Managing Director of Communications and Public Relations Home Office (hybrid and

Description Job Description

POSITION: Managing Director of Communications and Public Relations
REPORTS TO: Chief External Officer
POSITION TYPE: 12-month
START DATE: January 2026
COMPENSATION: $119,363 – $149,204, Home Office Grade 12

At YES Prep, work for a mission that impacts the life trajectory of students and their families. YES Prep creates pathways to extraordinary opportunity through best-in-class development, competitive compensation and benefits, and recognition for your impact. Grow as an authentic leader and be part of a high-performing, team-oriented culture.

Some quick stats about us:

• 21,000 Students
• 2,400 Team Members
• 16 Secondary Campuses
• 11 Elementary Campuses
• 92% Students Who Qualify for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch
• 96% Hispanic & African-American Students
• 90% Students Who Are Accepted to a 4-Year University
• 88% First-Generation College Students
• Ranked in the Top 100 High Schools in the Nation, U.S. News & World Report

We serve the students of Houston, Texas, the 4th largest city across the United States. There are over 20 public-school districts and other great public charter school options within Houston’s city limits serving our increasing population. We are a rapidly growing organization, committed to creating life-changing opportunities for over 23,000 students by 2025.

THE OPPORTUNITY

YES Prep needs a dynamic Managing Director of Communications and Public Relations with a robust set of experiences, to make our mission a reality. As a YES Prep employee, you will achieve jaw-dropping results, create pathways to opportunity for our students, and build transformative relationships. To put it simply, you will build, saturate, and sustain YES Prep’s reputation as the school district of choice for families and staff.

THE ROLE

When you join the YES Prep team, some of the work and responsibilities will include:

Creative Strategy and Storytelling

• Designing and executing a comprehensive creative strategy that elevates YES Prep’s storytelling and amplifies our impact across all audiences.
• Developing a cohesive narrative framework that highlights the organization’s mission, vision, values, and achievements, ensuring stories connect emotionally and strategically with stakeholders.
• Driving innovative approaches to storytelling that integrate written, visual, and impactful data to inspire, inform, and mobilize action.
• Ensuring that YES Prep’s story is told consistently and compellingly across all platforms and channels.

Strategic Communications Leadership

• Leading the communications function with responsibility for internal communications, external communications, crisis communications, and storytelling milestones.
• Serving as the central communications strategist, ensuring alignment of messaging across families, students, staff, board members, donors, community partners, policymakers, and the broader public.
• Building and maintaining systems that ensure proactive, timely, and clear messaging for organizational priorities, changes, and initiatives.
• Acting as a trusted advisor to Chief External Officer on communications strategy and execution during key organizational moments.
• Representing YES Prep with media outlets, serving as a spokesperson, cultivating press relationships, and securing coverage that strengthens the organization’s reputation and visibility.

Crisis Communication and Reputation Management

• Establishing, maintaining, and leading protocols for crisis communication to protect YES Prep’s reputation and stakeholder confidence.
• Preparing the organization with messaging frameworks and response plans for high-stakes or sensitive situations.
• Partnering with senior leaders and external counsel as needed to ensure compliance and consistency in all public-facing messaging.

Brand Stewardship and Organizational Impact

• Serving as the steward of YES Prep’s brand identity, ensuring all communication aligns with the organization’s tone, values, and positioning.
• Elevating the public presence and reputation of YES Prep in Houston and across Texas through storytelling that showcases student and community impact.
• Championing a culture of storytelling internally, encouraging leaders and staff across the organization to amplify their voices in alignment with brand standards.
• Establishing benchmarks, metrics, and feedback loops to measure the impact of communications strategies on brand strength and stakeholder engagement.

Public Relations Management

• Serve as the lead spokesperson for YES Prep, representing the organization with professionalism and authenticity.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with local, state, and national media outlets.
• Secure consistent media coverage that highlights YES Prep’s impact, student success stories, and role in Houston’s education landscape.
• Prepare press releases, media kits, and talking points that elevate brand visibility and reputation.
• Develop PR strategies that tell YES Prep’s story in ways that resonate with prospective families, showcasing student outcomes, community impact, and opportunities available.
• Ensure messaging supports enrollment campaigns and drives awareness among families considering YES Prep schools.
• Leverage testimonials, student/parent spotlights, and media features to build trust and excitement around YES Prep’s mission.
• Integrate PR strategy with development, marketing, and enrollment goals to sustain school growth and donor confidence.
• Establish clear PR protocols for managing sensitive issues, ensuring proactive and transparent communication.
• Provide real-time media monitoring and response planning during critical organizational moments.
• Ensure PR strategies reflect the diversity of YES Prep’s families and communities, reinforcing equity and inclusion.

