Managing Director, Schools

Challenge and Opportunity: While often lauded as a national exemplar when it comes to public education, over the last 10 years, Boston’s public schools have struggled to sustain progress, especially for Black and Latinx students, students with disabilities (SWD), and English Learners (ELs). Despite leading its urban district peers on the NAEP and in per pupil funding, Boston continues to have some of the largest achievement gaps. The majority of Boston students are clustered in the lowest performing schools in the state, and the odds families have for their child to receive a high-quality, well-rounded education continue to be far too low. However, there are bright spots—in Boston Public Schools, in Charter Schools, and in Private/Parochial schools—schools that are consistently and holistically delivering for the kids and families who have been the most historically underserved in our city. Ensuring that every child has access to a school that meets their needs and propels them into the future is possible in a city that once was the national model for urban education.

The Organization: At Boston Schools Fund, we believe that all children, regardless of race, ability, income, or neighborhood, should have access to a high-quality school that meets their needs as learners and allows them to lead choice-filled lives. Founded in 2015, Boston Schools Fund is a 501(c)(3) pooled philanthropic fund and non-profit organization that invests strategically to increase opportunities for and access to high-quality schools for all Boston students, particularly those from marginalized communities. In 2020, we launched our second 5-year fund, where we plan to raise and dedicate $20 million to increase access to high-quality schools for Boston students across all three school sectors. 

The Person: You are passionate and creative about providing opportunities for children to succeed where others haven't. You are excited about the opportunity to leverage ~$8 million in funding toward increasing high-quality school access for Boston kids and families, and understand deeply how important having access to a great school is for each child. Specifically, you are interested in discovering how this funding can be leveraged to expand high-quality school access for two of Boston’s student populations who have been deeply underserved—English Learners and Students with Disabilities. While you know a lot about schools and education systems, you don’t come with a fixed point of view about how best to create investment opportunities. You’re a constant learner who is always seeking new ways to create more leverage toward your goals. When you look back on your time as the MD, you will be most proud that your footprint included:

• Leading, mentoring, and managing your team to operationalize an ambitious 5-year investment strategy supporting over 50 Boston schools
• Applying a racial equity lens to BSF’s investment work and developing a roadmap to increase racial equity in all aspects of the investment process
• Launching a national model for District, nonprofit, and philanthropic collaboration to increase access to high-quality schools
• Increasing the voice of families in decision-making and long-term district planning through supporting communities to organize and propose school plans that ensure their children will have access to high-quality schools
• Becoming a trusted advisor on schools to a cross-section of the city’s key education stakeholders and leaders

The Role: The MD will oversee BSF’s 5-year investment strategy. As such, the MD will be responsible for adapting that strategy to the current context, making resource allocation decisions, and developing an approach to ensure the strategy results in meeting our goals. To do this well, the MD should feel comfortable doing all of the following:

• Tackling problems and challenges where there is significant ambiguity and you are required to choose and adapt approaches as you learn information
• Designing and conducting landscape analyses to understand potential areas and approaches to investment
• Developing strategy and weighing strategic options
• Developing sets of activities aligned to organizational goals and supporting others in their activities while also carrying out your own
• Developing slide decks that communicate programs and strategy to various stakeholders
• Building relationships with a wide cross section of stakeholders (e.g., school leaders, Boston families, educators, district administrators, funders, and BSF board members)
• Leveraging data (qualitative and quantitative) to inform decision making
• Developing systems for project and portfolio management which track progress toward annual and long-term goals
• Managing a team toward outcomes and aligning the team
• Managing an investment portfolio and budget

We are Deeply Committed to Equity & Diversity: We are on a mission to build a team and board that reflects Boston’s students. Boston Schools Fund is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee nor applicant because of race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or parenthood. We encourage anyone for whom this overview resonates to apply.