Marketing and Communications Director, District Engagement
Job Description
This is a full-time position with a flexible location. Once health guidance allows, the role involves substantial travel to multiple states and regions in service of building new relationships and partnerships with small, rural districts.
As the Director, District Engagement, you will build our network of district partners across the country to help us move toward our vision of improving teaching and accelerating student learning nationally, supporting new partner outreach and engagement in multiple states. You will develop the system and processes to identify potential partners in target regions, create plans for engagement, and evaluate the fit with our work. In the first six months, you will add more than 12 new partners to the portfolio of districts we support, bringing our total portfolio to more than 100 districts.
Responsibilities:
- In partnership with our Engagement, Marketing, and Delivery teams, create a business development process for new district partners across multiple states
- Work closely with the ED, District Partnerships and the MD, Engagement to establish a strategy and target districts for outreach in each prioritized state and region
- Build and maintain relationships with external partners and connectors
- Manage all aspects of outreach and follow up with potential district partners, including engaging other Instruction Partners team members as needed to close partnership
- Collect, track and analyze data on effectiveness of recruitment strategies and revise plans based on that data
- Quickly learn about district instructional needs and pain points based on inquiry and dialogue and advise on messaging/proposals for service to address those pain points
- Share a compelling vision of instructional improvement to small, rural school districts–including the role that Instruction Partners can play–drawing from authentic case studies and examples of existing Instruction Partners district partnerships
- Research organizations and individuals to surface and evaluate potential partner opportunities
Candidate Qualifications and Traits:
- Commitment to excellent daily instruction for every student
- Experience with small, rural districts strongly preferred
- Experience with partner/customer communication and engagement with school districts; small, rural school districts is strongly preferred
- Experience managing business development or fundraising pipelines–familiar with the work of initial outreach, cultivation, and close
- Understanding of instruction and how school systems work
- Relentless and high-quality outreach and follow up with potential partners –never letting a ball drop on communications or action steps
- Ability to quickly build trusting and authentic relationships with leaders of small districts and schools
- Strong written and verbal communicator
- Detail orientation, organization, and follow through
- Ability to travel to school systems located throughout the country weekly (as health guidance permits)
- Travel may include early morning departures and/or overnight stays. A flexible schedule Monday through Friday is required. Instruction Partners covers all travel expenses.
In your cover letter for this role, please share specifically about your experience working in small or rural school systems and your ability to build relationships across lines of difference.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Hiring
At Instruction Partners, we know that difference enhances, transforms and strengthens our ability to serve students and schools. We invite and celebrate diversity of all perspectives, and we are deeply committed to ensuring equitable access and voice throughout our organization. Instruction Partners is proudly an equal opportunity workplace, and we value the inclusion of persons who have experienced poverty and/or for whom English is not their first language, and every race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, culture, ancestry, religion, national orientation, age, marital status or Veteran status. Join us, and let’s work together to support great teaching and accelerate learning for every student.
Compensation:
The starting salary range for this role is $81,000 to $113,000, depending on experience. Detailed information about the organizational compensation philosophy is available upon application. Competitive benefits and private retirement investment options are available, as well as a generous vacation policy.
Our Vision
All students experience an excellent education that prepares them to contribute to their community, achieve economic security, and pursue their dreams.
Our Mission
We work shoulder to shoulder with educators to support great teaching and accelerate student learning. We focus on small systems, both districts and charters, and we work to ensure equitable access to great instruction for students in poverty, students of color, students learning English, and students with disabilities.
Our Core Values
Live Big-Hearted
We care deeply about ourselves, each other, our work, our partners, and the students we serve. We value the differences each other brings to the table because we know diversity of voice, thought, and experience makes us better. We operate joyfully and without ego, collectively focused on the broader good.
Choose Optimism
We believe that, with the right support, every student can succeed. We have the courage to lean into challenges and believe in the possibility of overcoming obstacles while holding a high bar for ourselves, partners, educators, and students. As we advance antiracist actions, our path may not be smooth, but we will walk it anyway because we have faith that the journey will make our team and our education system better.
Champion Antiracism
We think critically about creating and upholding brave spaces for all team members, partners, leaders, and students so they are seen, valued, and heard. We amplify the voices and experiences of Black, Latinx, and Native people. We actively look for and dismantle systems of oppression within and outside of our organization, and we are consciously de-centering whiteness in our organizational culture by embracing diverse expressions of excellence that make our team more inclusive and effective.
Read our commitment to antiracist action.
Be Honest
We are open, authentic, and truthful with ourselves, teammates, and partners. Our trust in each other and our work gives us the courage to lean into difficult conversations, put forth new ideas, and give and receive feedback through the lens of equity of voice and experience. We understand the intense and gripping nature of our work, so we name our needs to ensure we are practicing self-care and love within our beloved community.
Get Practical
We believe support should be thoughtful by meeting people, schools, and systems where they are. We leverage the voices, strengths and stories of families, educators, partners and teammates to find answers, because we know there isn’t a “one size fits all” solution to the challenges of our education system. We always look for ways to work smart, focus on the most relevant impact, and reduce friction to make it easier to take action while grounding our progress in equity.
Keep Learning
We know and love that we don’t yet have all the answers because we are nerds for learning, even when it’s hard or ambiguous. We actively pursue new knowledge, research, and evidence so that we can leverage the latest insights and best practices in our work, then we put that knowledge to work in partnership with our team, our partners, and the students and communities we serve. We respect the learning that springs from our own anti racist journeys, and vow to activate our knowledge in pursuit of equity and excellence.
How We Work
Instruction Partners is a nonprofit organization dedicated to excellent instruction for all students, with a focus on students in poverty, students with disabilities, students learning English, and students of color. We keep one foot in practicality and the other in evidence-based best practices, because we believe that leveraging high-quality, grade-level content and providing just-in-time supports will accelerate learning for all students.
Instruction Partners spends time getting to know the needs of the educators, leaders, and systems it serves, allowing the team to custom-build service plans to support partner goals. Partnerships include on-the-ground support, and partnership team members serve as thought partners to the school systems they serve, a team educators can reach out to and feel supported by.
Instruction Partners provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Instruction Partners complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
