School Partnerships Lead

The School Partnerships Lead will put their generalist skill set to work in organizational planning, external communications, process implementation, and project management and execution. This role will build initial systems and functions of sales, customer success, and support that will grow into established teams. In the fall of 2024, we will attract, implement, and support 5,000 kindergarten students with a supplemental literacy tool across school, tutoring, and in-home settings. This will set us up to support 50,000 K-2 students in fall of 2025.
Our ideal candidate has experience working in remote-first, distributed teams. This position is remote based in the US.
About the Organization
We are on a mission to unlock the great reader in every child to end illiteracy in our country - centering the experiences of Black, Latino, and Native American students and students experiencing poverty. We are developing research-based, identity-affirming PK-8+ digital literacy tools that leverage student uniquenesses to help every child master the foundational reading skills needed to become strong, confident readers. We’re currently hiring our founding team of mission-driven individuals committed to helping us develop a scalable, impactful reading product that helps us eradicate illiteracy in America.
Illuminate Literacy is fiscally sponsored by , a 501c3 that supports transformative leaders of public school systems and educational entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions that disrupt the patterns of educational inequity.

Key Highlights

• Two fully digital prototypes built and currently being tested with a dozen schools and out-of-school partners.
• Fully-funded sister R&D organization, AERDF , to explore major unknowns in literacy learning for priority students and to bridge cutting-edge research to practice
• Founding team with deep expertise in teaching kids to read, on technology, at scale, comprised of literacy experts, practitioners, designers, engineers, and former education systems leaders. Founded and led by , former Assistant Superintendent of Academic Content for the Louisiana Department of Education and developer of the nationally recognized ELA Guidebooks
• Extensive relationships with major systems leaders across the country requesting to be co-designers and first adopters; 100% retention of current partners year over year
• Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and to an inclusive R&D and product development approach that centers Black, Latino and Native American students and those experiencing poverty

REQUIREMENTS

What you will do:

• Co-create and implement the first Go-To-Market Strategy, including the development and tracking of KPIs that honor our teach (i.e., efficacy) and reach (i.e., scale and sustainability) goals.
• Build right-sized systems to support our near-term needs and allow us to adapt for longer-term needs. This includes our systems for CRM, customer support, and product feedback.
• Oversee asset creation to support attracting and implementing school partners.
• Own the entire relationship with schools, including onboarding, implementation, training, adoption, retention, and satisfaction. Establish relationships as a trusted and strategic advisor to help ensure the continued value of our products.
• Create SY 25-26 and 26-27 sales and customer success plans, informed by fundraising, distribution partnerships, product development, and SY 24-25 outcomes.
• You’ll be a critical partner to the leadership team. This means providing key insights and perspective with the leadership team.
• You’ll manage contractors supporting this work.

Skills and Qualifications

• You have 8+ years relevant experience related to maintaining operational excellence in a business or leadership capacity.
• Strong skills in verbal and written communications, strategic planning, customer success, and project management
• You know school districts very well, and you care deeply about the experience of school administrators, teachers, and students
• Active team player, self-starter, and multitasker who can quickly adjust priorities
• You have managed or been deeply connected to many of the areas you’ll support in this role: communications, project planning, sales, customer success, and support
• You have a track record of functioning as a highly reliable leader with a blend of superior strategic, operational, program/project management, communication, and leadership skills.
• You identify as a creative and inclusive problem solver with a roll-up-the-sleeves approach.
• You are outcomes-oriented, experienced in utilizing analytical rigor with the ability to work under pressure to handle time-sensitive projects.
• You have unquestionable character and absolute integrity and discretion in handling confidential and sensitive information.
• You are known for being highly organized with an exceptional attention to detail matched with strong initiative.
• You are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and have experience engaging in deep DEI work in a professional context.

• Co-create and implement the first Go-To-Market Strategy, including the development and tracking of KPIs that honor our teach (i.e., efficacy) and reach (i.e., scale and sustainability) goals.
• Build right-sized systems to support our near-term needs and allow us to adapt for longer-term needs. This includes our systems for CRM, customer support, and product feedback.
• Oversee asset creation to support attracting and implementing school partners.
• Own the entire relationship with schools, including onboarding, implementation, training, adoption, retention, and satisfaction. Establish relationships as a trusted and strategic advisor to help ensure the continued value of our products.
• Create SY 25-26 and 26-27 sales and customer success plans, informed by fundraising, distribution partnerships, product development, and SY 24-25 outcomes.
• You’ll be a critical partner to the leadership team. This means providing key insights and perspective with the leadership team.
• You’ll manage contractors supporting this work