Managing Director, Superintendent Pipeline

Managing Director, Superintendent Pipeline

The Holdsworth Center seeks a Managing Director, Superintendent Pipeline who believes in the promise of public schools to deliver excellent results for every student, and who believes their unique skills and inner purpose would be a great match for Holdsworth’s mission, culture and values.

Our organization & mission

Driven by the belief that teachers and students thrive with great leadership, The Holdsworth Center builds stronger leaders for Texas public schools. Founded as a nonprofit in 2017 by Chairman Charles Butt, Holdsworth provides world-class leadership development programs and services within districts and at its Campus on Lake Austin, a one-of-a-kind place dedicated to the idea that public education holds worth.

Our founder, Charles Butt, believes educators deserve rigorous professional learning in a world-class setting and envisioned the Campus as a gift to hardworking educators and a testament to the importance of public schools. The serene and peaceful setting allows teams of educators to step back from the day-to-day and see their challenges and opportunities more clearly.

Our work

Leadership is not a skill people are born with—it can be taught. That’s why we offer world-class leadership programs, coaching, and other services unparalleled in the education field.

In our programs, superintendents, principals, teachers, and other educational leaders engage with some of the nation’s top experts in their fields from a variety of sectors, including preK-12 and higher education, government, and business.

In some of our partner districts, we embed Holdsworth consultants to work hand-in-hand with central office leaders to define what great leadership looks and help them build custom solutions to identify and develop future campus leaders, place them in leadership roles, and support them as they progress in their leadership journey.

Our culture & values

We have three core values at Holdsworth: Drive for Excellence for Every Student, Be of Service, and Believe in People. Our values flow from the vision and beliefs of our founder, Charles Butt, and guide our daily words and actions, bringing meaning to the work we do.

Purpose & responsibilities

One of the most critical challenges facing public education is effective and sustained leadership. In the past several years, there has been renewed anxiety about the superintendent role. While news of departing superintendents and the extraordinary pressures of the position have dominated headlines, the weakness of the superintendent bench has only grown. The reality is that, though the headlines are attracting more attention, the underlying weaknesses of the superintendent pipeline are not new.

It is crucial to have capable and resilient superintendents leading all districts in Texas to confront the challenges ahead. To achieve this objective, we need to take a comprehensive approach, which includes investing in identifying promising candidates for future superintendent positions, enhancing their leadership skills, matching them to districts where they can make an impact, and providing them support during their initial years as a superintendent. To meet this challenge, The Holdsworth Center created a Superintendent Pipeline team in 2023, building from the success of its inaugural program to support superintendents, the Superintendent Leadership Program, which began in 2021 and welcomed its fifth cohort in 2025.

The Managing Director, Superintendent Pipeline will serve as a senior leader at Holdsworth, overseeing our programmatic work in the superintendent pipeline and advancing Holdsworth’s ability to identify, develop, place, and support superintendents in Texas.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and lead the overall strategy and operating plan for the superintendent pipeline team
  • Ensure that the team’s collective efforts advance Holdsworth’s broad goals for strengthening the superintendent pipeline in Texas
  • Lead the team to design and implement a successful continuum of programmatic efforts that result in a cohesive approach to identifying, developing, placing, and supporting superintendents in Texas
  • Set clear direction for the superintendent pipeline work at Holdsworth that looks at least 3 years ahead, setting clear goals, targets, and outcomes
  • Set a direction for how Holdsworth can influence the superintendent search process over the next 2-5 years, considering both the challenges and opportunities in the landscape as well as Holdsworth’s capabilities
  • Partner with the Learning & Impact team to implement a measurement strategy to evaluate the impact of programs in the Superintendent Pipeline
  • Drive clarity and alignment across the team by translating the strategy into clear work portfolios and goals, ensuring each team member understands how their work contributes to the broader success
• Lead a high-performing team
  • Foster a winning team culture where all team members are valued, supported, and empowered to do their best work
  • Lead strategic talent planning by assessing current capabilities, identifying future needs, and developing short and long-term strategies to ensure the team has the right talent - including full-time staff, contractors, and coaches - to meet its goals
  • Coach and develop Directors to be exceptional people managers—providing them with the feedback and support to lead high-performing teams
  • Model and reinforce leadership excellence by setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and holding others accountable
  • Continuously assess and, as needed, evolve team structures to ensure the team has what it needs to succeed
• Serve as a key member of the Holdsworth Center Program Leadership team (HCPL), supporting the organization to pursue its mission
  • Operate with an organizational leader mindset, contributing to strategy and decision-making beyond the scope of your direct team
  • Work closely with the Chief Program Officer and President on the overall strategy and direction of Holdsworth’s work in the superintendent pipeline
  • Collaborate closely with other Managing Directors to ensure alignment across teams, share insights, and co-own the success of the broader program portfolio at Holdsworth
  • Support the broader work of The Holdsworth Center and its objectives to develop leadership in K-12 public education in Texas
  • Represent Holdsworth externally and with a variety of senior external stakeholders

Prior experience & capabilities

We expect that strong candidates may have a range of professional experiences, including K-12 leadership, non-profit leadership, executive search, and consulting experience (private sector or non-profit), and more. If you believe you have the skills and creative insight required to excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. You do not need to have been a superintendent to apply for this role.

You’re a strong candidate if the following describe you:

• You have strong alignment with our organizational values—Drive for Excellence for Every Student, Be of Service, Believe in People.
• You’re an exceptional people manager with a track record of leading high-performing teams. You have a knack for retaining high performers, creating a culture of joy and rigor, and developing winning teams.
• You’re a creative, flexible thinker with an entrepreneurial spirit who is comfortable with ambiguity, and you can create the conditions on a team for others to engage in this kind of work. You balance agility with pragmatism, and you have excellent judgment about what strategies will lead to the most impact.
• You bring or quickly develop strong networks to both understand and influence public education in Texas. You build external relationships quickly.
• You have a strong ability to imagine and design new systems; You can both ideate and implement at high levels. You aren’t afraid to get into the details when needed; you can see both the forest and the trees.
• You synthesize lots of complex information in a way that is easy for others to understand—you quickly understand complex problems, identify root causes, and effectively communicate with internal and external audiences.
• You have strong planning skills with an ability to think and strategize for the long-term.
• You prioritize effectively among a large portfolio to spend your time in the most important ways. You help others prioritize effectively.
• You have a strong desire to learn, grow, and get better through feedback.

Geography

This position is based in Austin, Texas; this is a hybrid position with on-site work at the Campus on Lake Austin expected at least 3 days a week, on average (some weeks may require more than 3 days, including some evenings and weekends to support the team in implementing programs with district leaders.)

Compensation & Benefits

• The salary range for this position will be: $150,000 - $185,000 annually; salary will depend on several factors, including but not limited, to your qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience.
• This position is eligible to participate in company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short-term and long-term disability coverage, four-weeks of paid time off annually, employee assistance program, participation in a 401k program that includes a company match, and many other additional benefits.

How to Apply

Applicants should apply here. Note: the application deadline for this position is November 13, 2025. We do not guarantee review of applications submitted after this date.

All employment decisions are based on job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

This position is eligible to participate in company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short-term and long-term disability coverage, four-weeks of paid time off annually, employee assistance program, participation in a 401k program that includes a company match, and many other additional benefits.