Consultant

Education First is seeking mid-career leaders to join our team as a Consultant on one of three operational “home teams” aligned to our focus areas: Effective Organizations and Investments (EOI), Engaged Students (ES) or the Outstanding Educators (OE) team. Consultants direct the overall work of client engagements, managing project teams and client relationships and ensuring on-time, high-quality deliverables. Candidates should bring strong project management and team leadership skills and be excited to support a variety of organizations at the local, state, national and federal levels to advance systems change.

What You’ll Do

• Oversee successful projects, including building capacity in and advising clients, and ensuring that project deliverables meet our excellence standard
  • Understand root causes, design with and for people most proximate to the problems and deliver equitable, effective and innovative solutions to address client challenges
  • Develop and execute on project work plans according to client needs and budget constraints
  • Adapt project plans to reflect changes in project requirements
  • Support project teams in creating and monitoring budgets
  • Coordinate knowledge management across streams of work
  • Produce client deliverables, including landscape analyses, written reports and memos, and convening and community of practice facilitation plans
• Develop relationships with high-profile clients in the education field and support district, organizational and state teams, leading to repeat business
  • Utilize expert facilitation skills and understanding of adult learning principles to design and facilitate effective client meetings
  • Capture and share project insights for clients and for the firm internally
  • Design and deploy technical assistance to clients
  • Collaborate on the development of tools and strategies to assess client needs, lift up research and emerging best practice

• Build and lead inclusive project teams on which members experience positive professional growth and where constructive feedback is regularly shared and accepted
  • Work collaboratively with and coaching project team members
  • Coach other team members to design, present and facilitate client and team meetings
  • Provide feedback and guidance to team members and clients utilizing content-specific expertise

Requirements

• You have experience designing, implementing and/or advocating for successful education policies designed to improve P-20 education outcomes for young people, in settings including school districts, education reform organizations, foundations, governor’s offices and state boards/departments of education
• You can demonstrate strong, inclusive project management experience, including the ability to juggle several complex projects at once, develop work plans, maintain project budgets, manage risks, and meet deadlines and targets
• You have professional experience working for change from at least two different vantage points in the education sector (e.g., school districts, philanthropy, state departments of education, nonprofit organizations, technical service providers)
• You have the ability to synthesize complex ideas from technical literature and qualitative research into a clear storyline for reports and presentations; ability to identify the key and relevant “so what” findings and advice for clients from data and research
• You have demonstrated experience managing people, especially those at different points in their careers and from a mix of diverse cultural identities, and working with diverse communities
• Demonstrated understanding, experience and content expertise in one or more of our home team focus areas or service offerings
• You possess strong interpersonal skills and high emotional intelligence
• You are a strong communicator through verbal and written mediums
• You have deep facilitation experience with a range of stakeholder groups and clients
• You are skilled at building well-organized and creating compelling client-facing PowerPoint presentations
• You can lead through ambiguity to create clear structures that deliver high-quality results to clients
• You take initiative to resourcefully solve problems while anticipating and adjusting for the unexpected
• You take ownership of your own development and derive satisfaction from supporting others to grow professionally
• You provide and receive feedback with ease
• You lead by influence – establishing open lines of communication and understanding and including the perspectives of others

Benefits

• 100% remote, U.S. based team
• Firmwide in-person engagements a few times a year
• Telework subsidy
• Professional development stipend
• 20 PTO days and 11 holidays
• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• 401(k) match
• Sales bonus eligibility

Compensation

The salary range for the Consultant position is $94,000 - $106,750. If a candidate demonstrates experience more aligned with the Senior Consultant role, the candidate will be hired as a Senior Consultant. The salary range for Senior Consultants is $118,000 - 134,000. We typically set initial starting salaries between the market minimum and the 25th percentile of the pay range to ensure there is room for growth over time.

In addition, location-based supplements are provided for the following metro cities: San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Portland, Miami, New Orleans, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Madison, WI and Salt Lake City.

Travel & Covid-19 Vaccine Policy

Education First requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have an approved medical/religious exemption. Proof of vaccination will be required upon acceptance of any offer of employment. You should be able to travel for in-person client meetings as needed (roughly 10-20% of the time).

About Education First

Education First is a mission-driven education policy consultancy dedicated to ensuring that all students – and particularly students in poverty and students of color – are prepared for success in college, careers and life. We work with organizations that are shaping the future of P-16 education across the nation, including school networks and districts, state departments of education, policy and advocacy organizations, youth empowerment organizations, talent organizations and foundations.

We help these system leaders catalyze change through our services:

• Conduct research and analysis on policies and provide contextual recommendations and strategic support to translate findings into concrete, sustainable action
• Develop and implement visionary, coherent strategies and strategic plans by prioritizing inclusive voices, focusing on the right problems, and providing space to explore
• Plan and facilitate meaningful convenings for organizations and individuals to learn, problem solve, collaborate, and advance their work
• Design actionable and equitable solutions that meet client needs, achieve program goals, and implement initiatives with clarity and quality
• Support grant makers, funders, and foundations to develop thoughtful, high-impact investment strategies that align with their goals, interests, and resources

We are a team of more than 75 former teachers, district and state education leaders, policy advisors, and grant makers who live and work virtually in more than 20 states. Because of our experience, we approach the challenges our clients face with humility, realistic solutions, and a commitment to follow-through. Our culture is built on genuine care for our clients and for each other. We celebrate original thinking, collaboration, entrepreneurialism, authenticity and fun.

Our Equity Commitment

We recognize that in order to pursue our own organizational mission at Education First, we must approach our work by studying gaps and inequities, asking tough questions about structural racism and more deliberately engaging diverse voices in problem-solving. We’ve been building our own skills to deliver solutions that center racial equity, with particular attention to equitable ways of thinking and working, and we are committed to helping our clients do the same in projects that have a goal of increasing equity at their core. Within Education First, we have committed to building a race equity culture – creating the conditions to adopt antiracist mindsets and actions.

We believe:

• Black lives matter. We are collectively responsible to amplify and support Black students, families and leaders.
• People are experts in their own experience. We cannot effectively support our clients to problem solve and innovate without centering the people they aim to serve.
• Racism and inequity were designed, and can be redesigned. People make up the systems, policies and processes that govern our experience, and we must support our clients to explore their role in reimagining what could be possible.

For greater detail about our Equity Commitment, please visit our website.