Manager, Learning and Improvement

Student Success Network is seeking a Manager, Learning & Improvement who will be responsible for co-designing, managing and facilitating Network activities.  

SSN believes that those closest to the challenge (practitioners and youth) are often closest to the solution, and the Manager, L&I will play an essential role in supporting spaces and processes that crystallize and elevate these solutions to address challenges at scale. 

The Manager, L&I will report primarily to the Director, Collaborative Improvement and will collaborate heavily across workstreams with all members of the team. Responsibilities will include:

Support development, coordination, and facilitation of all Network-facing gatherings, including “Improvement Cohorts”; working and advisory groups; and other spaces designed to gather practitioner input on improvement priorities and share practices that work:

• Design opportunities that allow for all levels and roles (including those who work directly with youth) within organizations to meaningfully contribute to and benefit from our Network’s growing knowledge base
• Co-facilitate spaces, ensuring they are inclusive and productive
• As is appropriate, create user-friendly tools and provide individualized support for Improvement Cohort participants as they navigate phases of the continuous improvement process (e.g. gathering and making sense of data; documenting practices that work) 
• Draft and send communications to participants
• Plan for and coordinate logistics of engagements (virtual and in-person)

Knowledge Management & Learning: lead internal processes to document, synthesize, and integrate learnings from SSN’s improvement activities to enable broader adaptation and scaling of what works, including: 

• Manage an intern to conduct a periodic review of learnings from SSN’s improvement activities and synthesize in a digestible and actionable format
• Synthesize and incorporate learnings into practitioner-facing resources and tools
• In partnership with the Senior Communications Manager, redesign and maintain the resource library to ensure accessibility and utility to the Network

Plan for and manage efforts to center youth experience in SSN’s work, including:

• Conduct strategic conversations with young people to help guide SSN’s learning and improvement activities
• Create resources for Network practitioners to use in gathering input from youth and integrating their perspectives in designing solutions

SSN is small, nimble, and responsive to its Network’s needs, so new responsibilities may arise overtime.

The ideal candidate will be:

• A strong facilitator, with youth and adults alike, with experience in continuous improvement methodologies (e.g. Improvement Science, Design Thinking, Results Based Facilitation).
• Deeply familiar with the NYC education and youth development landscape and the challenges and opportunities therein. 
• Knowledgeable about working with diverse student populations, particularly students underrepresented in higher education, youth that have been underserved by public and private institutions, and out-of-school/out-of-work youth.
• Able to create inclusive spaces and processes that enable people of different roles, ages, working styles, and backgrounds to meaningfully contribute and learn.
• An excellent written and verbal communicator.
• A stellar project manager, with a proven ability to create and manage complex project plans.
• A creative, intersectional thinker that is excited by the opportunity to create new possibilities and solutions. You aren’t overwhelmed by ambiguity, and are energized by the opportunity to navigate uncharted territory.
• A strong synthesizer, able to process complex information and pull out themes
• Able to exercise excellent judgment in creative decision-making, with the ability to juggle many tasks, deadlines, and competing priorities to develop clear solutions and build systems to increase efficiency
• A curious self starter that is excited by the challenges and opportunities for growth in a young, rapidly evolving organization, and adaptable to evolving needs and opportunities.
• Highly self-reflective, and an ability to build trusted relationships across lines of difference and positional power as well as to seek out and respond to perspectives different from your own.
• Committed to anti-racism, including expanding their understanding of social identity, especially race, and its impact in youth-serving organizations..    

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree or equivalent experience required
• At least 5 years of experience, preferably in the NYC youth-serving nonprofit space facilitating youth programming or adult learning

• Salary range is $82,000-88,000; final salary will commensurate with experience
• Flexible work culture, including hybrid work setting (expectation to be in office one day per week) and vacation policy
• Being a part of a small but mighty team in addition to a larger network of the city’s most innovative and impactful nonprofits
• Great Retirement & Healthcare Plans
• Professional Development Opportunities