KIPP Foundation, Executive Director Fellow

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of tuition-free public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 279 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and nearly 210,000 students and alumni.

The KIPP Executive Director Fellowship is a year-long leadership development experience designed to prepare exceptional candidates to successfully lead a KIPP region as an Executive Director.

Fellows participate in a rigorous leadership development program that combines immersive learning experiences, executive coaching, mentoring, applied leadership experiences, and a capstone strategic project aligned to the KIPP Executive Director Excellence Rubric. Throughout the Fellowship, participants deepen their ability to drive exceptional student outcomes, build high-performing leadership teams, steward regional strategy, and lead through complexity.

• →Fully engage in all Fellowship learning experiences, including the Leadership Academy, Intersessions, monthly learning sessions, coaching, and mentoring.
• →Demonstrate growth across the KIPP Executive Director Excellence Rubric through reflection, feedback, and applied practice.
• →Complete an Executive Director internship or residency experience alongside an accomplished KIPP Executive Director.
• →Lead a high-impact strategic project that addresses a significant regional or network priority and demonstrates executive-level leadership.
• →Participate in performance assessments, simulations, and developmental feedback throughout the Fellowship.
• →Build meaningful relationships across the national KIPP network while contributing to a collaborative learning community.
• →Demonstrate readiness for Executive Director responsibilities through evidence of leadership impact, systems thinking, talent development, and instructional leadership.
• →Participate in Executive Director selection processes as opportunities become available.

• Mission & Student Focus: Demonstrates passion and commitment to KIPP’s mission and possesses the desire and ability to uphold KIPP’s core values (Focus on Excellent Results, Collective Impact, and Courageous Action).
• Self-Management: Can set vision and goals for their function that are SMARTIE (strategic, measurable, ambitious, realistic, time-bound, inclusive, equitable). Uses high-quality data, research, and analysis to set a high bar of excellence for goal setting. Distributes and redistributes work among direct reports, teammates, and teams to optimize goal attainments. Sets and fosters a culture that enables and celebrates teammates’ achievements and goal attainments. Shares two to three work examples of SMARTIE goals for their function (and involving other functions, teams, and offices) that were met or exceeded. Leverages understanding of an organization’s operating model, structure, and core operational processes to effectively drive work to achieve goals. Has strong progress monitoring systems to track progress toward goals. Engages in and leverages communications with the right stakeholders to address obstacles and to ensure desired outcomes. Generates and executes feasible and creative solutions to reach goals and desired outcomes to combat curveballs. Can articulate why their goals are excellent and why meeting/exceeding them matters with specificity. Invests in developing teammates’ skills and mindsets to address gaps in achieving team growth.
• People Management & Development: Builds a positive team culture in which teammates feel ownership and accountability for their own and the broader team’s work and results. Identifies and develops future team leaders. When managing through layers, holds people managers accountable to uphold strong people management practices that drive outcomes and reflect KIPP Foundation’s values. Invests in developing teammates, understanding personal goals, and enabling professional growth. Provides timely and actionable feedback to drive teammate development. Responsible for the work outcomes of all team members for the work they manage. Provides individualized development to team members based on strengths and areas of development. Effectively distributes work based on skill and capacity. Acts as sounding board and support for peers and team as they develop. Models and holds teammates accountable for achieving at high levels. Takes personal responsibility for team gaps or errors. Creates space for productive debate and alternative perspectives.
• Work Management: Plans for work they own, identifies action steps and accurate timelines that backward map from end goal(s) and key decisions. Plays a leadership role in navigating difficult situations or conflict while maintaining effective relationships with all stakeholders. Champions change and challenge decisions with professionalism and integrity, regardless of personal perspective. Sets the right priorities through ambiguity to contribute to team and organizational goals. Stays current on functional or field-specific knowledge. Makes decisions to maximize network-wide results over team or personal preferences. Creates high-quality work and takes responsibility for quality by proactively checking their work for accuracy. Identifies areas to be more efficient and consistently meet deadlines. Identifies appropriate stakeholders to contribute to or inform the work, establishes clearly defined roles, and delegates effectively. Ensures work is replicable through accurate documentation.

• Current KIPP regional leader with a demonstrated record of strong performance or an exceptional external candidate with experience leading organizations that improve educational outcomes.
• 10+ years of demonstrated success in leading teams and achieving measurable results.
• Evidence of improving academic, operational, and/or organizational performance with preferred experience as a campus leader.
• Commitment to equity and educational opportunities.
• Ability to influence across multiple stakeholders without relying solely on formal authority.
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Demonstrated readiness for executive leadership responsibilities through prior leadership experiences and performance.

Approximately 20–30% throughout the Fellowship, including:

• One-week Academy.
• Three in-person Intersessions.
• Executive Director residency/internship experiences.
• National KIPP meetings and learning opportunities, as applicable.

• One-year Fellowship (development program).
• Cohort-based leadership development experience.
• Hybrid learning model combining in-person and virtual engagement.
• Fellows remain employed by their home region (for internal candidates) or participate under the terms established for external candidates.
• Successful completion of the Fellowship does not guarantee placement; however, graduates become highly competitive candidates for Executive Director opportunities across the KIPP network.

Please submit a resume online at https://apply.workable.com/j/08AB2D527C.

KIPP Foundation embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities with whom we work and the world that’s around them. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.