Director of Student Recruitment & Enrollment

Position Summary

The Director of Student Recruitment and Enrollment’s primary goal is to ensure that all KIPP Public Schools in Northern California are fully enrolled. An exemplary leader will accomplish this by developing a comprehensive student recruitment strategy, managing a team of recruitment leaders across KIPP NorCal’s 5 subregions, and utilizing data-informed systems to nimbly execute towards ambitious outcomes. This individual will lead our recruitment and enrollment work in a manner that centers students and families in the enrollment process and empowers schools to build strong and meaningful relationships with their prospective students and community partners. 

To accomplish this work, the Director of Student Recruitment and Enrollment must 1) lead the team of 3 Student Recruitment Managers, who in turn manage 6-8 full time Family Ambassadors across five subregions; 2) drive effective, cross-functional team-collaboration across the organization; 3) analyze trends in our communities and ensure that KIPP is leveraging data to drive recruitment and enrollment decision-making; 4) develop, pilot, and scale new practices to drive more efficient outcomes; 5) professionalize and improve our recruitment practices across a regional cohort of outreach staff; 6) develop, advocate, and account for a centrally managed budget to achieve annual goals; and 7) effectively roll out new region‐wide initiatives or modifications to existing policies and practices. 

The Director of Student Recruitment and Enrollment will collaborate regularly with school leadership teams and other departments in the Regional Support Office including Regional Operations, Marketing & Communications, Policy, Advocacy & Community Engagement, Finance, Data and others - to ensure a comprehensive, coherent regional strategy, including, but not limited to, planning, data management, outreach, and marketing.

The Director of Student Recruitment and Enrollment will report to the Managing Director of Policy, Enrollment, Advocacy, and Community Engagement and work from our downtown Oakland office (blend of in-person and remote work), with regular travel to our schools and local communities throughout the Bay Area and Stockton. The role is available immediately. 

This is a hybrid role with the expectation that 2-3 days per week be spent onsite at our school campuses or at our Regional Support Office in Oakland.

Preferred Qualifications

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree (required); Master’s Degree (preferred)
• 7+ years of professional work experience, including demonstrated results leading in at least one of the following functional areas: system-level operations across multiple locations/sites, non-profit or education systems management, student recruitment & admissions, data management, sales.
• 3+ years of professional experience managing direct reports, people managers and teams.
• K-12 public education experience preferred.

Knowledge & Skills required:

• Demonstrated ability to manage teams of people and strategize with cross functional partners to drive ambitious outcomes.
• Understanding of K-12 public education and school operations.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills; able to build effective and collaborative relationships and influence diverse stakeholders.
• Highly skilled at strategic planning, progress monitoring, and change management; able to drive vision and direction setting across teams.
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills; experience using Microsoft Excel and/or
• Google Sheets to analyze data and perform quantitative analysis.
• Exemplary critical thinking skills; proven track record of analyzing complex issues, driving through obstacles, making decisions, and delivering strong results.
• Demonstrated initiative, entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.
• Brings a racial equity, inclusion and belonging lens to the work and a commitment to anti-racism.
• Passionate about educational equity and KIPP’s mission, vision and values.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Design and execute a regional student recruitment and enrollment strategy and set the conditions for its successful implementation

• Create, execute, and oversee the regional strategy - which may differ across the 5 sub-regions in which KIPP NorCal operates - for student recruitment and enrollment, with input from other teams and schools, to deliver against enrollment goals and expectations.
• Track applicant data, report progress to key stakeholders, and adjust recruitment tactics to maximize enrollment. 
• Partner with school and community stakeholders to create high impact messages and programs that attract students and families to KIPP NorCal schools. 
• Partner with other department leaders to  effectively  collaborate on organizational enrollment priorities annually.
• Support schools and central office staff with the tools, data, training and information needed to implement best practices and comply with authorizer and charter requirements.

