Vice President, Regional Leadership Programs

Job Title: Vice President, Regional Leadership Programs

Type: Full-time

Location: Flexible within the U.S.

Start Date: January 2024

SUMMARY

Relay Graduate School of Education (Relay) is an accredited not-for-profit institution of higher education serving thousands of educators from across the country, from pre-service teachers to system-level leaders. Our mission is to ensure that all students are taught by excellent educators, in order to build a more just world where every student has a clear path to a fulfilling life. The Professional Education (PE) team works with teachers and instructional leaders to continuously improve their craft through virtual workshops, in-person workshops, coaching, and fellowship programs. 

Reporting to and in partnership with the Chief Professional Learning Officer, the Vice President, Regional Leadership Programs will provide critical leadership to sustain and grow Relay’s impact through regionally-focused instructional leadership development programming. The Vice President leads a portfolio of almost $11 million of professional development and coaching partnerships in roughly 12 states across the country including coaching and on-the-ground support to sitting principals, principal supervisors, and chief academic officers in Relay Leadership Programs and Relay partner networks and districts. 

The Vice President will manage and oversee a team of Regional Program leads in addition to serving as a key driver of partnerships development and expansion. The Vice President will also work collaboratively with the Vice President, National Leadership Programs to set and manage the vision for content design and program facilitation in order to drive National and Regional Leadership programs toward participant satisfaction and program impact.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Team Management (60%)

• Lead the vision, strategy, and implementation of Relay’s instructional leadership programming delivered in partnership with school districts, charter management organizations, and state education agencies
• Lead and manage the 13-member Regional Leadership Programs team by setting the vision for team culture and high expectations for quality and managing five direct reports (Managing Partners and Partners) who oversee the implementation of leadership programming in various geographic regions
• Manage, observe, and provide feedback to coaching consultants and/or Relay staff to support their effective implementation of professional learning for instructional leaders
• With the Managing Partner of Regional Leadership Programs, set and drive the vision for the Regional team’s internal professional learning, such as:
• With the Vice President, Professional Education Impact & Innovation, drive the collection and analysis of program data to inform strategic planning and ensure all of Relay’s Regional Leadership Programs have a significant impact on K-12 student outcomes
• Work with the Vice President, National Leadership Programs to set the vision for and facilitate the National/Regional cross pollination of content and best practice, in collaboration with the Partner, Leadership Programs - Content Development, to ensure strong alignment across Relay leadership programming 
• Partner with the Vice President, Teacher Professional Education to define and implement the vision for collaboration and synergy between teacher and leader professional education programs

Partnerships (20%)

• Collaborate with the Vice President, Partnerships & Enrollment to execute a multi-year strategic plan that results in the meeting or exceeding of all regional leadership revenue goals
• Lead efforts to develop systems for successful scaling of Regional Leadership Programs such as intentional workforce planning, effective management of adjuncts and contract facilitators, and other structures to support high-quality program delivery through expansion 
• Work closely with Relay’s central Partnerships & Enrollment team and the Managing Partners on the Regional Leadership Programs team in order to identify, evaluate, and prioritize strategic opportunities for the growth and expansion of Relay’s regional leadership programs through drafting proposals and solicitation packages and engaging with district and state-level decision-makers
• Seek out opportunities to engage in thought leadership and peer partnership in order to share Relay’s work externally while also gathering best practices and innovative ideas from the field to bring back to Relay

Content Development & Execution (15%)

• Facilitation of professional learning experiences for instructional leaders when necessary, resulting in a high level of program satisfaction from participants and positive outcomes for the K-12 students they serve (approximately two days per month on average with slightly more during the Summer)
• Serve as a model facilitator, coach, and source of expertise for the Regional Leadership Programs team
• Collaborate with school district leadership or other partners to set and implement a vision for professional learning in line with the scope of the partnership including setting goals for coaching engagements, ensuring regular progress monitoring and communication, cooperating with key stakeholders to appropriately customize support to the needs of the partner and remove roadblocks to implementation of support
• With the Vice President, National Leadership Programs, the Managing Partner, Regional Leadership Programs, set the vision and manage the processes to collaboratively revise and design the foundational leadership curriculum using inclusive practices

Institutional Leadership (5%)

• Represent Relay programming at national conferences and other events to amplify Relay’s brand and build external relationships (approximately once per quarter).
• Maintain a pulse on the external landscape and relevant market needs, together with the Partnerships team, through biannual partner interviews and reviews of partner survey data to inform current and future program offerings.
• Integrate Relay’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism into the team’s culture and external partnerships, collaborating across internal teams to construct tools and frameworks to establish a consistent set of DEIA expectations for partners and ways of engaging externally on DEIA-related topics.
• Identify opportunities to collaborate most effectively across program teams, partnerships, marketing and communications, development, finance, and others to drive impact.

