Regional, Chief of Staff

Full Time
Milwaukee, WI
Posted
Job description
At Rocketship Public Schools, we believe in the infinite possibility of human potential. We believe that every student deserves the right to dream, to discover, and to develop their unique potential. And it is our responsibility and our privilege to unleash the potential inside every Rocketeer we serve. Our non-profit network of public elementary charter schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. We are a collective of parents, teachers, leaders, and students working together to transform the future for underserved communities across our country. At Rocketship Public Schools, we are unleashing potential.

Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the Chief of Staff will lead the external impact strategic vision and, in partnership with community stakeholders, facilitate community impact transformation grounded in equity for our students and families.

This individual will be a key strategic leader on the leadership team and will directly support all facets of our external strategy and engagement by
1) ensuring an external environment for Rocketship Milwaukee to thrive,
2) advancing a narrative grounded on students and families through coalitions and partnerships, to support our efforts to impact the entire education ecosystem,
3) shaping public awareness of Rocketship in the Milwaukee community,
4) supporting sustainability through philanthropic partnerships and board engagement,
5) developing leadership capacity throughout the organization to effectively engage with all stakeholders.

The Chief of Staff is also charged with directly leading Development, External Relations, and Community Engagement. This role will engage and cultivate relationships with donors, elected leaders, community champions, and advocates and forge partnerships that align with our vision and serve our Rocketeers and their families. In addition, the Chief of Staff, as a supervisor, will ensure that our Family Advocacy program thrives, as it is a critical pillar regarding school health and our theory of change.

Critical to the success of the Chief of Staff is an unwavering commitment to the community. The Chief of Staff is responsible for proactively addressing community needs, being an active participant within the Milwaukee education and non-profit landscape, and aligning regional priorities with the broader education community. The successful candidate will put our Rocketeers and families first while also ensuring a strong partnership with the regional and national Rocketship Network Support Teams (NeST). He, she, or they will combine a capacity for systems-level and strategic thinking, a deep passion for educational equity, careful attention to detail, and strong interpersonal skills in building relationships with critical internal and external stakeholders.

The Chief of Staff to the Executive Director is a crucial member of Rocketship Wisconsin’s leadership team and works cross-functionally to translate and manage the Executive Director’s priorities to the organization. The primary goal of the role is to function as an extension of the Executive Director ensuring strategic vision and operational initiatives are planned and executed with high fidelity across the region. This role will have a wide lens to gather input, plan, and engage partners to lead cross-functional initiatives and manage sophisticated projects across the region.

The compensation range for this role is $105,000 to $115,000 commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Essential Functions:

    • The essential functions of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

    • STRATEGIC EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LEADERSHIP
    • Driving strategic vision, strategy, planning, and execution for success and sustainability. Supporting the Executive Director in making critical decisions concerning external affairs.
    • Leveraging executive judgment to identify, assess, and communicate risks/threats and opportunities, prioritize quickly and effectively, support the Executive Director in making critical external decisions, and coordinate remedies/solutions.
    • Take ownership of crisis management and other unexpected events that pose a threat to RPS Milwaukee
    • Engaging all stakeholders for input, alignment, and support
    • Ensure RPS’s MKE Board of Directors is informed and appropriately engaged. Support the Executive Director in developing agendas and materials for Board and committee meetings. Identify opportunities to engage board on strategic issues and follow-up with members as appropriate.

    • COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
    • Launching collective impact opportunities with like-minded institutions in the community to support community transformation. Identify opportunities for synergy to partner on projects in the community.
    • Establishing and maintaining relationships with elected leaders, executive directors, funders, and other elite champions actively involved in external impact work
    • Creating spaces to grow the movement of regional allies via stakeholder events and other networking opportunities, including with board members, funders, and other community champions
    • Seeking regular interactions with a broad range of stakeholders, including priority stakeholders set annually according to strategic goals
    • Planning, coordinating, and facilitating collaboration with other aligned organizations (including schools, nonprofits, and other local organizations) to advocate for common goals or defend common interests.
    • Oversee the forging of partnerships and alliances with child and family serving non-profit organizations, public entities, community-based organizations, and civic and community organizations to provide joint advocacy, support, or services that our Rocketeers and families need.
    • Joining advisory boards, associations, and other local leadership spaces to advocate for equitable practices and policies for our students and families. Identifying and encouraging regional staff and families increase civic participation.
    • Supporting Executive Director in maintaining external relationships, including preparation and execution of external presentations, event planning, school tours, and more
    • Engage board members to attend external opportunities as Rocketship ambassadors
    • Support fundraising and philanthropic relationship management
    • Continually assessing and proactively planning to improve organizational health

    • STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
    • Plan and implement a strong external communications strategy
    • Regularly and objectively assess the perception and reputation of Rocketship MKE among key audiences
    • Create regular opportunities for staff, parents, and community members to learn about our work and become active ambassadors to share with community members unfamiliar with Rocketship
    • Train staff and teachers to become part of the fabric of their community, such as attending community meetings and other civic engagement opportunities.

