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Director of Growth Planning
Director of Growth PlanningKIPP • Merchantville, NJ, US
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Director of Growth Planning

Director of Growth Planning

KIPP • Merchantville, NJ, US
1 day ago
Job type
  • Full-time
Job description

Director of Growth Planning

KIPP Team & Family is on a path to serve over 24,000 students across 40+ schools in New Jersey and Florida by 2033. Getting there requires more than ambitionit requires exceptional planning, coordination, and execution across dozens of moving pieces : real estate acquisition, financial modeling, talent recruitment, academic program design, operations setup, and community engagement.

We're looking for a strategic planner and project management leader who can bring rigor, clarity, and coordination to our growth efforts. You'll be the person who ensures that when we commit to opening a new school or expanding to a new region, we do it with excellencethat timelines are realistic, dependencies are clear, teams are aligned, and leadership has the information they need to make smart decisions.

This isn't about managing growth strategy (that lives with senior leadership) or doing the frontline work (that happens within functional teams). This is about being the orchestrator : the person who sees across all the workstreams, identifies what needs to happen when, produces the analysis and documentation that drives decisions, and keeps complex, multi-year projects on track.

If you're energized by bringing order to complexity, translating strategy into executable plans, and enabling teams to do their best work through clarity and coordination, this role is for you.

You'll report to the Chief Growth & Advancement Officer, who oversees Development, Advocacy, and Growth across both New Jersey and Florida. You won't have direct reports, but you'll work closely with leaders across every department : Real Estate, Finance, Operations, Talent, Academics, Marketing & Communications, and Development. Your success depends on building strong relationships across these teamsbecoming a trusted partner who helps them plan better, see around corners, and coordinate their work with others. You'll also work closely with the Co-President and present to the Board of Directors when growth decisions require their input and approval.

In Year One, you will :

  • Establish yourself as the go-to person for growth planning coordination across the organization
  • Build trust and working relationships with leaders in every functional area involved in growth
  • Develop planning templates, timelines, and processes that bring clarity and consistency to how we approach new launches
  • Produce high-quality strategic documents (market analyses, launch plans, board presentations) that enable confident decision-making
  • Successfully coordinate planning for at least one major growth initiative from pre-launch through opening
  • Identify and help resolve bottlenecks, dependencies, and misalignments before they become crises

In Year Two and beyond, you will :

  • Own the planning process for multiple concurrent growth projects across different stages (exploration, pre-launch, launch, stabilization)
  • Continuously refine and improve our growth planning practices based on lessons learned
  • Become an institutional expert on what it takes to launch with excellence in our context
  • Enable faster, smoother launches as our processes and shared understanding mature
  • Help leadership make increasingly sophisticated decisions about where, when, and how to grow
  • Manage Growth Project Planning from Pre-Diligence to Launch

  • Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans for each growth initiative, from initial exploration through successful launch and stabilization
  • Identify all critical workstreams (real estate, fundraising, finance, operations, talent, academics) and the dependencies between them
  • Work with functional leaders to establish realistic timelines, milestones, and deliverables for their areas of responsibility
  • Create clear visibility into project status, risks, and blockers through dashboards, status reports, and regular check-ins
  • Proactively identify gaps, misalignments, and potential issues before they derail timelines
  • Build strong frontline relationships with team members across departments to understand their work and coordinate effectively
  • Escalate issues to the CGAO and Co-President when cross-functional conflicts or resource constraints require senior leadership intervention
  • Facilitate planning meetings and working sessions that drive alignment and progress
  • Ensure lessons learned from each launch inform planning for future growth
  • Draft Key Documents for Decision-Making and External Engagement

  • Produce market analyses and viability assessments that synthesize demographic data, competitive landscape, regulatory environment, and strategic fit
  • Create launch plans and readiness documents that clearly articulate what needs to happen, by when, and by whom
  • Develop board presentations and decision memos that frame choices, present options, and recommend paths forward
  • Draft materials for donor conversations, government partners, and community stakeholders that tell a compelling, data-informed story about our growth
  • Translate complex, multi-workstream plans into clear executive summaries that enable quick understanding and decision-making
  • Maintain living documents that track assumptions, decisions, and changes throughout the lifecycle of each growth project
  • Ensure all documentation is high-quality, accurate, well-organized, and accessible to relevant stakeholders
  • Conduct Pre-Diligence on Emerging Markets

  • Collaborate with the Finance Team to build and revise financial models to help drive growth planning.
  • Lead exploratory research on potential new markets to assess whether KIPP should pursue growth in specific geographies
  • Analyze demographic data, educational outcome reports, enrollment trends, and competitive landscape using tools like ESRI, Census data, and state / local education data
  • Investigate regulatory and policy environments to understand charter authorization processes, funding structures, and operational requirements
  • Identify key questions that need answers before making a go / no-go decision
  • Conduct stakeholder interviews and site visits to gather on-the-ground intelligence
  • Synthesize findings into clear, actionable recommendations about market viability and strategic fit
  • Present pre-diligence findings to leadership and facilitate decision-making conversations about which markets to pursue
  • Drive Continuous Improvement in Growth Planning

  • Document processes, templates, and best practices so institutional knowledge doesn't live only in people's heads
  • Identify patterns across growth projectswhat consistently works well and what consistently causes problems
  • Recommend process improvements and organizational changes that would enable smoother, faster, better launches
  • Build tools and resources that make planning more efficient and effective (templates, checklists, data dashboards, etc.)
  • Help the organization get better at estimating timelines, costs, and resource requirements based on historical performance
  • Foster a culture of learning and improvement within the growth function
  • Required Experience and Qualifications

  • 5-7+ years of professional experience in strategic planning, program management, project management, or related roles managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives
  • Proven track record of successfully coordinating work across multiple teams or departments toward shared goals
  • Strong analytical and research skills : You can gather data from multiple sources, identify patterns and insights, and translate analysis into clear recommendations
  • Exceptional writing and communication skills : You produce documents that are clear, well-structured, and tailored to different audiences (board members, donors, internal teams, government partners)
  • Project management expertise : You know how to build realistic plans, track progress, identify risks, and keep complex projects on track
  • Relationship-building ability : You can build trust and credibility with people across different functions and levels, even without formal authority
  • Comfort with data and tools : Experience with demographic analysis tools (Census data, ESRI mapping, etc.), project management software, financial modeling basics, and presentation tools
  • Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in business, public policy, urban planning, education, or related field preferred
  • Preferred Experience

  • Charter school or education organization growth / expansion experience : You've been part of opening new schools or expanding education organizations and understand the unique complexities of this work
  • Experience managing large-scale organizational growth or expansion projects in nonprofit or for-profit contexts (multi-site rollouts, market expansion, new product launches, etc.)
  • Real estate or facilities planning experience, particularly in education or public sector contexts
  • Experience working in fast-growing, entrepreneurial organizations where you had to build processes and bring structure to ambiguity
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    Director Of Planning • Merchantville, NJ, US

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