Senior Director

Who We Are

The Academy Group (AG) is a unique social enterprise that leverages earned revenue from financial investments to create world-class opportunities for young people from the nation’s most resilient communities. The Academy Group demonstrates the promise of a new model for identifying, developing, and sustaining a diverse national pipeline of future leaders, employers, and change agents. We were founded based on a unique model. One that creates pathways for black and brown students, if they demonstrate relentless pertinacity, to build wealth and become socially just change agents, ideally through careers and leadership positions in our portfolio companies. No other organization in the world is built to do this.

The Role

The Senior Director at the Academy Chicago works in close partnership with the Executive Director to build an organizational strategy and program model that are aligned with the organization’s mission statement and differentiated to meet the needs of students and school partners. The Director of Programs is responsible for managing and supporting the Chicago team and facilitating leadership coaching plans that support the development of core team members. This development will result in the organization achieving its mission and measurable performance goals. In addition, the Director of Programs is responsible for managing organizational systems specific to student-facing programs. Also, the Director of Programs will collaborate with the Chief Executive Officer on the planning, execution, and review of the organizational strategy.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Organizational Leadership, Strategy, & Program Design:

• Collaborate with the Chief Executive Officer on the design of the Academy Chicago strategy and program model.
• Lead the program team on annual budget planning.
• Collaborate with the program team on developing leadership development plans.
• Oversee the individual goal-setting process that aligns with the annual measurable goals.
• Coordinate and supervise the design and delivery of the school-based advisory program.
• Design role charters for Academy Chicago team members and facilitate one-to-one meetings that build coherence and clarity across the team.
• Build a professional development session that ensures transparency across organizational roles.
• Manage programming including ensuring a seamless integration of internal programs and external providers.
• Develop a strategy to onboard summer staff and facilitate collaborative planning among summer teaching staff. Ensure teachers are delivering a world-class academic program incorporating innovative, rigorous, and fun daily lesson plans.
• Oversee day-to-day operations of the Academy Group including areas of logistics, safety and security, student services, stakeholder engagement, and program alignment and coherence.
• Ensure all compliance (fiscal, academic, safety, local/state/federal) guidelines are satisfied.
• Collaborate with the team to develop, implement, and support year-round programming.
• Develop team members’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors through a variety of professional development-targeted topics.
• Track leadership development through coaching logs and other artifacts.

Manage Program Operations:

• Organize and manage summer and school-year program launch punch lists.
• Organize, share, and manage the annual events calendar.
• Manage the Academy Chicago Google Drive folders.

Family and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Support with the annual parent orientation sessions.
• Support with the high school and college awareness parent engagement sessions.
• Support with the distribution of annual student stipends.

Professional Responsibilities & Other:

• Foster an adult culture of professional and operational excellence.
• Foster a culture of adult collaboration and professional development.
• Promote individual student success.
• Collaborate with the CEO and team leaders on the program model design and delivery of Summer Academy and school-year programming.
• Ensure consistent data collection to monitor the impact of student programming.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s and Master’s degree education is required. M.Ed. MBA or type 75 certification, or related fields preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of organizational management experience.
• Minimum of 10 years of academic experience including 7+ years of classroom experience; preferred candidates have experience working across multiple grade levels, 5+ years of leadership experience focusing on instructional design and supervision.
• Demonstrated success managing and developing teams.
• Minimum of 5 years experience focusing on program design and implementation.
• Successful experience with leadership development and coaching.

Demonstrated Attributes

• Demonstrated evidence of relentless pertinacity in both their professional and personal background.
• Evidence of successful leadership experience.
• Knowledge of current community challenges and opportunities relating to the mission of the organization.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multi-disciplinary project management skills.
• Demonstrated analytical skills; must be highly efficient with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people, specifically students from the “most resilient communities.”
• Passion, integrity, zeal, mission focus, and disciplined work ethic.

Location

This position will be based in Chicago, IL.

Compensation and Benefits

The Academy Group offers a competitive salary and comprehensive medical, vision, dental, and 401k package. The annual salary for this position is up to 165k per year.