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POSITION:Director of Digital Experience
REPORTS TO: Managing Director of Technology
POSITION TYPE: 12-month
START DATE: March 25, 2024
COMPENSATION: $109,971 - $134,714, Home Office grade 11
EVERY OPPORTUNITY STARTS WITH A YES
Great schools begin with great people who believe every day is an opportunity to make a difference. At YES Prep, you have an opportunity to join a family of diverse educators who are leveling the playing field by providing opportunities for a high-quality, college-forward curriculum while also ensuring our students feel supported through their academic journey and empowered to lead choice-filled lives. YES Prep is more than a family of public charter schools, it’s the future of public education—it’s an opportunity to say, “Yes, you can!”
Our campuses are advancing educational equity. Some quick stats about us:
- 18,800 Students
- 2,100 Team Members
- 17 Secondary Campuses
- 6 Elementary Campuses
- 92% Students Who Qualify for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch
- 96% Hispanic & African-American Students
- 97% Students Who Are Accepted to a 4-Year University
- 88% First-Generation College Students
- Top 100 High Schools in the Nation, U.S. News & World Report
We serve the students of Houston, Texas, the 4th largest city across the United States. There are over 20 public-school districts and other great public charter school options, like KIPP Texas-Houston and IDEA Public Schools, within Houston’s city limits serving our increasing population. We are a rapidly growing organization, committed to creating life-changing opportunities for over 23,000 students by 2025.
THE OPPORTUNITY
YES Prep needs a dynamic and inclusive Director of Digital Experience to make our mission a reality. As a YES Prep employee, you will achieve jaw-dropping results, create pathways to opportunity for our students, build transformative relationships, and eliminate educational inequities to advance social justice.
To put it simply, you will be the change agent YES Prep Students need and deserve by providing the strategic and tactical leadership to ignite and drive the organization’s efficiency and digital dexterity.
The Director is a creative and dynamic leader charged with developing and implementing a strategic vision in all facets of Technology’s digital portfolio. They will partner with business leads to maximize adoption and effectiveness of solutions. Both a big picture thinker and a hands-on implementer, the Director engages with executives, administrators, educators, and support personnel, to drive the efficient use of technology.
THE ROLE
When you join the YES Prep team, some of the work and responsibilities will include:
- Partnering with Schools, Academics, Culture, Special Pops and other department leads to design use cases and map technical requirements that ensure effectiveness of technology applications and products
- Building due diligence around understanding strategic business needs and planning for success
- Approving technical training programs being released for organizational need
- Oversee architecture of technical systems and business models that meet best interests and requirements of YES Prep
- Utilizing technology data for business insights
- Foster and maintaining detailed functional architecture designs, requirements definitions, process flow analysis, and other business analysis documentation
- Collaborating with the colleague Directors within Technology to source and implement best business technologies and practices.
- Assisting the Managing Director with identifying technological solutions to business requirements
- Facilitating all appropriate resources to assist in data migration from legacy systems to new solutions
- Recommending improvements and budget changes from overall effectiveness of programs in digital portfolio
- Overseeing the portfolio of Cybersecurity initiatives, projects, and governance strategy
- Managing the administration of cybersecurity analyst role
- Building and maintaining the workflow architecture of systems managed by Technology team.
THE PERSON
We seek staff with diverse backgrounds, talents, interests, and ideas. Certain traits consistently shine through for our most successful employees: passion for the mission, drive for results, care for students, and resilience. Other traits needed and desired for this role are:
THE MUST HAVES
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited four-year educational institution
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience with the proven ability to manage projects, lead teams, and learn and utilize technological skills
- Experience leading a team
- Project Management experience
- Knowledge of implementation and configuration of enterprise systems such as SIS, ERP, Analytics platforms, and/or CRM
- Ability to toggle between 50,000-ft. perspective and the nitty gritty
- Evidence of producing great work products on quick timelines
- Ability to lead and follow
- Strong writing skills and aesthetically pleasing work product delivery
- Belief in and commitment to the mission and core value of YES Prep Public Schools
- Openness to giving and receiving frequent feedback
- Demonstrated ability to work on a team
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks and initiatives at once
- Ability to maintain emotional control under stress
- Frequent prolonged and irregular hours of duty, including evenings and weekends
THE MUST HAVE BELIEFS
- Belief in and commitment to the mission and core values of YES Prep Public Schools
- Desire to disrupt systemic status quos in education
- Willingness to go above and beyond to disrupt said status quos
- Passion to develop resiliency through a relentless pursuit of jaw-dropping results
- Conviction that high expectations + high accountability = high performance and high growth
THE NICE TO HAVES
- Technical background/degree
- Postgraduate degree
- Basic competence in at least one programming language (e.g. JavaScript, Python, C#, etc.)
- Teaching experience in either Primary/Secondary or Higher Education
- Experience leading large-scale complex projects
THE PERKS
- Compensation – This position is an exempt, salaried position; offers commensurate with experience.
- Health and Supplemental Insurance – A $0 monthly medical option that includes $600 towards a Health Savings Account, in addition to a variety of supplemental benefits including Dental, Vision, Disability, Life, etc. Employees must work 20+ hours a week to be eligible for a full spectrum of benefits, and 10 hours a week minimum for medical benefits.
Retirement Plans – Participation in Teacher Retirement System of Texas and a 457b Retirement Plan.
- Paid Time Off – Employees working 20+ hours a week receive 15 days of Paid Time Off in addition to the system closures during the Academic Calendar.
Paid Leave Programming – In the event you need to be out due to medical needs (including maternity and paternity leave), YES Prep offers paid leave, paid out at 100%, based on eligibility and tenure.
- Professional Development - YES Prep values longevity and performance over time. We invest in developing leaders through high-quality programs, effective coaching, and ongoing professional development.
- Award Winning Culture – The strong cultures of our campuses and Home Office are just one of many reasons we were named Houston’s Best Place to Work in 2018, 2019, and 2021. We won the 2012 Broad Prize for Excellence in Urban Education and were a 2016 finalist as well.
WE ARE DEEPLY COMMITTED TO EQUITY & DIVERSITY
YES Prep strives to recruit a diverse team of leaders. We believe there is a transformative academic and social benefit for students when their teachers and leaders reflect a diversity of backgrounds. Ninety-five percent (95%) of staff members agree that the organization provides a welcoming environment given their background and identity according to our latest system survey.
YES Prep is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or parenthood.