Team and people management

• Hire, manage, and develop a centralized recruitment team of 3 Student Recruitment Managers and 6-8 full time Family Ambassadors with an assets-based approach, cultivating a collaborative and inclusive team culture that empowers leaders, and where diverse backgrounds and perspectives are respected and valued.
• Effectively manage, coach and develop direct reports with an assets-based approach, cultivating a collaborative and inclusive team culture that empowers direct reports, and where diverse backgrounds and perspectives are respected and valued.
• Design and implement an annual professional development program across the cohort of recruitment leaders to improve their efforts based on experience and best-practice.  
• Develop tools, systems, protocols, and processes to support the effective execution of student recruitment practices across the region and train people and teams on how to use them.

Lead collaboration with other departments to drive enrollment strategy

• Drive collaboration across functional departments to ensure alignment across goals, coordinate implementation of annual strategic priorities, and effectively deliver streamlined communication with school teams and leaders.
• With the MarComm team, develop and lead an impactful marketing strategy for student recruitment to engage and inspire our communities. Drive broad awareness of KIPP schools through investments in digital, print, tv/radio, and outdoor marketing among other opportunities. 
• With the Regional Operations team, develop and implement a strategy to convert applicants to students in seats by supporting school Directors of Operations’ training, progress monitoring and accountability of a critical phase of the enrollment process.

Systems management and operations

• Serve as business owner of all student recruitment and enrollment systems (SchoolMint, Enroll Oak, Hubspot, and others) including collaborating across departments to design and improve all related processes, and train staff on how to use them.
• Lead annual applications and in-house lottery processes across all schools.
• Own enrollment-focused relationships with district offices in geographies with district-run lotteries.

Disrupt Racial Inequities 

• Actively champion our commitment to anti-racism through ongoing inquiry, implementation of systems and structures to advance equity, and contributing towards our vision for DEI while holding others accountable to doing the same.
• Demonstrate the courage and skill to respectfully interrupt conversations, behaviors and systems laden with unconscious, implicit or explicit bias. 

Physical, Mental and Environmental Demands

Physical: Ability to navigate office and school campuses, and hold meetings in different spaces. Traditionally, much of the day involves sitting. Ability to access and utilize technology. Occasional lifting/carrying of equipment 1-20 lbs. Physical agility to move self in various positions in order to execute duties effectively, which may include kneeling, walking, pushing/pulling, squatting, twisting, turning, bending, stooping and reaching overhead

Mental: Stress of deadlines and normal work standards, ability to analyze problems and generate alternatives, work with interruptions, concentrate for long periods of time, read, calculate, perform routine math problems, memorize and recall objects and people.

Environmental: Office environment subject to constant interruptions and distractions. Frequent school/community environment and travel, (20-40%). KIPP adheres to health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC, CDE, and public health agencies’ recommendations.

Classification

This is a full-time, exempt position based on a full year calendar cycle, based out of our Regional Support Office with frequent travel to schools and districts.

The KIPP Regional Support Office is currently operating in a hybrid fashion. Most positions can expect to work in person 2-3 days per week and remotely the remaining days, subject to change based on the needs of the role.

About KIPP Public Schools Northern California

We are a thriving nonprofit network of 22 free, public charter schools open to all students. At KIPP, we believe all children should grow up free to create the future they want for themselves and that schools can and should be a critical factor in making that vision a reality. Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

Our student community consists of over 7,000 elementary, middle, and high school students in East Palo Alto, Oakland, San Francisco, San Lorenzo, San Jose, Redwood City, and Stockton. 79% qualify for free or reduced price lunch, 23% are multilingual learners, and 10% have special needs. We strive to cultivate a representative team of teachers and leaders that reflect our students’ diversity.

Compensation

KIPP Northern California is dedicated to you and your family's well-being! We offer a competitive salary as well as a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, and transportation benefits.

We benchmark annually against comparably-sized non-profit organizations in the regions where we operate, to offer competitive salaries. The salary range for this position is between $120,000 and $147,000. Most candidates would be compensated at $128,000.