Director, Education Agency Practice

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW
Project Evident exists to help organizations harness the power of evidence to achieve greater impact.  We do this by offering a comprehensive platform of tools, resources, and services to help state education agencies, local education agencies, nonprofits and funders improve how they measure, evaluate, and report results, while strengthening their ability to act using this evidence.  
Project Evident strives to be a trusted partner – to practitioners, funders, and other stakeholders committed to stronger, meaningful, and equitable outcomes for communities and individuals so that all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. We believe in the power of data and evidence to address social and racial justice, and seek to advance a next generation ecosystem for actionable evidence building and use. We lean into our mission through our values, specifically: 
 

• Practitioner Focused - We center on practitioners, and ground our work in their needs and contexts. We help practitioners strengthen meaningful and equitable outcomes for the communities and individuals they serve, and lift up their work so it can be better understood and supported by funders and policy makers. 
• Committed to Learning, Inclusion, and Transparency - We are frank, honest, and compassionate with our colleagues, clients, funders, and stakeholders. We seek input and feedback from a wide range of voices and share our learnings openly with others. We recognize that evidence is not immune from the racism and inequities that exist in our society, and strive to understand the context in which we operate and to uphold the principles of belonging, dignity, and justice through our work.
• Smart, Warm, Approachable and Productive - 
  • Smart - we strive to find practical, implementable solutions
  • Warm - we bring an attitude of heart and positivity and work through discomfort
  • Approachable - we keep open and curious minds, welcoming differing viewpoints and valuing the ideas and experiences of our partners. 
  • Productive - we hold ourselves accountable to the goals and timelines we set with our colleagues and partners, and course correct as needed 
• Oriented to Actionable Evidence - We work with partners to build and use relevant and timely data and evidence to continuously learn, improve, and make meaningful, equitable, and cost effective decisions both for ourselves and partnering organizations.

POSITION SUMMARY
The Director, EAP  will be responsible for project & client relationship management, practice management,  and business development.  The Director will work closely with other team members, our clients, consultants and partners to meet the goals of the department. consultants to ensure the successful delivery of services to clients.  The Director will be passionate about and committed to driving impact, delivering excellent client services and a very strong people and project managers. responsible and accountable for leading and ensuring the success of client engagements and driving impact, which requires effective project and client management. 

Internally, the Director will also contribute to Project Evident’s growth and the culture of belonging and accountability by engaging and contributing across the organization to advance performance, learning, growth and impact. This role will also serve on the organization wide management team to ensure effective operations, feedback and improvement.

The salary range for this role is dependent on experience and ranges from $100,000 to $120,000.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES
Project & Client Relationship Management (80%)

• Serve as primary relationship manager for engagements ensuring on time, on budget, high quality (NPS score >.70) delivery. Client engagements include, but are not limited to, providing training sessions, conducting workshops, facilitating coaching, and supporting program and policy implementation and strategic budget
• Build, sustain, facilitate, and manage strong relationships with our clients (e.g., state education agencies, local education agencies, intermediaries), technical assistance partners, funders and staff to ensure effective and efficient delivery on engagements.
• Lead and manage all aspects of engagements for which s/he is the lead including: creating and managing project plans; developing timelines, content, and deliverables for both internal staff and clients; leveraging full team expertise, existing tools, resources, and frameworks to ensure effective content; and providing actionable feedback to project team members.
• Serve as a liaison with clients, including working with the project team to ensure that client engagement meetings are effective and efficient.
• Effectively contribute to engagements for which s/he is part of a project team by delivering high quality content in a timely manner.
• Create, design, develop client-ready deliverables, that are clear and actionable, and are aligned with existing practices and use the appropriate format (e.g., presentations, memos, reports, etc.).
• Drive quality control, including reviewing, editing, and providing meaningful and actionable feedback on draft deliverables.
• Develop content for in-person and virtual meetings/ working sessions, training sessions, and /or workshops including: data analysis and visualization, continuous improvement, policy and process change, financial modeling and forecasting; review and summary of research studies and systematic evidence reviews. 
• Collaborate with colleagues to develop appropriate tools to facilitate efficient and effective delivery of services. 

