Executive Director, People and Culture

This is a remote, full-time position with a requirement of up to 50% national travel.

What You’ll Do

We seek to hire an Executive Director of People and Culture to lead our work to support and continuously strengthen our systems and culture of people support. We are looking for a leader who will serve as a key lever to ensuring strong team experience while strengthening manager support and development as a core commitment in our five-year strategic plan.  As a service provider, we are nothing more or less than the strength of our people. We seek to serve our mission by building a diverse, rooted-in-values team of people. We seek to ensure every staff member has experiences at instruction partners that allow them to contribute their potential to our mission and we seek to live out our commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of our people work. The Executive Director of People and Culture will manage our people functions across the full cycle of recruitment, selection, matriculation, onboarding, development, and exiting.  This person will specifically lead the HR, talent, in-person events, Antiracism and team culture.  

This position sits on the executive leadership team and reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO).  
 
We seek a values-driven leader with experience as a senior leader of people work ideally in the non-profit education sector. We seek candidates with experience aligning and driving a talent strategy to a business strategy, advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion principles org-wide, and leading corporate leadership development while working across a dynamic and diverse set of relationships, managing complex and sensitive situations grounded in values and in accordance with HR law and a track record of driving joyful and impactful organizational cultures.

Responsibilities:

Executive Leadership

• Serve as a member of Instruction Partners’ Leadership Team
• Serve as a cross-functional leader and advisor to teams and program areas, ensuring ongoing communication and collaboration, centering our commitment to our core values  in all work streams
• Provide an organizational perspective to support senior leaders and ensure organizational success, including leading cross-functional task forces, as needed; manage the execution of organizational projects and initiatives that require cross-team collaboration where decision-making spans across departments
• Represent staff and holistic organizational needs in strategic planning and problem-solving processes, act as a steward for ongoing staff engagement and effectiveness
• Provide strategic counsel; serve as a thought partner by helping to set and achieve strategic priorities both organization-wide and specific to the work of the People & Culture team.
• Lead the organization's efforts to create a positive working environment reflecting organizational values; implement initiatives to develop leadership skills and establish accountability mechanisms for leadership
• Design, develop and implement structures, processes, initiatives to support organizational goals and priorities
• Provide mentoring, coaching, and accountability to senior leaders and Instruction Partners teams (including their own) 
• Provide management and thought leadership to their efforts and ensure integration across all departments and teams
• Hire, train, establish and monitor staff performance and development goals, assign duties, and conduct performance reviews
• Support the prioritization of strategies and tactics to advance organizational goals

HR and Talent

• Design the strategic vision for a national talent strategy with a focus on equity
• Manage and oversee HR policy management and continuous improvement
• Lead HR processes including, where needed, effective management and resolution of complex employee relations issues through effective, thorough, and objective investigations
• Oversee data and reporting requests and annual benefit plan and compliance needs.
• Research, consult and oversee the implementation of comprehensive compensation and benefits plans that are competitive and cost-effective
• Drive the design of an effective performance management system in collaboration with the leadership team, and lead the implementation of the individual performance management processes, working with managers to ensure preparation and application with equity
• Serve as the expert counsel across the team for formal and informal processes (including performance improvement, separation, investigations, manager training)
• Work with hiring managers and team members to leverage team members’ professional and personal networks to build a robust pipeline of prospects for future roles with a specific focus on increasing the diversity of applicants
• Work with the Managing Director of Antiracism and Culture  team to drive strategy and implementation of manager supports to ensure all staff members have access to a great manager development

Staff Learning & Experience:

• Design and develop manager training to ensure a strong team experience aligned with our core values 
• Support the Managing Director of Antiracism and Culture and team to develop and implement a comprehensive multi-year Antiracism strategy that aligns with Instruction Partners' strategic goals and objectives; ensure that the Instruction Partners’  long-term plans are inspired by an equity lens, and fully reflect the organization's equity identity and focus on inclusion
• Hold the vision of team experience and continuously improve it with input from across the organization
• Work with the Antiracism and Culture team and full leadership team, ensuring effective and equitable manager training, coaching and support in order to support this vision
• Deeply understand the staff experience and support managers to improve it
• Support managers in the development of coaching plans to ensure ongoing learning
• Work with the organization’s leadership and the People and Culture team in creating and maintaining a best-of-class culture.
• Lead the collaboration between the People & Culture team, the Chief of Staff, the Chief of Finance & Operations, and their respective teams, to design whole team culture events, including the annual team retreat to ensure strength of cross-cutting team experiences.

Competencies:

• Track record of effectively leading culture across an organization in addition to strong team management
• Ability to inspire and motivate team members in order to advance a shared vision and communicate that vision to all audiences
• Commitment to our core values
• Deep experience writing and developing equity-focused staff policies and procedures
• Demonstrated successful experience developing and support manager development
• An entrepreneurial, proactive attitude with strong organizational skills
• Ability to manage projects from idea to implementation 
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
• Creative thinking and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with demonstrated ability to manage multiple competing tasks and demands
• Track record of driving joyful and impactful organizational cultures.

Required Candidate Qualifications:

• 10+ years of leadership experience preferable in education or non-profit space
• 5+ years of senior leadership experience leading in HR and team culture 
• Experience in DEI training, leadership development, and organizational change management and executing these training for managers and full team.
• Experience aligning and driving an organizational  people and team experience vision 
• Experience managing complex and sensitive situations grounded in values and in accordance with HR law- understands HR law and best practices, workforce planning

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 salary for this role is $192,000. Detailed information about the organizational compensation philosophy can be found here. Competitive benefits and private retirement investment options are available, as well as a generous vacation policy. See our detailed benefits package here: 2023-2024 Benefits in Brief Overview.

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 strengthen instructional leadership in schools, school systems, and states to ensure teachers have the support they need to improve learning experiences and learning outcomes for students - with attention to students of color, students experiencing poverty, multilingual learners, 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.

Advance Antiracism

We create and uphold space for all team members, partners, and students so they are seen, valued, and heard. We lift the voices and experiences of Black, Latinx, Native, and Asian American and Pacific Islander people. We actively look for and confront patterns and systems that cause inequitable harm in order to create more equitable outcomes within our organization and with partners. We embrace diverse expressions of excellence that make our team more inclusive and effective.

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.

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