Chief People Officer with Achievement Prep

About Us:

Achievement Prep was founded on the conviction that education changes lives, and educating a community is empowering a community.  We believe our work is three generational, changing the lives of our scholars, their parents and their future children.  We unapologetically believe in the extraordinary potential of our scholars.  Grounded in these beliefs, we opened our flagship middle school in 2008, proudly serving Ward 8 in Southeast Washington, DC, and were immediately recognized for our results in closing the achievement gap. 

Today, Achievement Prep is a college-preparatory public charter school network serving approximately 1,000 scholars in grades PreK-3 to 8th on two campuses.  We are a neighborhood school, passionately committed to our community.  More than just a school, we are a promise of progress, and a promise of changed lives.  And we know that our teachers and faculty are the keys to realizing that promise. 

About the Opportunity:

A key lever in our ability to successfully execute on our mission rests in our ability to attract, recruit, and retain a team of adults who are talented, committed and passionate, and believe what we do about education, our scholars, and our community.  The Chief People Officer (CPO) ensures that we can follow through on our promise to deliver a high quality education to our scholars and families and understands how critical people are to scholar experience.  The CPO conceptualizes, builds out and leads our people function, ensuring integration and alignment between recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, succession and employee support/administration.  The CPO keeps a full-spectrum lens on our people ecosystem, from architecting employee value proposition and experience to leading the culture to be one where everyone is accountable for people matters and talent development. 

The CPO will have the unique opportunity to be part of our multi-year organization-wide transformation effort, and effectively lead change in an entrepreneurial context where systems and structures are continually built out and improved.  The CPO will drive and focus deeply and strategically on Achievement Prep’s talent recruitment and retention, from designing positive experiences which introduce new candidates to our work, to ensuring best practices in selection and onboarding, and socializing and systematizing leadership development and the capacity building of managers.  The CPO reports directly to and collaborates closely with the Founder & CEO, serves on the senior leadership team and leads an existing team which will grow over time, and currently includes a Director of Human Resources and one Talent Coordinator. 

Ideal candidates are seasoned talent professionals who, as entrepreneurs at heart, understand talent acquisition in competitive landscapes, have experience in talent development and are outstanding team managers and mentors themselves, and who are energized by building infrastructure and systems.  The right candidates are excited to play a pivotal role in helping Achievement Prep win on its priority of people matter mightily.

Responsibilities & Outcomes:

Talent Strategy & Systems Building

Conduct an audit and analysis of current talent practices to inform clear recommendations and action plans

 

Set the vision and build out the strategy for the talent structure and function; drive execution of strategy ensuring that an integrated people function (inclusive of acquisition, retention/development and HR administration) is aligned to our organizational values and priorities

 

Determine optimal people team structure for current and future states

 

Lead the design and drive the implementation or improvement of efficient talent systems and infrastructure (for recruitment, selection, performance management and HR)

 

Partner with the Founder & CEO in conceptualizing optimal organizational wide structure and design

 

Partner with Chief Network Officer in the design and execution of career pathway/leadership development programs, systems and leadership and management practices

 

Directly manage, support and develop the people team members including Director of HR and Talent Coordinator

 

Talent Acquisition

Lead the development of compelling recruitment marketing campaigns geared for competitive talent landscapes

 

Design diverse and year round talent recruitment and cultivation strategies ensuring that Achievement Prep has well-built talent pipelines for instructional, non-instructional, leadership and network positions

 

Oversee continued development of competency based selection processes

 

Talent Development & Retention

Analyze current and articulate new conditions for thriving workplace

 

Conceptualize and collaborate on design and reartiuclation of employee value proposition and employee experience

 

Ensure systems and processes are designed and executed with fidelity to support the development of management capacities across the organization

 

Support and collaborate with Director of HR and other key personnel to ensure best in class personnel policies and practices

 

Qualifications:

Unwavering commitment to the Achievement Prep mission and values; conviction about the power of education to empower communities, and the belief in the potential of communities and community focused school models

 

Track record of effective and significant experience leading a recruitment or talent function, preferably in an education or school setting, with a sharp understanding of marketing and competitive positioning of organizations and opportunities

 

Experience designing and implementing  or significant knowledge of leadership development, manager training or other employee retention and engagement programs

 

Experience in and excitement for building and improving infrastructure and systems

 

Track record of successfully building, managing and developing high performing teams, including managing director-level team members; passionate about building the management capacities of others

 

Experience working effectively in environments undergoing significant change or growth

 

Energized by entrepreneurial environments and continuing to build upon and improve existing systems

 

Demonstrates alignment with our core organizational values

 

Bachelor’s degree is required; master’s degree is preferred

 

Who You Are:

You know and understand the power of education and have seen, first hand, that power manifested either in your life or in the lives of others. You are committed to serving historically underserved communities knowing that your work is part of a larger ecosystem committed to change. You believe in a quality public education for all and are determined to serve every child that comes your way. You are unapologetically mission driven and will do whatever it takes to advance the work and ensure scholar achievement. You are excited about not just the work, but doing the work at Achievement Prep. You are familiar with our community and are not afraid of or by all the beauty and challenges that come with living in historically marginalized communities. You value and respect everyone and demonstrate that respect in words and actions.

 To Apply:

This search is being managed by Axis Talent Partners.  Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter detailing their interest in our mission and qualifications for the position to:  https://axistalentpartners.applytojob.com/apply.