Senior Manager, Product & Innovation - KIPP Forward Team

Company Description 

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of 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 270 schools, nearly 10,000 educators, and more than 160,000 students and alumni. 

Our mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. 

The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation trains and develops outstanding educators to lead KIPP public schools; provides tools, resources and training for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations. 

Position Overview 

The national KIPP Forward team at the KIPP Foundation provides critical training, support, and tools to KIPP Forward regional teams across the country to guide their work supporting KIPP students and alumni on their path toward college, career, and beyond. In service of our mission, KIPP Forward’s Product & Innovation team follows equitable design practices to understand user needs and develop innovative solutions. We serve as strategic design consultants to program teams, product manage a suite of internal data insight products, and oversee a portfolio of external third-party platforms with students, alumni, counselors, and leaders as users. 

The Senior Manager, Product & Innovation will play a critical role in overseeing and advising on innovative product solutions for the national KIPP Forward team. The Senior Manager’s primary responsibility will be leading our national nudge technology project. Nudge texting has been shown to boost college enrollment and persistence for students from low-income backgrounds through numerous studies. The KIPP Foundation is entering its third year of sending behavioral science-backed nudge text messages to students using an AI Bot to respond to participants and answer frequently asked questions. In response to the pandemic, we’ve scaled our nudge work rapidly – currently nudging over 6,000 alumni enrolled in college and over 200 seniors in high school. This year, we expect to continue to expand our nudge work to include nudging juniors in high school, alumni who are not enrolled in a postsecondary pathway, and alumni interested in or participating in various career-development programs. Nudge is a complex project that includes managing multiple, simultaneous streams of work, extensive data and knowledge management, and community engagement. The Senior Manager will set our vision and strategy for the nudge project, own external product partnerships associated with the project, and manage a team of fully and partially dedicated staff and contractors to execute the work. Reporting to the Director of Strategic Design & Product Innovation, the Senior Manager will also provide design and strategy consulting support to the KIPP Forward team on new and innovative projects that have a technology or product component, translating user and business needs into technical requirements and design. They will also work closely with the KIPP Foundation’s Data & Analytics, Information Technology, and Alumni Impact Teams. 

Key Responsibilities and Duties 

• Lead strategic projects related to product and technology implementation: 

• Develop a technologically enhanced strategy to manage alumni communications and opt-ins across multiple regional and national systems. 

• Lead key strategic projects within nudge and beyond, such as setting up our API between KIPP’s Salesforce Alumni Database and the nudge vendor platform. 

• Define and conduct research with users and stakeholders to identify user and business needs, translate needs into technical requirements, and scope MVP implementation 

• Set vision and strategy for the national nudge project: 

• Refresh our future vision for nudge across all KIPP Forward workstreams – supporting postsecondary match, postsecondary enrollment and persistence, and career development. 

• Develop and execute a multi-year strategy for both growth and impact, including: 

• An evaluation and learning plan to measure and improve nudge's impact on recipient engagement and behavioral/mindset changes (e.g., FAFSA renewal, sense of belonging.) 

• Determining how to best leverage nudge to support growing advising caseloads at the regional level as our postsecondary support model evolves. 

• Understanding and improving nudge effectiveness in increasing postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion. 

• Examine and improve nudge's efficiency and effectiveness as a tool in helping KIPP build a more scalable, sustainable postsecondary support model. 

• Oversee the national nudge project: 

• Establish and hold accountability for project success metrics. 

• Continue to grow the number of recipients who opt into and receive nudges (KIPP high school students, KIPP alumni, and families.) 

• Directly supervise our nudge Project Manager and oversee nudge-related work for our Data & Platform Coordinator. 

• Manage external partnerships related to the nudge project – including our contract with our nudge texting & AI bot platform vendor and data mining contractors. 

• Provide design and strategy innovation consulting support: 

• Support the design of new or innovative KIPP Forward programs that include a robust technology or product component. 

• Take an equity lens to all design work, ensuring new programs are designed to meet the needs of those at the margins. 

Key Competencies 

• Direction-setting 

• Team Leadership 

• Continuous Learning 

• Planning and Execution 

• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving 

• Achievement-Oriented 

Experience and Qualifications 

Strong emphasis will be placed on this individual’s demonstrated track record in leading and managing major, complex projects requiring strong product and project management, as well as significant stakeholder engagement and management in fast-paced, dynamic, results-oriented team environments. We are seeking an individual with: 

• 6-10 years of relevant experience in product management, technology strategy, or user-centered design 

• Experience managing scalable technology products or platforms, setting a vision for product usage and impact, driving user adoption, and vendor management 

• Energy garnered from empathic listening and learning from end users, collaborating with diverse stakeholders, and iterating based on continuous user feedback 

• Strong relationship management, communication, and listening skills; an ability to establish effective relationships with individuals across teams and in technical roles 

• Experience with behavioral science, higher education, postsecondary pathway access and success, and/or career development a plus 

• An achievement orientation: self-directed and results-oriented, demonstrating initiative and follow-through and ability to adapt to changing circumstances 

• Strong project and process management skills: the ability to drive projects from inception to completion while managing multiple high-priority projects simultaneously 

• Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills: comfort with ambiguity and an ability to break down complex problems 

• Solutions-orientation: excellent analytical and critical thinking skills 

• Willingness to travel approximately 25% of time. Note: the KIPP Foundation has currently significantly limited travel due to COVID-19 

• Passion for KIPP’s mission and values and educational equity 

Location 

The KIPP Foundation has offices in Chicago, DC, San Francisco, and New York City, and this role can also be performed remotely. This is a full-time, exempt position. 

Compensation and Benefits 

KIPP offers competitive salary commensurate with experience. A comprehensive benefits package, generous vacation and PTO, 401k retirement plan with both pre- and post-tax options, as well as gym reimbursement, flexible spending account (FSA), and cell phone reimbursement are also offered by KIPP. 

KIPP Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and an organization that values diversity. People from all diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.