Job Description

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

About Us and Our Philosophy

Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) is a transformative college access and teacher training program. BTGB offers six years of academic enrichment and college preparation to middle school and high school students with high potential but limited opportunities. Simultaneously, BTGB recruits, trains, and inspires a diverse cohort of high achieving college students to become the next generation of urban teachers. Leveraging a Students Teaching Students model, BTGB provides engaging, tuition-free academic programming during the summer and after school. Our students gain the skills and motivation to succeed in rigorous high school courses and, ultimately, in college. Meanwhile, our teachers gain hands-on experience, research-based training and coaching from professional educators.

Over the past eight years, 97% of our graduating students have matriculated to college, and 82% of them have persisted through their undergraduate years. On average, more than 70% of our graduating teachers have gone on to pursue careers in education. After two decades of success at our original Cambridge site, BTGB embarked upon a significant program expansion and opened a second site in Boston in the summer of 2013 and a third site in Somerville in 2018. As an independent 501c3 nonprofit, Breakthrough Greater Boston is part of The Breakthrough Collaborative, a national educational movement working to improve educational outcomes for youth across 25 U.S. cities.

With a deep commitment to our mission, BTGB operates with the highest standards of integrity and best practices, while also enjoying the ability to be innovative and flexible to meet the evolving needs of our students, families, and teachers.  Our team is diverse, high-performing and dedicated.  We continue to build an organizational culture that emphasizes our core values for every member of our community:

• Spirit: We cherish and embody the youthful energy and spirit of our students and teachers
• Continual Learning: Everyone in our community has something to learn and something to teach
• Team Together: We all chip in to accomplish whatever is needed for our teammates and the broader organization
• Student Centered: Our students are our first priorityand our decisions center around what benefits our students
• Equity and Opportunity: We value diversity of identity, background and thought. We treat everyone with dignity and respect
• Excellence in Everything: We maintain high expectations for ourselves

Breakthrough Greater Boston encourages individuals of all backgrounds to apply for this position, and we do not discriminate on any basis prohibited by applicable law. We celebrate the diversity of our world and our community, and we seek to build a team that reflects that diversity in every way. We welcome and encourage all qualified applicants who share that same vision, as we wish to engage all those who can contribute to our work and this mission.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Breakthrough Greater Boston is currently seeking a highly motivated and talented Senior Director of College Success (SDCS) to oversee the recently launched college success program for current students from Breakthrough’s three campuses in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.  The Senior Director role is a relatively new level for the organization, responsible for managing a function and team. The four Senior Directors will oversee each of the programmatic departments and work together on a close-knit leadership team.

The SDCS will be responsible for programmatic planning, management and evaluation and will foster a culture of programmatic excellence. Leadership of this function includes oversight of college coaching practices, group programming and assessment and evaluation for our College Success Program. The SDCS hires, trains, and supervises a full-time team as well as oversight of any future seasonal hires and volunteers for the department. The SDCS will nurture strong relationships with university partners as well as other partners that advance college success services at BTGB. Additionally, the SDCS will further support BTGB’s alumni engagement efforts through oversight of an Alumni Committee comprised of student and teacher alumni. The Senior Director of College Success reports directly to Breakthrough Greater Boston’s Managing Director of Programs.

POSITION OUTCOMES

A successful Senior Director of College Success will:

• Ensure students and their families experience Breakthrough as a welcoming, inclusive, supportive community that works with them in partnership to pursue their long-term educational and life goals
• Thoughtfully develop a closely aligned, highly motivated, and outcomes-driven team that delivers on BTGB’s mission and promise to students and families
• Oversee the development, refinement, and execution of safe, engaging, high-impact year-round programming for student alumni currently enrolled in college or planning to enroll in college
• Guarantee that BTGB’s college success efforts are informed by the latest research, reflective of cultural humility and a commitment to equity
• Nurture robust and mutually beneficial relationships with university partners

YOUR CONTRIBUTION

In this exciting role you will be responsible for a variety of critical leadership responsibilities including:

Departmental Leadership

• Build vision and collaboration among department team members across campuses to ensure all students benefit from skilled postsecondary advising
• Maintain up-to-date field knowledge within College Success area
• Lead the continuous refinement and improvement of Breakthrough’s college success programming and services
• Plan and lead regular department meetings
• Create and share regular program reports, highlights, and updates; collaborate with the Development team to support in data and storytelling for your department
• Oversee departmental expenditures against budget on a monthly basis

College Success Team Supervision

• Hire program staff on the College Success team, including permanent full-time employees, as well as oversee the hiring of part-time and seasonal staff and regular programmatic volunteers
• Ensure College Success team members receive high quality onboarding and training to set them up for long term success in their roles, as well as oversee onboarding and training of part-time and seasonal staff and regular programmatic volunteers
• Conduct weekly supervision, professional development planning, and regular performance evaluations for your team, providing them with consistent support and opportunities for professional growth
• Observe your team and College Success programming on a consistent basis
• Create coverage plans and cover open areas of work during staff transitions within department

Program Leadership

• Collaborate with other Senior Directors to ensure aligned and high-quality programming across sites
• Ensure BTGB’s positive relationships with its students, alumni, families and partners through direct relationship building and advisement to your team
• Oversee the development and tracking of goals to measure and advance College Success work
• Support in the development and execution of strong programmatic policies, systems, and infrastructure for effective program delivery
• Collaborate with other Senior Directors to lead, support, and grow the broader program team
• Plan and lead regular program team meetings and retreats
• Oversee Breakthrough’s volunteer Alumni Committee, a group of student and teacher alumni interested in championing lifelong relationships between Breakthrough and its alumni, through participation at monthly meetings and ongoing communication with committee members

Partnership Management

• Build awareness of BTGB’s mission and clearly articulate program impact to stakeholders
• Establish and maintain meaningful contact with school and district leaders through regular meetings and program reports as well as informal touchpoints
• Ensure university and CBO communications are tracked in Salesforce
• Manage partnerships with external organizations for the College Success department including community-based organizations, universities and more
• Represent BTGB at key events for your department

YOUR BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS

As the incoming Senior Director, you will possess many, though perhaps not all, of the following characteristics and qualifications:

• Five to seven years of experience within the college success area and leading educational programs with experience in supervising staff and working directly with students, ideally students who will be first generation to college
• Expertise in adolescent development and within the college access and success field
• Experience managing and fostering positive relationships with universities and
• Ability to hold others to high standards while also offering support and maintaining positive relationships
• An unwavering commitment to equity, in deepening your personal understanding and in advancing our collective work
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills with students, families, and educators
• Superior organization and project management skills
• Ability to work on multiple projects, adjust quickly to shifting priorities, meet deadlines, exercise good judgment, and handle high-pressure situations
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interact effectively with a variety of audiences
• Team player who demonstrates a positive attitude, sense of humor, energy, entrepreneurial spirit, and dedication to collaboration
• Prior experience with Breakthrough model highly desirable; familiarity with partner schools or districts a plus
• Flexibility that allows for periodic work on Saturdays and evenings
• Candidates of color and those from low-income backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply as are those with fluency in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Amharic, Somali, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Tigrinya, or Urdu
• Bachelor’s degree

COMPENSATION

Breakthrough Greater Boston offers a competitive compensation package and is deeply committed to pay equity and transparency. The salary range for this position is $77,317-115,971; Breakthrough Greater Boston makes an offer based on relevant years of experience and does not negotiate salaries.

How to Apply

Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 100,000 and above.

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