Director, High Schools

The Opportunity

The Director of High Schools is responsible for providing oversight of implementation of college and career readiness activities in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia High Schools. They will supervise and support site-based staff to create a college and career going culture in partner schools.

What You’ll Do

• Oversee programming and staff at a group of School District of Philadelphia Schools, collaborating with peers on the School-Based Team to ensure high quality implementation of Heights strategy and fidelity of services across sites.
• Provide coaching and support to direct reports around case management, program delivery and strategies to navigate common challenges in the context of their roles.
• Implement existing data and monitoring systems to ensure staff are on track to meet key metrics at the end of the program year or summer.
• Developing and presenting progress updates or writing reports to tell the story of impact at schools across the city.
• Oversee implementation of special projects, summer programming, cross-team initiatives or related efforts to provide better and more targeted supports to students served by Heights.
• Collaborate internally to modify or develop program materials to ensure they are engaging, high quality and will lead to anticipated outcomes for students
• Represent the organization externally through the management of partnership with school staff, including school administrators, counselors, teachers, etc to support stronger integration of Heights programming into the school context.
• Oversee the recruitment strategy for students at a group of partner schools, including providing access to information about Heights programs, monitoring the enrollment process and family engagement for target students.
• Support program leaders in strengthening the Heights model, including providing input on strategy, supporting the development of goals, delivering professional development or other support to staff.
• Model professional standards and expectations of a leader at Heights Philadelphia

Additional Responsibilities

• Provide on-site support and monitoring at schools three (3) or more days per week.
• Summer duties as assigned by Vice President or Managing Director
• Report to work on a regular basis and is available for occasional after-hours emergency calls and projects.
• May be asked to perform additional duties not listed in the job description as required by business needs.

What You’ll Bring

• Bachelor’s Degree required
• Minimum four years of experience in college and career programming, with an emphasis on high-school aged students.
• Minimum two years experience managing a team or individual staff, ideally in a program setting
• Access to reliable transportation to support frequent visits to schools and/or other sites to attend meetings and/or events.
• Experience navigating internal and external contexts in a collaborative manner
• Experience managing program activities to an established budget
• Experience using a Customer Relations System (CRM) like Salesforce or Learning Management System (LMS) like Canvas
• Ability to frequently operate a computer and other office productivity machinery.
• Ability to lift up to twenty (20) pounds.
• Ability to perform the essential functions with or without a reasonable accommodation.
• May require more than forty (40) hours per week to perform the essential duties of the position.

Who You Are

In addition to your experience, expertise and strengths, you must meet PA State background check requirements [PA Criminal, PA Child Abuse and FBI Fingerprint Check] at hire and every five years thereafter. You’ll also need to adhere to COVID safety guidelines as required by the Department of Human Services and/or the School District of Philadelphia.

Work Arrangements

Heights Philadelphia currently maintains a hybrid work environment where staff work from home, in our Center City office, and on-site with school partners, as determined by the staff member's or team’s responsibilities. We also prioritize time together as an organization - living in our value of succeeding together. All office-based Heights employees spend Wednesdays in-office in Center City, building community at our monthly staff professional development days and via our virtual staff meetings.