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POSITION:Managing Director of Communications and Marketing
REPORTS TO:Chief External Officer
POSITION TYPE: 12-month
START DATE: Immediate
COMPENSATION: $119,363 - $149,204, Home Office Grade 12
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
- 1,800 Team Members
- 19 Secondary Campuses
- 6 Elementary Campuses
- 91% Students Who Qualify for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch
- 94% Hispanic & African American Students
- 90% 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 Managing Director of Communications and Marketing with a diverse set of experiences, 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.
As the Managing Director of Communications & Marketing, you will build, saturate, and sustain YES Prep’s reputation as the school district of choice for families and staff.
THE ROLE
When you join the YES Prep team, some of the work and responsibilities will include:
- Developing, planning, budgeting, and implementing the Communications and Marketing strategy for the organization accounting for the differentiated yet unified tone to represent each of our unique campuses;
- Accompanying marketing and communication strategy with effective plans;
- Overseeing the software platforms to achieve goals including Hootsuite and Hubspot;
- Aligning all strategies to achieve our collective mission, objectives, and goals using Communications and Marketing resources;
- Directing and facilitating the impact of public relations, crisis management, communications, and Marketing implemented internally and externally;
- Planning and directing promotional campaigns, identifying market trends, driving creativity to ensure that marketing and communications achieve the organization’s overall goals;
- Leading a high performing team of 8 professionals to enhance and saturate the brand of YES Prep, one of the highest performing school districts in Houston;
- Setting goals related to Communications and Marketing;
- Collaborating with vendors supporting the Communications and Marketing function and ensuring that YES Prep yields the highest use and value for our resources;
- Protecting the external brand of YES Prep by ensuring that all messaging is on brand, aligned, and cohesive;
- Telling the stories of the organization and its people in a way that galvanizes stakeholders and achieves our goals;
- Managing key vendors for public relations and Marketing;
- Maximizing the use of all social media platforms to elevate the YES Prep brand;
- Contributing via marketing strategy to the Fill the Seats goal, talent goal, and new school launch goal;
- Serving as a brand ambassador of YES Prep for all community groups.
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. Bilingual candidates preferred. Other traits needed and desired for this role are:
THE MUST HAVES
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in communications, marketing or public relations
- Experience working advertising, SEO, Google Ads and digital ads
- Experience with direct marketing, email marketing, and event campaigns
- Experience with crisis Communications and risk mitigation towards de-escalation
- Ability to strategize and collaborative across teams to create competitive strategies to bolster brand within the market
- Strong data acumen with experience tracking the performance of Communications and Marketing strategies once implemented to create responsive modifications to generate better results
- Development and management of a large budget (~$500k) to keep track of the resource needs for proper long-term and short-term strategy implementation
- Ability to work outside of normal hours and on weekends
- Openness to giving and receiving frequent feedback
- Ability to maintain emotional control under stress
- Ability to work urgently in a fast-paced and results-oriented environment
- Creates and maintains positive working relationships on a team and/or in a highly collaborative environment
- A dedication to learn, grow, and develop as a professional
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
- Familiarity with Charter Management Organizations
- Experience working in advertising
- Project management experience
- Experience working in or with a fast past comms agency
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks and initiatives at once
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.
