Great First Eight Curriculum Partnership Development Director

REPORTS TO: Executive Director, Center for Early Literacy and Learning Success

LOCATION: Remote Position

THE ROLE

As a key member of Stand’s Center for Early Literacy and Learning Success team at a moment of tremendous need and opportunity, you will be responsible for dramatically expanding the reach and impact of the pathbreaking Great First Eight curriculum.

Great First Eight is a full-day, full-year, fully research-aligned, culturally responsive open educational resource (OER) curriculum for children from ages 0-8 from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Created by a world-class team of researchers and educators led by preeminent expert Dr. Nell Duke and successfully piloted in school districts and early childhood settings across the country over the past four years, Great First Eight is ready to scale.

Our goal is to grow from serving 1,300 Pre-K to Grade 2 students this year to serving at least 40,000 Pre-K to Grade 2 students in district schools, public charter schools, and Head Start settings during the 2028-2029 school year. Expansion efforts will center in California, Illinois, and a select group of additional target states.

THE ORGANIZATION

Stand for Children is a unique catalyst for education equity and racial justice, to create a brighter future for us all.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Recruit Districts, CMOs, and Head Start Agencies to Adopt Great First Eight:

• Responsible for the full-cycle sales process including seeking out, engaging, recruiting, and contracting with Local Education Agencies (LEAs) (primarily) and Head Start agencies to adopt the Great First Eight Curriculum.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with administrators to enable expansion within partner districts and Charter Management Organizations (CMOs).
• Identify, evaluate, and implement program partner growth and improvement strategies.
• Meet or exceed annual growth targets by identifying and securing meetings; and developing and negotiating program adoption agreements.
• Assess potential partner needs and with program staff develop effective solutions to overcome unique challenges and/or objections when possible.
• Routinely share feedback and partnership metrics with the program director and staff.
• Serve as a liaison to departments within the organization, including Marketing & Communications, Technology, Finance, etc. to ensure that new partnerships align with internal business requirements.

Develop Effective Marketing Materials and a Content Dissemination Strategy to Enable Sales:

With support from Stand for Children’s Marketing and Communications team:

• Create compelling marketing materials that effectively communicate the unique benefits and multi-faceted advantages of the Great First Eight Curriculum.
• Develop and execute a content dissemination strategy to increase administrator awareness of Great First Eight and generate sales leads.

Sales Team Development, Leadership, and Management

• Monitor development resource needs and recruit, hire, train, and manage staff and, contractors, to expand the adoption of Great First Eight in targeted regions.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Passionate commitment to educational equity.
• A minimum 5 years of experience in sales, account management and/or direct service for schools and/or systems.
• Demonstrated track record of consistent curriculum sales success.
• Experience developing effective marketing materials and strategies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain relationships with key decision-makers.
• Demonstrated ability to recruit, train, and manage a high-performing team.
• Impact-driven, detail-oriented, and self-starter with the capacity to work independently and collaboratively.
• Experience as a district administrator, curriculum specialist, or educator preferred.
• Experience with Exploratory Learning and/or Eureka Math is a plus.
• Ability to travel regularly to meet with potential program partners.