The Office of Strategy, Operations & Innovation (OSOI) seeks a Senior Managing Director (SMD), Strategy & Innovation to support critical data and strategic change needs for the Talent & Operations (T&O) portfolio. As SMD, Strategy & Innovation you will partner with T&O strategic service and support teams (Finance, Human Assets, Information Technology, National Administration, Legal Affairs, and Risk & Compliance) to oversee and analyze key performance metrics, generate insights and areas of opportunity, and execute on strategic change initiatives to enable the T&O portfolio to meet its overarching priorities and simultaneously improve the staff experience.
This role will require leveraging data to drive decision making; creating compelling analyses, strategies, and implementation proposals; and project managing work cross-functionally to completion. The ideal candidate for this role is entrepreneurial, strategic, creative, thrives in ambiguity, is comfortable navigating conflict, and builds relationships quickly. They want a fast-paced, fun, and collaborative work environment, surrounded by people who are passionate about driving and implementing strategies to advance TFA’s national operations. The SMD, Strategy & Innovation will report directly to the VP, Strategy, Operations & Innovation and Chief of Staff to the EVP, Talent, Operations & CFO and will be part of the OSOI Leadership Team and T&O Senior Leadership Group (T&O SLG).
(60%) Source, identify, and contribute to and/or oversee execution of critical T&O change projects
- Leverage data and stakeholder perspectives to source critical change projects related to policies, business processes, and systems to lead on for the T&O portfolio
- Oversee the development of an intake and prioritization system to help in the selection of highest-impact projects
- Track project progress as well as identify and address barriers and challenges to ensure work is on time, high-quality, and meeting expectations and end user needs
- Partner with SMD, Change Management, Training & Communications to ensure effective change management of new initiatives being driven by OSOI
- Identify areas of opportunity with our Workday system
- Conduct research and data analyses to generate insightful conclusions and recommendations
- Author compelling proposals and presentations to support strategic changes
- Guide implementation of strategies with relevant stakeholders
- Lead and facilitate meetings (at times cross-functionally and with VP+ stakeholders) to support strategy development and/or execution
(20%) Oversee creation and implementation of effective data reports and analyses for key T&O performance metrics and stand up new metrics as needed
- Lead analysis of Staff Support Survey (annual), GPTW T&O portfolio trends (annual), and Total Rewards Survey (every 3-5 years), including team-specific analyses and recommendations
- Identify areas of opportunity to leverage T&O process maps and metrics
(10%) Serve as a model manager and coach to the Director, Strategy & Innovation
- Align on clear goals and key performance indicators for the year and each quarter
- Engage in ongoing conversations about performance and complete an end-of-year performance review
- Coach and develop Director, Strategy & Innovation as needed
(10%) Serve as an effective org-wide steward and team contributor
- Engage as an active participant and contributor to the T&O SLG, OSOI Leadership Team, Workday Working Group, and other cross-functional spaces as needed
- Collaborate with relevant experts across the T&O portfolio and org
- Ensure OSOI team compliance with administrative processes like timesheet submission, AMEX, etc.
- Support our enterprise aspirations for culture, diversity, equity and inclusion
- Participate in selection as needed
- 8+ years of relevant experience
- Past experience in consulting and/or strategy development required
- Experience revamping policies, business processes, and/or systems to become more efficient, effective, and/or impact-oriented strongly preferred
- Experience leveraging systems (and in particular Workday) preferred
- Experience with human-centered design a plus
- Familiarity with TFA and T&O policies, processes, systems, services, and supports a plus
Skills
- Exceptional reasoning and strategic thinking; ability to recommend solutions that are data driven, conceptually strong, and operationally plausible
- Exceptional communication skills, including designing proposals and presentations for varied audiences
- Excellent organization and project management skills; ability to manage large volumes of work and juggle multiple projects at once
- Strong relationship-building skills, especially the ability to understand the perspectives of others
- Ability to serve as an effective partner and collaborator across a diverse set of stakeholders with varying needs
- Ease facilitating meetings with cross-functional and senior stakeholders
- Comfort conducting data analysis and leveraging data to make decisions
- Willingness to jump in and quickly take on work when urgent needs arise, as well as plan and execute special projects as needed
- Ability to thrive in a goal-oriented, fast-paced, adaptive, and entrepreneurial environment
- Approach the work with a flexible, innovative, and service-oriented perspective
- Track record of success managing, coaching and developing others
- Demonstrates deep commitment to Teach For America’s Foundations, including our vision, mission, core values, and our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
Work Demands
- Atlanta, NYC, DC, or Chicago preferred
- Occasional weekend or evening work hours required
- Moderate travel is required (~quarterly)