*Other duties, projects, and tasks as assigned by the manager

QUALIFICATIONS

First and foremost, the Vice President, Regional Leadership Programs must share the Relay community’s commitment to working together to improve student growth and achievement through phenomenal teacher preparation grounded in diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism. This includes providing teacher preparation programs that set novice teachers up to succeed in the classroom from day one; leadership programs that train new and veteran school and district leaders to best serve their school communities; and teacher-facing professional education that provides ongoing learning to educators. Additionally, for this position we’re looking for candidates that possess a combination of the following skills:

• At least eight years of work experience with increasing responsibility and managerial experience
• At least five years prior success as a school leader as demonstrated by students’ notable academic achievement and inspirational classroom instruction and experience within a high-need community (required); District or charter management organization leadership experience including responsibility for principal supervision and management (highly preferred)
• Demonstrated experience developing and leading observation/feedback and coaching, data-informed instruction, school culture supports, and high-quality professional learning for both teachers and instructional leaders (required); Track record of working collaboratively to effectively set professional learning strategy that leads to impact
• Previous experience in education capacity-building organizations, as a consultant, or otherwise serving as an external partner to schools including a track record of developing or expanding school, district, CMO, and state education agency partnerships that drive revenue (highly preferred)
• Experience with Relay leadership programs content, either as a National Principal Academy Fellowship (NPAF)/National Principal Academy Fellowship (NPSA), Leverage Leadership Institute (LLI)  alumnus/alumna or as a leader in a school using Relay leadership program practices (highly preferred)
• Strong collaborator and team manager with experience managing a distributed team and managing through layers
• Systems-thinker with strong organizational skills such as project management, critical thinking, effective prioritization, data-informed decision-making, a continuous improvement orientation, and planning for sustainability
• Strong interpersonal communication skills in both written and verbal forms and demonstrated track record of effectively leveraging these skills for development and management of partnerships
• A demonstrated passion for education and closing the opportunity gap
• Ability to travel at least 10% (required) and up to 30% (preferred); Travel expectations may be slightly higher during the first year in this role as the new Vice President observes and becomes more familiar with Regional programming and partners

Relay prepares teachers and school leaders to teach students of all identities and backgrounds in order to push toward a time when this country no longer faces stark educational inequities. We recruit, develop, support, and retain a diverse staff, faculty, and graduate student body because we are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and actively anti-racist institution. We know, and the data supports, that diversity, equity, and inclusion cultivate an environment in which people of all backgrounds can thrive and this is critical to achieving our mission of educational excellence and equity.

To fulfill that commitment, Relay encourages applicants of all backgrounds and identities to apply for roles that align with their own interests and career trajectory. If you meet a majority of the qualifications and see yourself in this role, we would love to see your application!

COMPENSATION

Relay is committed to creating and maintaining a compensation and benefits system that supports our ability to recruit and retain a diverse and talented team. As we make decisions about compensation, we will be guided by the following values: clarity, consistency, and internal equity. The salary range for this role is $151,647 - $204,724. New hires will be offered a salary at the starting point of the range, $151,647, to allow for an equitable starting salary process and continual salary growth during an employee’s time at Relay GSE. This specific position also includes a sign-on bonus, which will be 5% of the starting salary and not exceeding $5,000.

To ensure internal pay equity:

• Relay does not currently differentiate starting salary offers based on years of experience,
• All staff salaries will be capped at the salary range maximum, and
• Relay does not negotiate salary offers.

Relay offers a comprehensive total rewards package. For full-time roles, this includes health insurance benefits, disability and life insurance, retirement plan, professional development, gym reimbursement, adoption assistance, paid time off (PTO), parental leave, etc. To learn more about Relay’s benefits, please visit here.   

WORK LOCATION POLICY

Employees must have a primary work location within the U.S., where they are legally authorized to work. Relay is a registered employer in the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington State and Washington DC. Please note that Relay Graduate School of Education's headquarters are in New York City. Employees who choose to perform work from states not listed here will be subject to NYC state withholdings.

COVID-19 VACCINATION POLICY

Relay highly encourages all employees to be fully vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine. Relay abides by each state’s requirements, and acknowledges those may change over time. If moved forward to the phone screen stage, you will have the chance to ask your recruiter more about this policy. 

Relay Graduate School of Education provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees.