As the Chief of Staff to the Co-Founder of the Systems Learning Lab, you will provide high-level strategy, execution, and operations support, ensuring the successful launch and vitality of an exciting new entity within Teach For America. Your charge is to ensure the annual priorities and goals of the Lab’s Systems Reinvention Unit are reached and the Lab achieves its long-term mission.
You will become a trusted adviser and thought partner to the Lab’s Co-Founder, Michelle Culver, and work closely with the portfolio of regional Executive Directors selected for the Lab’s Systems Reinvention Cohort. You will also liaise with senior regional and national staff as you manage a variety of high-stakes projects within the Lab and across the enterprise.
The Chief of Staff will be provided an unparalleled opportunity to use superior critical thinking, organizational, communication, and relationship-building skills to help lead a critical new initiative, helping to maximize Teach For America’s current impact across the country.
The Chief of Staff will report to the Co-Founder of The Systems Learning Lab at Teach For America, who reports to the CEO.
Due to the high-stakes nature of this position, the Chief of Staff must demonstrate exceptional judgment, operate with a sense of poise and professionalism, and excel as a project manager, strategist, and self-starter.
Primary responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
Leverage the Co-Founder’s time to deliver on the Reinvention Unit’s charge (30%)
- Translate the vision for the Systems Reinvention Unit into a set of executable strategies and “manage up” to the Co-Founder to ensure her time is spent in optimal ways
- Anticipate, prepare for, and, at times, facilitate meetings and events (e.g. team retreats, regular management meetings, progress reviews)
- Develop the systems/structures that will provide a foundation of operational excellence for the Lab’s Reinvention unit
- Consult on the Co-Founder’s workload to ensure time aligns with the highest priorities and with the operating rhythm of the organization and Lab
- Navigate organizational dynamics to ensure strong decision-making and successful results
- Coordinate with other Systems Learning Lab staff to ensure a clear division of responsibility on cross-cutting initiatives
Serve as a top-notch executor and project manager (30%)
- Plan and execute essential projects that are central to achieving the Lab’s goals (e.g. annual budgeting)
- Translate complex, high-level ideas into tangible work products and processes while operating in ambiguous terrain
- Design and execute compelling communications for various audiences, including the organization’s Management Team, the Lab’s EDs/regions, and external stakeholders
- Exhibit an eye for branding and storytelling that increases the Lab’s influence and impact
Monitor and support the unit’s regions to achieve progress against their goals (30%)
- Build relationships with Lab regions to understand their visions and determine where they most need proactive and reactive supports
- Manage the ongoing operations of the Co-Founder’s portfolio of regions to ensure that they are on track to meet their core business goals and execute on their Lab innovations
- Analyze, manage and synthesize data from multiple inputs to share key findings/analysis with participants within the Lab and with the Co-Founder
Provide organizational leadership and management (10%)
- Manage one full-time staff member, the Executive Assistant to the Co-Founder
- Serve as a cultural leader on the team, be a daily model of Teach For America’s core values, and deepen understanding of our regional visions for impact and reinvention
- Operate as an unwavering team player, willing to jump in and help for the benefit of the collective team, even if not technically included in job description
- Collaborate with and learn from national teams to accelerate the Lab’s work and create impact for Teach For America
- 8-10 years of exceptional work performance
- Experience in education, including as a corps member, preferred
- Embodies conviction around Teach For America’s mission and Theory of Change and exemplifies TFA’s core values; holds deep belief that educational inequity is a massive, urgent injustice, that TFA plays a crucial role in the long-term fight for change, and that we need to enlist as many outstanding, diverse leaders as we can to join the corps
- Exceptional strategic and critical thinking skills
- Exceptional organizational skills/ability to manage significant volume and competing priorities
- Exceptional written and verbal communication
- Poise, confidence, and maturity interacting with key stakeholders, with the ability to build strong relationships and work with people at all levels of the organization, across diverse situations, and potentially challenging situations
- Ability to thrive in a fast paced, entrepreneurial, collaborative start up culture
- Ability to think big, generate ideas and implement solutions to complex problems
- Ability to translate data and research into actionable solutions
- Ability to leverage own skill set and experience to manage, support, and professionally develop others
- Ability to execute independently and operate in ambiguity , while prioritizing tasks effectively
- Ability to manage others to results
- Deep knowledge of systems and key policy levers that impact education
- A developed or developing point of view about what drives success in educational settings
Work Demands
- Working with colleagues across the country leveraging remote technologies (e.g. phone, videoconference)
- Ability to travel to in-person meetings in various U.S. cities (approximately 20% of time)
- Willingness to work some weekends and evenings, as necessary
- Participate in staff-wide responsibilities, such as the selection of prospective corps members