Chief Operating Officer jobs in Newark, NJ

Company Description

About KIPP TEAM & Family

KIPP TEAM & Family is our network office that includes support teams - such as Leadership Development, Recruitment, Advocacy, Facilities, Finance, HR and more - dedicated to empowering our schools and ensuring the success of KIPP students throughout New Jersey and Miami. Our schools are part of the nationally recognized “Knowledge Is Power Program” network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools dedicated to preparing students for success in college and in life. The first KIPP New Jersey school opened in Newark in 2002 and since then our school network has expanded to educate 8,135 students in grades K-12. By 2025, KIPP New Jersey will provide a world-class education to over 10,300 students across fifteen schools in Newark and five in Camden. 

In 2018, we grew our KIPP community in response to a need for high-quality school options for students in Greater Miami’s Urban Core communities. That led to the creation of KIPP Miami, which currently educates more than 1,000 students in four schools, with plans to reach 5,800 students by 2025. By offering highly effective educators with strong bonds to families, more time in school learning, services that support a variety of student needs, and a culture focused on achievement, our students in New Jersey and Miami are on the path to and through college, career, and choice-filled lives.  

Job Description

Here's what you should know:

The COO sits on the executive leadership team and plays a critical role in advancing and achieving the organization’s strategic goals and initiatives. The COO leads a team in executing world-class operational support for the schools in our network, ensuring that KIPP NJ and Miami (and any region we grow to) deliver exceptional performance while meeting our ambitious student growth goals. The COO ensures our schools are operationally excellent, fully enrolled, well-maintained, and compliant by leading high-performing teams that enable instructional leaders to focus nearly exclusively on driving academic results for kids.

The COO role is a hybrid role with both in person and remote work with travel expected between regions.

Team Leadership

• Manage, coach, develop, and lead a high-performing team of MDOs and senior operations leaders (Directors of Student Recruitment and Enrollment, Facilities and Compliance) across schools and regions. Through this team, the COO will ultimately be accountable for excellent school operations and ensuring goals are met in enrollment, budget and finance, compliance, and growth.
• Lead network-wide operations leadership team (The Syndicate) in driving operations initiatives in support of the organization's strategic goals and to advance operational excellence across regions.

Network, Regional and School Operations

• Set vision of excellence for network-wide school and regional operation and lead team to ensure schools are efficient, beautiful and reflective of KIPP TEAM and Family’s Heartbeat.
• Achieve excellence across all our network support based operational functions (student recruitment and enrollment, facilities, school operations, meals, transportation, procurement, student information systems, teacher certification, risk management, safety, and new school openings):
  • Establish a clear vision of operational excellence at both schools and regions and assess progress towards that vision.
  • Lead the design and implementation of any changes to our operational processes, structures, or reporting relationships at both the school and network level to achieve stronger coordination and collaboration and a seamless experience for schools.
  • Partner with programmatic and instructional teams (e.g., Teaching and Learning, Student Experience) to ensure alignment and seamless integration of our operational and instructional functions.
  • Seek feedback on what’s working / where we have opportunities to grow.
• Drive results across the operations portfolio, including progress tracking, monitoring, and reporting, holding team and self accountable to short and long term outcomes and ensuring that operations enables instructional excellence at all levels.
• Ensure regions hit all key operational goals in support of the strategic plan.
• Cascade operational goals across cities and schools and ensure alignment to strategic initiatives.
• Actively progress monitor goals and lean into areas that require additional support or where pivots need to be made.
• Ensure systems and processes for measuring school operations excellence, such as strong start walk thoughts, and Ops EKGs, are in place and executed with fidelity.

Student Recruitment and Enrollment

• Manage and coach the Director of Student Recruitment and Enrollment (DSRE) to hit annual enrollment and budget targets and ongoing ADE.
• In partnership with the DSRE and MDOs, design and execute a marketing and operational student enrollment strategy that enables all schools to reach their enrollment budget targets.
• Partner with the MD of MarComms on marketing and communication campaigns for enrollment plans.
• Own all SRE outcomes for the network.
• Ensure that all regions are  fully enrolled for October compliance deadlines and stay fully enrolled throughout the year. 
• In partnership with MDOs and CFO, set enrollment targets for each school and grade level (consistent with KTAF, regional, and school budgets; building capacity; and projected demand).
• Support DSRE in designing SRE strategy in each city.
• Lead DSRE in implementing local student recruitment strategy.

