We seek a Managing Director, Talent & Operations to oversee all risk and policy work for national and regional institutes. This person ensures we have the systems and resources in place to enable all corps member training sites to meet the standards established by federal, state, and local laws, as well as by our partners and our own internal policies – and to meet the bar set in our foundations for establishing and maintaining training environments that are welcoming and accessible to all staff and corps members. You act as the project manager, partnering with leaders across the organization, to establish an aligned vision and strategy for risk and policy work, laying out the timeline and detailed actions for each element of the work, and tracking completion of each step across institutes. You work closely with our national Legal Affairs and Risk & Compliance teams to understand how the policies and requirements they have established apply specifically to institutes, and to understand our role in understanding, communicating, and ensuring our community adheres to the policies established by our partners at each site. You also work in close partnership with each institute team, supporting them in understanding how laws and policies apply to their context. You provide resources to institutes who are new or who are shifting partners to ensure they are sourcing appropriate information when making decisions about partnerships, and you support established institutes in auditing the laws and policies that apply to their work and in maintaining all required communication, training, and documentation year over year. You work with senior leaders to advise and consult in emergency situations, and you lead the process for debriefing risk readiness and policy responsiveness annually, and revising strategy periodically.
The ideal candidate is an exceptional project manager who excels at designing clear systems that set others up to execute high-stakes work, and can build relationships within and across teams and roles. You are a strategic thinker who is passionate about the connection between policy and equity, while understanding the potential for tension between the two. You can effectively prioritize across work streams and support others to do the same. You are skilled at thinking clearly in a crisis, and you’re comfortable navigating high-pressure situations that bring you in close proximity with senior leaders.
This role sits on the Talent & Operations wing of the Teacher Preparation Team and reports to the senior managing director of Talent & Operations.
Emergency Preparedness & Response
- Determine required components for emergency preparedness for every aspect of training experience for incoming CMs and summer staff, including at housing, training, and teaching locations, and create tools for sites to use to capture and publish critical details.
- Socialize, support, and monitor customization of tools for each site.
- Identify and implement methods for building awareness, readiness and judgment of staff – and, where appropriate, CMs – in responding to crisis situations.
- Plan and execute system for debriefing emergency situations consistently, and for tracking and storing documentation.
Mental Health Planning & Support
- Work with national mental health consultant to revise strategy for surfacing and supporting mental health concerns before and during institute.
- Partner with program design to ensure recommendations related to mental health and wellness are taken into account as program elements are updated.
- Identify and implement methods for building awareness, readiness and judgment of staff – and, where appropriate, CMs – in responding to crisis situations.
CM & Staff Policy Management
- Manage process for capturing & responding to annual updates to all national policies that apply to institutes
- Consult for institute perspective on updates to CM handbook and other key policies
- Ensure institute teams are clear on expectations for how they will ensure they have a robust understanding of the local policies that apply to their sites.
- Set expectations for socializing key policies and, where appropriate, develop and share tools to ensure policies are accessible and clear to all relevant members of the institute community.
- Identify and implement methods for building awareness, readiness and judgment of staff – and, where appropriate, CMs – in responding to policy breaches.
Capacity-Building for Training & Socialization
- Explore and develop opportunities for innovations to current methods for awareness, understanding, and execution of risk and policy work.
Emerging Concerns
- Explore and make recommendations regarding our approach to risk & policy work we may not currently be supporting fulling, including anti-harassment, conference risk, web security, and mandatory reporting.
Disruption Mitigation Planning
- Support updates to and training for senior leaders around the institute disruption plan.
- Drive process for institute teams to evaluate their disaster readiness and customize their plan based on context.
- Support institute teams in sourcing resources to reach out to in severe moments of crisis.
- Previous Teach For America staff experience, specifically institute experience, preferred
- Previous experience with project management and/or record of getting results through others required
- Previous experience with policy implementation (staff/CM policies or similar) preferred
Work Demands
- Ability to travel in-person to conferences 4-6 times per year
- Ability to respond to some off-hour requests for support June through August
Skills
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
- Strong orientation to detail
- Ability to communicate complex ideas in manageable formats
- Ability to design and deliver strong training experiences to adults
- Ability to generate ideas and implement solutions to complex problems
- Ability to build relationships and invest others in long-term work toward a shared outcome
- Ability to maintain cool head in crisis situations
- Comfortable managing up and across to individuals at all levels of a team or organization