Location/Travel: Flexible; willingness to travel approximately 1-2x a month, ~20-25%
Who We Are:
Transcend's mission is to support communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Founded in 2015, Transcend has partnered with over 390 schools/partners which collectively serve thousands of students in over 30 states across the country. As a research and development (R&D) hub for the education field, Transcend provides schools and systems with research-backed, community-driven models and capacity so they can make significant leaps to reimagine the future of education. Transcend is a nonprofit that operates with a fully remote, nationwide team; currently with 120+ teammates and growing. For more information, visit our website; follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter, check out this podcast featuring our two co-founders on Class Disrupted, or read this recent article that illuminates the need for this work.
The Opportunity
Over our eight years of supporting school communities to create extraordinary equitable learning environments, we've observed a consistent desire for innovative learning models that have demonstrated success elsewhere, such as the Whole Child Model or New Tech. School communities find incredible value in having a starting point model they can adopt and tailor to their unique needs. Doing so not only saves time but also offers insights into what really works while helping avoid pitfalls encountered when starting a new learning model from scratch. While there are many innovative learning models that have been developed by schools and other organizations, there remains a significant challenge in the limited availability of proven models with implementation support, which can lead schools to spend a lot of time, energy, and resources to create their own models instead of benefiting from existing ones.
Our Spread team works to address these challenges by helping school partners make their innovative models accessible to others. They do so by helping codify innovative learning models and by planning for what support adopting schools may need. See a more illustrative example of how our Spread team works with Van Ness Elementary School here.
The team is now looking for a Partner, Portfolio Director to drive our team's impact and nurture our team systems and culture. This is a brand-new, multifaceted role on our Spread team that is one part "chief of staff" and one part "strategy consultant." On the Spread team, you will serve as the systems builder, communications organizer, project manager, event planner, and team cheerleader, contributing significantly to the success of the Portfolio. Collaborating closely with Ryan Hall, you will lead the design, maintenance, and management of systems that coordinate all aspects of the Portfolio's operations and team dynamics. By engaging in a diverse array of work streams across the portfolio, you'll have the opportunity to connect the dots, synthesize insights, and generate learnings that inform the Portfolio's strategy. And above all, you will do so by holding people at the center, developing trusting relationships, and supporting team collaboration. In addition, you will work directly with our external Spread partners to help them develop their model sharing strategies, including things like business models and growth plans.
As the Partner, Portfolio Director on the Spread team, you will steward the following projects:
Steward Portfolio Culture
In close partnership with Ryan, support the development, stewarding, and shared ownership of the portfolio's culture like ensuring the team's norms, vision, and operations are aligned to our core values and problem-solving when any needs emerge
Plan for, execute, and steward systems and structures that foster team culture like team agreements, celebrations, community-building experiences, and birthdays, among others
Lead Internal and External Portfolio Communications and Collaboration
Coordinate and manage team meetings (both team and project-specific), collaboratively creating agendas, developing talking points and/slide decks, scheduling meetings, and co-facilitating team gatherings
Develop and maintain structures for internal and external team communications ensuring effective communication and coordination across teams and buckets of work
Serve as the Spread team's liaison to other key teams at Transcend and foster cross-team collaboration, especially focused on ensuring that our Model Sharer Community is connected to the strategy of the Network team
Directly Contribute to Partner-Facing Projects
Directly engage with specific projects, providing support in project cultivation, scope refinement, strategic planning, business development, and team allocation planning
Work directly with model sharers, especially focused on supporting the development of their model sharing strategies, including their staffing, revenue, and cost models (you can read more about our partnerships and model sharing strategies here)
Planning programming for the Model Sharing Community by working with internal and external presenters and facilitators to design engaging community conversations, on-demand resources (articles, videos, etc.)
Manage donor engagement activities, including scheduling donor calls, crafting pitch decks, preparing talking points, and supporting follow-ups and action steps
Cultivate relationships with other organizations in the field to expand the reach of the Spread team
Lead Event Operations
Lead and guide the planning and execution of team setbacks and retreats, providing support and guidance to teammates
Plan partner-facing convenings, either directly leading and executing or working alongside contractors to ensure the event's success
Manage the team's presence at conferences and Transcend Community events, overseeing preparations, coordinating logistics, and ensuring teammates presenting are prepared
Team Resourcing: Budget, Allocations, and Strategy
Support the management of the portfolio's core budget ensuring alignment and progress
Support the team's strategic planning process by project managing the strategic planning process and serving as a thought partner and advisor on the portfolio's strategic priorities.
Coordinate retreat budgets to ensure effective planning and execution
With the Managing Partner, facilitate the allocation process for team members.
To learn more about the role, see some concrete sample projects and activities here.
Who You Are
You equally love all things project management, strategy, and caring for people and have top-notch organizational and communication skills that allow you to effortlessly engage with a range of stakeholders. Leveraging your keen understanding of both project management and interpersonal dynamics, you enjoy keeping track of a project and know how to get people to do what needs to get done and you do it with clarity, vision, and care. As a strategic thinker, you excel at conceptualizing and building projects from scratch, weighing the pros and cons, analyzing the potential, and grappling with complex ideas. You are highly effective at collaborating across diverse personalities, working styles, and functions, synthesizing information from various sources to develop a clear path forward. And, your ability to unite teammates towards a common goal while tending to their unique needs not only leads to better collaboration but also drives success across projects.
To all of this, you bring:
A wholehearted dedication and passion for Transcend's mission
Eagerness to embrace and live into Transcend's core values
Strong research, detection, and synthesis skills. You can effectively and efficiently synthesize information from a variety of sources (interviews, research, meetings) and present it in a clear and accessible manner to support decision-making. Proficient with data, spreadsheets, and basic analytics
Some experience working in roles related to strategy such as strategy consulting firm/s, through an MBA, and/or in-house strategy.
An orientation of flexibility and collaboration - readily stretching high and low, doing whatever it takes to get the job done in an environment of ambiguity, resource constraints, and shifts in priorities and needs
Detail orientation, and skills to build easy-to-use systems from scratch to manage all details and support effective decision-making with impeccable follow-through.
Outstanding project management and organizational skills that allow you to gather and organize multiple work streams and logistics efficiently. You can keep many people on task and on track while preserving a positive and strong collaborative vibe!
Strong personal org systems for the remote work environment
Perks and Benefits
Transcend is committed to providing our colleagues with a competitive benefits package. Transcend offers medical, dental and vision coverage options, org-wide holidays, paid time off, paid parental leave, professional development opportunities, and fully remote work. We're also proud of our values-grounded, equity-focused, and fun (!) work environment, incredible colleagues, and dedication to our purposeful work and to one another.
Join Us!
Transcend is an equal-opportunity employer. We are building a diverse team that values diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Seniority level
Mid-Senior level
Employment type
Full-time
Job function
Finance and Sales
Industries
Technology, Information and Internet
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