Risk Management/ Compliance

• Manage and coach the Director of Compliance to hit all annual compliance goals.
• In partnership with the Director of Compliance, Legal Counsel and Controller, oversee decision-making on substantial and complex legal and policy issues that affect schools.
• In partnership with Director of Compliance, Legal Counsel and Controller, Ensure that the organization has a sound risk management plan that is executed throughout the region and across departments,
• With the Director of Compliance, ensure that all charters and school operations are in compliance.
• Lead charter renewal process in each region and ensure that charters (or other operating structures) are renewed and allow for maximum student growth.  
• Ensure regions are in compliance with all state and local laws under their charter or other organizing structure.
• Ensure the network meets state and local compliance deadlines related to enrollment.

Facilities

• Manage and coach the Director of Facilities to hit all annual facilities portfolio goals.
• Set a clear, coherent vision for facilities across the network, ensuring the facilities function is executed at a consistent, high quality level.
• Ensure execution of facilities management strategy to provide clean, safe, secure and welcoming environments for students, families and staff, including: capital planning and implementation, building improvements and maintenance, safety and security. 

Advocacy, Growth, External

• Support MDOs as necessary in executing local community engagement strategies.
• Develop relationships with state and local officials as necessary to support successful and efficient operation of regions.
• In partnership with the MDO of each region and MD of Advocacy, establish collaborative relationships with our various district offices.

Budget and Financial Planning

• Play an active role in the creation of regional and school-based budgeting, in partnership with MDOs and CFO.
• Ensure MDOs are actively managing budgets throughout the year to be compliant with financial covenants, and making pivots as necessary.
• Ensure regional budgets put student outcomes first and help MDOs weigh tradeoffs between academic goals, financial operating constraints, and efficiencies.

Systems Management and Development

• Identify, develop and implement operational systems improvements that will support highly efficient, effective, and equitable operational performance, both improving upon the current state of operations and preparing for future growth in size and complexity.
• Oversee the creation and management of standardized operating procedures for school-based and regional operations (facilities, facilities maintenance, safety, supplies, food services, transportation, student recruitment) in order to maximize the economy of scale and avoid duplicative efforts; align and norm across regions as necessary.

Organization/ Executive Leadership

• Be an active participant on the network leadership team (TC).
• Collaborate with TC to implement  initiatives, strategies, and programs to realize the organization’s Strategic plan (Steady & Ready).
• Manage mission critical special projects and initiatives. Develop ideas into implementable projects (including projects outside of operations function).
• Champion and manage process improvement across the organization.
• Lead cross-functional teams with colleagues from other departments (e.g., Finance, Communications, and Talent) to monitor and create strategies to minimize institutional risk and maximize effectiveness.
• Establish relationships with all School Leaders and School-Based Operational Leaders, as well as regional leaders, to ensure that school-based operations are delivered equitably, efficiently, and effectively, ultimately enabling instructional leadership to focus on academics without distraction.
• Foster organizational culture and model our core values and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Manage change across the organization and invest internal and external key stakeholders in strategic initiatives, always ensuring that students and academic excellence are at the center of decision making.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above essential duties and responsibilities.

Skills and Abilities

• Maintains an unrelenting commitment to continuous improvement,  results-orientation and unwavering determination to ensure students and teachers succeed
• Always makes decisions in the best interest of students, striking the right balance with external constraints
• Possesses a constant focus on excellence
• Inspires and leads teams to reach aggressive goals
• Builds the strongest relationships with all stakeholders
• Influences others to achieve outcomes that best support kids
• Knows what’s important and what to prioritize at all times
• Is the fastest of learners and synthesizes information quickly
• Maintains supreme flexibility, with an ability to maneuver effectively in the face of uncertainty and transition and to continuously adapt priorities while maintaining focus on goals
• Demonstrated ability to develop, implement and manage business systems and processes to support a growing region
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with a demonstrated ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, lead projects, meet multiple concurrent deadlines and organize time and priorities
• Ability to collaborate with a wide range of constituents and to build partnerships around common interests and goals
• Robust knowledge of public education, education reform initiatives and the charter school movement
• Sense of humor and strong interpersonal skills that contribute to a collegial working environment

Qualifications

Must Haves:

• 10 years of progressively increasing operational management experience in the context of a growing organization or business, including line management in at least one of the functional domains of the COO role
• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree in a related field preferred
• Significant team management experience (5-10 years), including experience supporting and coaching top performers and developing other managers
• Previous experience in education and/or nonprofit environment strongly preferred

The usual and customary methods of performing the job’s functions require the following physical demands:

• Weekend and evening work will often be necessary to carry out the requirements of this job.
• Travel to other KTAF regions or for work-related conferences and professional development will be required from time to time.
• A certain number of days per week in the office or schools may be required.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

Additional Information

Compensation & Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, KIPP TEAM & FAMILY offers a full comprehensive benefits plan, including health care, retirement, a school laptop and transportation benefits for TEAMmates commuting into New Jersey from the New York City area.