Implementation Specialist, Student Information Systems (Contractor)

About TalkingPoints

TalkingPoints is an award-winning education technology non-profit organization with the mission to drive student success by unlocking the potential of families to fuel their children’s learning. We do this through universal family engagement technology with a focus on supporting underserved and/or diverse students and their communities. TalkingPoints transforms something as simple as a cell phone into a tool that empowers PK-12 families and educators to form strong relationships through two-way translated digital conversations, data analytics, and resources in 150+ languages.

Since 2015, TP has impacted millions of students across 70,000 schools in the US with 10x growth in reach in the past two years alone. Recent research has shown that in a large, diverse urban school district, TP improved academic outcomes, equivalent to 7.3 months of additional learning for the average student, with greater impacts for traditionally underserved students. TP works with key districts such as Fairfax County School District, Wake County Public Schools, Elk Grove Unified School District, and Boston Public Schools, among others. TalkingPoints has received awards and recognition including Chicago Tribune, NPR, Common Sense Education, and Google Impact Challenge Winner, Forbes 30 Under 30, Echoing Green Fellowship. Current philanthropic partners include Arrow Impact, Ballmer Group, Carnegie Corporation, Cisco, Gates Foundation, Google.org, Overdeck Family Foundation, MacKenzie Scott, Valhalla, and Walton, among others. Learn more from Founder and CEO, Heejae Lim’s TED talk.

It's an important time to join our team and build on our momentum and ability to support students and families during this critical time in which education equity gaps are more concerning than ever. Learn more.

Diversity: we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it!

The Opportunity

TalkingPoints is continuously working towards elevating their partner’s onboarding experience looking for an experienced implementation specialist to lead several of our integration projects, steering partners toward our recommended best practices while keeping projects on time and on scope. Familiarity with education technology, specifically with Student Information Systems (SIS) is a must for this role, along with some project management experience. This role would partner with our in-house data integration specialists to work on several projects concurrently, each of which typically takes 2-6 weeks to complete.

Your Responsibilities:

Implementation Leadership:

• Lead functional design workshops with clients to gather and document business requirements, process workflows, and key objectives for the integration of TalkingPoints with their Student Information System (SIS).
• Collaborate with internal technical resources to support solution configuration, integration, and testing.
• Validate configured solutions through user acceptance testing (UAT) and coordinate resolution of issues.

Project Management:

• Develop and manage comprehensive project plans, timelines, and KPIs for each client implementation.
• Facilitate project kickoff meetings, define roles and responsibilities, and manage project scope and expectations.
• Communicate project status, risks, and key deliverables to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure resources are allocated appropriately and projects stay on schedule.

Client Engagement:

• Act as the client’s primary point of contact throughout the implementation process, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction.
• Build trusted advisor relationships with client stakeholders by understanding their business needs and challenges.
• Prepare and deliver documentation to support end-users and ensure smooth adoption of the platform.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement:

• Partner closely with technical implementation resources to align on solution design and ensure timely completion of integrations and testing.
• Build strong relationships with Partner Success and Customer Support teams within TalkingPoints to support strong handoffs and ongoing support.
• Provide client feedback to product and engineering teams to support ongoing platform improvements.
• Contribute to refining implementation methodologies, tools, and templates to optimize the customer experience.

Who You Are:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 3+ years of hands-on experience delivering successful software implementations
• 2+ years of hands-on experience with Student Information Systems (SIS) such as Infinite Campus and PowerSchool.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to build trust and manage client relationships effectively.
• Experience steering client teams toward best practices and holding stakeholders accountable for on-time deliverables.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Familiarity with integration platforms like Clever and ClassLink is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with system integration concepts (e.g., APIs, middleware) and testing coordination.
• Familiarity with project management and knowledge sharing tools (e.g., Jira, Notion).

This is a contract role, and is expected to require up to 40 hrs/week, with a contract end date of October 31, 2025 and the possibility for extension. The compensation for this role is $50-$65 per hour, depending on the candidate’s experience. This position will report to the Director of Operations.

Overall Fit With Our Org Culture - We Look for Team Members Who Are:

• User and mission-oriented: we are devoted to our mission with empathy towards the communities we serve.
• All-in together: we go above and beyond the job description, working together as a team.
• Agile & action-oriented: we get things done, knowing that our progress is urgent to our communities.
• Always Learning: we are always learning, with a growth mindset, to reach our full potential.
• Boldly Courageous: we take risks in order to achieve big things.
• Resourceful: We are creative, solution-oriented, and scrappy.