Team Leadership and Development

• Managing and developing a high-performing communications team, setting ambitious goals and ensuring accountability for results.
• Providing coaching, professional development, and strategic direction to grow team members’ skills in creative content, communications planning, and stakeholder engagement.
• Building collaborative structures that ensure the communications team partners effectively with other departments and campuses to support shared organizational priorities.

Cross-Organizational Collaboration

• Partnering with leaders across YES Prep to adapt communications to evolving organizational needs, including growth, policy shifts, and cultural priorities.
• Ensuring that messaging supports major organizational milestones such as new school launches, strategic initiatives, legislative advocacy, and public celebrations.

THE PERSON

We seek staff with a multitude of backgrounds, talents, interests, and ideas. Certain traits consistently shine through our most successful employees: passion for the mission, drive for results, care for students, and resilience. Other traits needed and desired for this role are:

THE MUST HAVES

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in communications or creative strategy.
• Minimum 7 years in Public Relations management.
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute organizational storytelling strategies that elevate brand presence and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience in crisis communications and reputation management, including planning and executing high-stakes response strategies.
• Proven experience as an organizational spokesperson, with strong skills in media relations, public speaking, and cultivating relationships with press and community stakeholders.
• Strong writing and editing skills, with the ability to craft clear, compelling, and audience-specific messaging across multiple channels.
• Ability to align messaging across diverse audiences (families, staff, donors, community partners, policymakers, media).
• Demonstrated success in leading and developing a high-performing communications team to deliver strategic impact.
• Strong data acumen with experience tracking the performance of communications strategies and adjusting approaches for greater impact.
• Development and management of a large budget (≈$500k), ensuring resources are effectively allocated to long- and short-term communications needs.
• Ability to work outside of normal hours and on weekends when required.
• Openness to giving and receiving frequent feedback.
• Ability to maintain emotional control under stress.
• Ability to work urgently in a fast-paced and results-oriented environment.
• Creates and maintains positive working relationships on a team and/or in a highly collaborative environment.
• A dedication to learn, grow, and develop as a professional.

THE MUST HAVE BELIEFS

• Belief in and commitment to the

of YES Prep Public Schools * Desire to disrupt systemic status quos in education

• Willingness to go above and beyond to disrupt said status quos.
• Passion to develop resiliency through a relentless pursuit of jaw-dropping results.
• Conviction that high expectations + high accountability = high performance and high growth.

THE NICE TO HAVES

• Bilingual – Spanish.
• Familiarity with Charter Management Organizations.
• Experience working in advertising.
• Project management experience.
• Experience working in or with a fast past comms agency.
• Ability to juggle multiple tasks and initiatives at once.

THE PERKS

• This position is an exempt, salaried position; offers commensurate with experience.
• Health and Supplemental Insurance – A $0 monthly medical option or a $24 monthly option that includes $50 YES Prep Paid Health Savings Account contribution, in addition to a variety of supplemental benefits including Dental, Vision, Disability, Life, etc. Employees must work 20+ hours a week to be eligible for a full spectrum of benefits, and 10 hours a week minimum for medical benefits.
• Retirement Plans – Participation in Teacher Retirement System of Texas and an optional 457b Retirement Plan.
• Paid Time Off – Employees working 20+ hours a week receive 15 days of Paid Time Off in addition to the system closures during the.
• Paid Leave Programming – In the event you need to be out due to medical needs (including maternity and paternity leave), YES Prep offers paid leave, paid out at 100%, based on eligibility and tenure.
• Professional Development – YES Prep values longevity and performance over time. We invest in developing leaders through high-quality programs, effective coaching, and ongoing professional development.
• The strong cultures of our campuses and Home Office are just one of many reasons we were named in 2018, 2019, and 2021. We won the and were a 2016 finalist as well.
• YES Prep Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or parenthood.

YES Prep Public Schools