the Hubs.

Benefits

  • Eligible for telecommuting up to 20% (one day per week).
  • Opportunities for professional development and team management.
  • Engagement in a collaborative, information-driven environment.
Full Job Description
Job Description

Job Title

Position Title: Senior Director - Knowledge Management

Location: Fisher Building, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202

Salary: $99,486 - $134,599

Reports to: Assistant Superintendent of Strategy, Data, and Accountability

Bargaining Unit: N/A

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Telecommuting Eligibility: Eligible for telecommuting up to 20% (one day per week)

Position Summary:

The Senior Director of Knowledge Management leads the District's knowledge management strategy and the platforms that carry it. As a member of the Office of Strategy, Data, and Accountability, the Senior Director works with the Assistant Superintendent to ensure staff, students, and families can find the information they need to do their work, make decisions, and understand where the District is headed.

The role owns The Hub, the District's SharePoint Online intranet serving more than 6,000 employees, along with the Student Hub. It also leads the build of a Parent Hub that gives families access to their child's data alongside news and information from their school and the District. That work requires product management discipline: a clear vision for how content, data, and technology come together, a roadmap that sequences the work, and sustained partnership with the Data Services and Technology teams to deliver it.

Success looks like a District where anyone can reach the information they need to do their work, support staff, students, and families, or make a decision. Achieving that depends on systems, standards, and visibility that let Cabinet leaders, departments, and individual staff own and maintain their own spaces, built by a leader who grows that capacity across the organization rather than producing the content personally. The Senior Director manages a team of content developers, SharePoint administrators, and SharePoint and Power Platform developers, and is accountable for governance across product, content, and technology.

Minimum Qualifications:
  • Must possess and provide evidence of a Bachelor's degree (or higher) from an accredited institution. Degree in information management systems, computer science, business management, public administration, or a closely related field, preferred. Master's degree preferred.
  • Experience deploying a modern web application, such as a single-page app on Azure Static Web Apps, and integrating it with organizational data sources (preferred)
  • Experience with row-level security or an equivalent approach to role-based data access (preferred)
  • At least five (5) years of experience leading enterprise knowledge management, intranet, or digital product initiatives, with responsibility for the roadmap and the outcome rather than delivery alone.
  • At least three (3) years of experience leading teams and building positive team culture, including delegating ownership of significant work to staff and holding them accountable for it.
  • Extensive experience with Microsoft 365 for enterprise collaboration, including SharePoint Online communication sites, hub sites, and site governance, along with Power Platform tools such as Power Automate.
  • Experience with information architecture, content taxonomy, and user experience/graphic design, including restructuring content from an organization-based structure to a topic-based one.
  • Excellent oral, written, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
  • Experience building governance structures that endure in a large, hierarchical organization; publishing standards, content calendars, role-based ownership, and reporting that shows leaders what their teams have and have not published.
  • Experience partnering with data and technology teams to deliver role-based access to data, so each user sees only the records they are permitted to see.
  • Knowledge and understanding of accessibility and disabilities, and the ability to design and develop against WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Essential Functions:

Team Leadership & Organizational Development
  • Lead, develop, and manage the Knowledge Management team, set annual goals aligned to divisional strategic priorities, and manage the team budget against them.
  • Manage performance for direct and indirect reports through coaching, feedback, and professional development, and cultivate a culture where staff hold genuine ownership of their areas, exercise independent judgment, and share responsibility for outcomes.

Product & Platform Strategy
  • Own the product roadmap for The Hub and the Student Hub, deciding what the team builds and in what order, and delivering role-based views that show teachers data on their own students and students their own within the District's data security rules.
  • Serve as product owner for the Parent Hub, defining requirements and sequencing delivery with Data Services and Technology so families can reach their child's data alongside school and District news.
  • Build and facilitate a network of department and school content owners, in partnership with Technology Training and Development and Marketing and Communications, so each team can manage its own space effectively.

Knowledge Management & Collaboration
  • Develop and implement the District's internal knowledge management strategy: what gets captured, who owns it, where it lives, how long it stays current, and how staff find it.
  • Lead a governance and infrastructure overhaul that reorganizes Hub content around topics and themes rather than department and team names, so staff can find information by what it is about instead of by which office produced it, while keeping ownership of each space clear through the transition.
  • Establish the structures that make ownership visible and durable; publishing standards, content calendars, review cycles, and reporting that shows Cabinet leaders what their divisions have published, what has gone stale, and what is missing. Establish knowledge sharing as standard practice across the District through training sequences, published case studies, cross-team learning sessions, and communities of practice, so staff know what is worth documenting, where it belongs, and how to find what colleagues have published. Own publication of the District's annual calendar of deadlines and central office asks, loaded by Cabinet members and their designees for their own teams, holding the standard that each ask reaches schools with adequate notice and with its Hub article published first.

Analysis, Planning & Partnership

Set annual objectives and key results for how well staff, students, and families find and use District information, and report on usage across the Hubs against them
  • Plan and coordinate work with school and central office colleagues to deliver on time and at the expected level of quality, and evaluate knowledge management practice outside the District for approaches worth adopting
  • Perform other duties as assigned by the Assistant Superintendent of Strategy, Data, and Accountability

Security Clearance:

Internal Applicants

If you are a current Detroit Public Schools Community District employee, you do not have to submit to a new security clearance, unless your new role requires a different type of criminal background check.

External Applicants

In alignment with Michigan law, if you are hired to fill a position, you will be required to submit to a Detroit Public Schools Community District criminal background check. Information regarding required background checks will be shared at point of hire.

Method of Application:

Applicants must apply through the online application system. Only applications submitted through the online application system will be considered for any posted position and all applications require a resume to be considered.

Successful candidates are required to submit official transcript(s) at point of offer to hire. Teaching service outside of the Detroit Public Schools Community District must be verified by the applicant's prior employer(s) prior to hire. It is the applicant's responsibility to provide all documentation (including copies) as requested.

Applicants requesting assistance during the application process should contact the Office of Human Resources via email at [email protected] or phone at (313) 873-6897.

About Detroit Public Schools

Detroit Public Schools (DPS) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan. The district was founded in 1842 and is the largest school district in Michigan, with approximately 50,000 students enrolled in 110 schools. The district is governed by a seven-member board of education and is responsible for providing education to students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. DPS has faced significant financial and academic challenges in recent years, including declining enrollment, low test scores, and a large budget deficit. In 2016, the district was restructured and replaced by the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), which is a new entity with a new board of education and a new superintendent.
Learn more about Detroit Public Schools

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