Chief Of State Operations

WHO WE ARE

Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a national political organization that supports elected Democrats and candidates for office who seek to expand policies and practices that work well for America’s students and confront those that do not. We are education progressives who prioritize students and families, especially low-income students and students of color who should be better served by our country’s public education system.

DFER partner Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA) is an advocacy group that advances education reform measures by empowering community leaders to support our legislative and political advocacy work. ERNA keeps constant pressure on legislators to champion high-quality public education.

DFER partner Education Reform Now (ERN) is a nonpartisan think tank that promotes increased resources and innovative reforms in K-16 public education, particularly for students of color and students from low-income families.

WHAT WE DO

1. Support for Progressive Education Leaders — In an approach that is markedly different from our peers and partners in the field, DFER engages directly with candidates and elected officials to empower them to advocate for education policies that focus foremost on serving students. Our partner organization, Education Reform Now, does work that involves policy research, analysis, and education that helps policymakers at all levels understand complex education issues and make informed decisions.

2. Informing the Education Debate — Our coalition work reflects the breadth of our policy priorities. We work collaboratively with organizations and our community networks to create an education system that is held accountable to all kids and families.

3. Targeted Interventions and Rapid Response — DFER’s reach from the most local district relationships to state and federal policymakers, enables us to respond quickly to the changing landscape and policy trends. Activities vary significantly from project to project and may include training, policy analysis, public engagement, electoral and issue advocacy, and policy guidance for elected officials and local advocates.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is seeking a Chief of State Operations to lead the Executive Directors of our state chapters by providing in-depth collaboration, thought-partnership, and support to achieve with their fundraising, policy and political objectives, as well as to effectively manage their teams with care and professionalism to build capacity to address high leverage, dynamic needs in their state context. The Chief of State Operations will also be responsible for enabling positive collaboration with staff members in the National office as well as across state chapters to meet broader organizational goals.

The Chief of State Operations role exists to:

• Build synergy, coordination, and linkages across our state and national teams to ensure ERN can meet our mission and sustain our work for the future.
• Maximize the talent, leadership, and effectiveness of our Executive Directors, improving education in the regions where we work.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure the success of each state chapter, serving as a critical thought-leader and collaborator, finding connections between states and sharing resources, best practices and tools to remove barriers to achieving critical goals. They will also build connections and elevate information sharing between the National Office and other state chapters to support each Executive Director.
• Build critical pathways to share information between State Executive Directors and the National office, to support representation of state priorities, to provide effective professional development opportunities, and to address other key needs.
• Support the fundraising efforts of our national team and state chapters by playing a role with our largest funders. Ensure funders are informed about the work and impact and have what they need to increase the likelihood of continued funding.
• Manage, coach, develop, and support Executive Directors, a group of experienced leaders who will at different times need consultation, support, accountability, challenge, compassion, and connection to themselves and others to set strategy, goals, and plans to meet fundraising, policy, and political goals and manage a high-performing team.
• Ensure and support Executive Directors in operating their state chapters in compliance with human resources (HR), fundraising, and compliance laws.

Requirements

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

The ideal candidate will possess the following must-have qualifications and skills:

1. Executive-level leadership, experience, and knowledge applied in a related context. Brings a deep well of #1 or #2 level leadership experience in a similar context and an executive-level applied knowledge of state level C3/C4 finance, policy, and the political environment including direct engagement with elected officials, campaign experience, policy development and legislative work. Can set strategy, cast vision, and influence leaders and team members at all levels of the organization. Executive-level experience, confidence, and passion for progressive policy and educational equity with an ability to inspire and collaborate with a diverse group of internal and external audiences/stakeholders (e.g., national network, funders, alumni, key education leaders, political, opinion leaders, advocates, and skeptics).
2. Strategic policy, finance, and fundraising experience in a matrix, C3, C4, and state organizational structure. Strong working knowledge and experience navigating local, statewide, and national policies and politics and how they influence and shape the educational ecosystem. Able to work across lines of difference to advance educational equity. Deep knowledge and experience with non-profit finance and fundraising able to maximize efficiency in the use of financial resources and procure resources to support and scale DFER’s work and impact.
3. Ability to maximize the talent, leadership, and effectiveness of executive leaders. Can demonstrate leading highly effective race and gender-diverse executive teams, developing and improving the effectiveness of leaders through intentional professional development opportunities with clear outcomes, and hiring and retaining leaders that achieve outstanding results.
4. Strength in building synergy, coordination, and linkages across national and regional teams. Can speak to concrete examples of how they have served as a “hub” connecting interdependent teams with competing interests, and ensuring coordination, alignment, and value-added collaboration (better than the sum of its parts). Can demonstrate the ability to collaborate with fellow executives to build bridges of communication and strong collaboration and trust across teams and troubleshoot communications challenges.
5. Advanced problem-solving, crisis management, and change management skills. Known for keeping an even keel and strong judgment in a crisis, and successfully shepherding their team through challenging situations and problems with no easy solutions. Inclusive, decisive, and wise leader with a bent toward finding solutions and communicating change in a way that unsticks teams and moves them to action.
6. Ability to drive execution and strong planning, process, and project management. Can coach and develop leaders to see both the big picture and the little picture, and ensure effective execution happens. Brings a lens on process and which details matter most that enables them to track the right things and ensure consistently strong results across their team - whether on hiring or consultant management to external communications or events.

Benefits

TOTAL COMPENSATION

The salary for this position is competitive and commensurate with experience. DFER is proud to offer excellent benefits: health, vision, and dental coverage; flexible spending plan; life insurance; short- and long-term disability insurance; 401K plan with a match plan; paid family leave; paid time off (vacation, sick time, and all National holidays).

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Democrats for Education Reform welcomes applications from all and strongly encourages women, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, refugees & LGBTQ people to apply for this position. We are committed to maximizing the diversity of our organization and recruiting a team that reflects the diversity of America’s students.

HOW TO APPLY

Please apply as soon as possible, even if you are not available to start immediately. All applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are held in strict confidence. In lieu of a cover letter, you will complete a few short answer questions (150 words or less) as part of the application. References will be requested at a later stage of the selection process.