Practice Management (10%)

• Identify and complete tasks that strengthen practice, and support internal learning; sharing with other team members to ensure learnings are incorporated for future plans.
• Works with the team to develop content, and create tools and resources that can be used for multiple engagements and shared more broadly; i.e., codification of product innovations in support of repeat execution and provide training sessions to help advance team skills and build consistency.
• Attract, develop, coach, supervise and retain high-performance team members, give and receive actionable and productive feedback, empower others to elevate their level of responsibility, span of control, and performance.  Will follow all Project Evident people processes effectively and on time.
• Identify learning and growth opportunities for junior staff on project teams and coordinate these opportunities, as appropriate with others. 
• Contribute to strategy development and play an active role on the management team. 

Business Development (10%)

• Leverage and deepen relationships within state and district education leaders, nonprofits and philanthropic networks to effectively build new pipelines.
• Independently generate new leads and secure resources that are aligned to individual revenue goals tied to practice OKRs. 
• Identify and lead (or support, as appropriate) grant and proposal development.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE
Minimum Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in relevant fields /areas including education, nonprofit, operations, policy, evaluation, data or consulting contexts, including 7+ years management experience including project management, supervision, financial and/or planning (relevant coursework may count towards this experience). 
• Demonstrated experience with business development and client management.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
We are also looking for candidates that have demonstrated experience: 

• Managing clients and client projects, including working effectively with multiple stakeholders who may have evolving priorities.
• Managing projects, processes, and teams and proven ability to work under tight timelines, accurately assess problems, and develop solutions.
• Creating and effectively executing work plans, processes, and documentation that helps to streamline and codify existing practices.
• Developing / designing curriculum / workshop content and providing successful training sessions, coaching, and implementation support.
• Working both independently and collaboratively in a fast paced environment on multiple projects; ability to effectively prioritize time and tasks 
• Translating data and evidence into action and sharing the information in an understandable and actionable manner to external stakeholders, which requires an understanding of evidence-based practices.
• Creating budget models and financial forecast, a plus.
• Attracting, developing, supervising, coaching, and retaining high-performance team members, gives and receives actionable and productive feedback, empowers others to elevate their level of responsibility, span of control, and performance.

Candidates should also have:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with a proven ability to write and copy edit clear and concise narratives and presentations.
• Extremely high standards for accuracy and impeccable attention to detail.
• The ability to interface with diverse staff and partners in various domains.
• The ability to respond adeptly to rapidly changing priorities and be comfortable in an entrepreneurial environment with fast deadlines.
• Experience with and high degree of proficiency using common cloud-based productivity tools, e.g.GoogleDocs, Office 365, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack.
• Knowledge of current key trends and relevant field developments to inform decisions, methods, and other needs to ensure excellent content and reporting.

Candidates should be:

• A problem solver and active listener who seeks clarification, asks questions, and surfaces solutions. 
• A self-starter able to independently research and consolidate information including technical documentation and policy.
• Committed to high performance culture, participate in giving and receiving feedback and belief in continuous and self-improvement.

SHARED COMMITMENTS
In addition to our SWAP values above, we seek candidates who share the following and are fully committed to Project Evident’s theory of change and aligned with our Next Generation of Evidence principles.

• Belonging and Accountability. We value and respect one another while holding each other accountable for delivering outcomes. We grow and reward superb talent. 
• Strong Learning and Problem Solving Orientation. We insist upon the ability to learn and grow from mistakes, seek clarification, listen and ask questions, identify problems and surface solutions, and help others do the same. We don’t sit in uncertainty. 
• Grace Under Pressure. We don’t sit with ambiguity; we are quick to adjust, adapt, and respond with a high level of maturity and empathy. 
• Intrinsically Motivated. We care deeply about the mission and working with practitioners to deliver better, more meaningful, and equitable outcomes for students and communities. 
• Disagree and Commit. We are fans of rigorous debate and then we align to support effective implementation.
• Act with dignity and assume best intent. We recognize that not all of us are going to use the right language, but all of us are working towards the same goal. We strive to avoid blame and drama.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
The Director, EAP reports to the Managing Director, EAP and works collaboratively with staff, clients, contractors, partners, funders and vendors to meet goals in line with organizational values. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Ability to work with a virtual team.
• Expected to work 40-50 hours per week, but could fluctuate based on client demands.
• Travel required to meet the needs of the organization. 
• Location is flexible, but New York City,  Philadelphia, Boston, or Chicago preferred.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Ability to sit, talk, and listen continuously for up to 8 hours per day. 
• Requires fine motor skills, such as typing for up to 4 hours continuously. 
• Ability to lift at least 30 pounds.
• Driver license required.

 

Studies have shown that women and people of color are often reluctant to submit a job application unless they meet all qualifications—we encourage applicants who may not meet 100 percent of the position qualifications to apply anyway.