Overview

Education Systems Center

The Role

Position Summary

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Developing and strengthening relationships with foundations, State agencies, secondary, postsecondary, and other funding partners to ensure EdSystems maintains a strong fiscal position.
• Building and maintaining productive working relationships with key stakeholders, including heads of education organizations and advocacy groups, State agency leadership, school district and community college leaders, civic and business leaders, education experts, researchers, and others.
• Serving as one of the primary spokespersons for EdSystems, compellingly communicating the center’s mission, goals, and achievements to external stakeholders in Illinois and beyond.
• Interfacing with broader university leadership, including the heads of other centers within the Outreach division, and serving as an active, collaborative member of the University’s Outreach executive leadership.
• Developing, continually refining, and advancing an ambitious vision and impact strategy for EdSystems and ensuring EdSystems achieves its strategic objectives.
• Providing leadership to staff, including setting goals, evaluating performance of direct reports, and providing professional development opportunities.
• Hiring, managing, motivating, and developing a top-performing team of dedicated professionals, including fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion, transparency, and collaboration.

Minimum Required Qualifications (Civil Service)

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) (Civil Service)

Specialty Factors (Civil Service)

Preferred Qualifications (Civil Service)

Minimum Required Qualifications (SPS)

• Bachelor’s degree
• 8 years of leadership experience within the non-profit, education, private, or government sectors.
• Proven, significant philanthropic / fundraising success, particularly with foundations.
• Demonstrated success in effectively leading and developing staff, with professional experience advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within an organization.
• Demonstrated commitment to building trusting relationships and partnerships with people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, socio-economic levels, and perspectives. 

Additional Requirements (SPS)

• Passionate commitment to the EdSystems’ mission and advancing racial equity in education and workforce policy and programs.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills: ability to communicate directly and respectfully with staff and external stakeholders.
• Superior strategic thinking, with ability to translate innovative, strategic ideas into tangible program plans and actionable steps.
• Capability to see and support innovative ideas, and to embed innovation within operational plans.
• Strong project management skills with demonstrated ability to execute policy and program development strategies and manage tactical execution to achieve results.
• Particular skills in designing annual plans, monitoring progress, and refining plans as needed.
• Strong analytical skills, with a proven ability to synthesize substantial amounts of information and identify the essence of the problem and determine solutions.
• Strong knowledge of education or workforce issues.

Preferred Qualifications (SPS)

• Advanced degree in education, public policy, or a related field preferred.
• Outstanding relationship-building, interpersonal, and collaboration skills, underscored by strong judgment and emotional intelligence; positive relationships with Illinois governmental, education, and civic leaders preferred.
• Experience working in or with public high schools or community colleges is a strong plus.
• A record of accomplishment in Illinois and demonstrated understanding of Illinois state educational systems strongly preferred.
• Experience managing data-focused staff or department with public facing research, metrics or dashboards is a strong plus.

Physical demands/requirements

• General office work, travel