    • DEVELOPMENT & FUNDRAISING
    • Collaborate with the Executive Director, board of directors to create and implement a fundraising strategy to raise approximately $1M per year.
    • Furnish the board with regular progress reports on fundraising and development campaign
    • Collaborate with a local, city, and state networks to identify and build relationships with new donors
    • Maintain relationships with existing sponsors, donors, and supporters
    • Manage fundraising and special events
    • Generate development materials, such as grants and case statements
    • Manage the effective implementation of development software to monitor grants, development data entry and gift processing

    • TEAM LEADERSHIP & CAPACITY BUILDING: PARENT LEADERSHIP
    • Building, developing, and maintaining a rigorous culture of excellence in every interaction with stakeholders, community members, partners, and team members
    • Increasing accountability and empowering parent leadership to ensure success against goals.
    • Managing the Manager, Family Advocacy, and other future positions within external affairs
    • Analyzing and action planning around manager survey data, staff satisfaction data, and DEI survey data to continuously improve coaching, mentoring, recruitment, retention strategies, team engagement, talent development, adult culture, and impact.
    • Drive the organization's non-partisan political engagement by building relationships with all candidates, growing awareness, and encouraging turnout to election dates.
    • Engaging, motivating, and managing direct reports and the Rocketship Wisconsin team
    • Working with a team to establish strategy, planning, and execution related to parent leadership, organizing, and engagement.
    • Working with the Director of Schools and Principals to align teacher professional development and family events to strategic priorities related to external engagement opportunities.

Qualifications:

    • BA/BS required; Master’s or higher in Education, Public Administration, or a related field preferred.
    • 8+ years of professional experience in nonprofit management with a proven track record of success in improving outcomes within their management scope.
    • Experience and successful track record of managing, coaching, and developing team members
    • Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate staff and bring out the best in peers
    • Experience fundraising with private donors and government entities at the federal, state, or local level (strongly preferred)
    • Knowledge of grant writing (preferred)
    • 2 or more years in community engagement, advocacy, or political relations (strongly preferred)
    • Experience in media relations (preferred)
    • 2 or more years of experience in communication, service, sales, or community engagement with a track record of strong results
    • Experience working within a K-12 setting (strongly preferred)
    • Experience with event planning (strongly preferred)
    • Excellent written and oral communication skills; Spanish language skills are a plus
    • Exceptional critical-thinking skills and experience in leading data-driven practices at a systems-level, including the ability to analyze data, identify trends/ root causes, set goals, and track resources
    • Committed to seeking out and sharing current research and evidence-based best practices
    • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment
    • Ability to be flexible and adaptive in a work environment that is constantly evolving
    • Ability to perform various specialized and responsible tasks: maintain records, establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with students, parents, and other school personnel, and meet schedule and compliance deadlines.
    • Embodies Rocketship Core Characteristics

Rocketship Core Characteristics:

    • Rocketship leaders are deeply committed to doing and being their best, and to growing their skills as professionals and as individuals, so our daily and annual expectations reflect that commitment.

    • Pursuit of Excellence:
      We continuously improve our results in response to data and feedback.
    • Authenticity: We bring our whole selves to our work, allowing that passion to resonate through our decisions, words, and actions.
    • Community: We value our professional community and its collective impact beyond our own individual roles and contributions.
    • Tenacity: We view each challenge as a hurdle to clear in order to reach our ultimate goal.
    • Innovation: We find or create better ways to make the impossible, possible; we take responsible risks in order to make a more positive impact.
COVID-19:
Rocketship is committed to the health and safety of our Rocketeers and complies with federal and state vaccine guidelines. For this reason, Rocketship is requiring employees in most regions, including National, California, District of Columbia, and Wisconsin employees, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Tennessee and Texas regions are not included in this requirement. Under this requirement, applicable employees are subject to vaccination as a condition of employment or subject to religious or medical exemptions.

Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and communicate with both adults and children. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally climb ladders. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high.

Compensation:
Commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent health and welfare benefits, 403b retirement plan, flexible spending account (FSA), and generous paid time off.

Rocketship Public Schools provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Rocketship Public Schools complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Rocketship Public Schools expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Rocketship Public Schools’ employees to perform their expected job duties is absolutely not tolerated. Click here for our Sexual Harassment Policy and here for our Title IX Policy. For questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact Equity/Discrimination Title IX Compliance Officer, Address: 350 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 109, Redwood City, CA 94065. Phone: 877-806-0920 ext. 115.

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