Managing Director of Talent Recruitment

Overview

The Managing Director of Talent Recruitment leads and manages Ascend’s talent recruitment function across the organization. Reporting to the chief people officer and managing a growing team of eight, he or she develops a cohesive and best-of-sector strategy and vision, informed by research, for recruiting and retaining teachers, leaders, and all staff at Ascend’s schools and the network office. The managing director of talent will oversee three essential talent functions: talent recruitment, talent outreach, and talent data and operations. He or she works with the managing director of human resources and the chief people officer to shape, promote, and sustain the Ascend organizational culture to impart commitment and urgency to all members of the Ascend team.

Why extraordinary professionals teach at Ascend

Ascend is the largest Brooklyn-based public charter school serving over 5,000 K-12 students in 17 schools. We exist to serve every student – to help them embody their inherent excellence by providing rich, joyful learning experiences that unlock a life of boundless choice.

Access to education is a social justice issue. As educators, we center justice and live out our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (DEIA) by ensuring that our students have the skills, tools, and confidence they need to thrive today and in the future. We are proud to have a workforce that mirrors the diversity seen in our students. Working at Ascend provides a community focused on developing an environment of support and belonging. Educators collaborate closely and encourage each other to achieve great outcomes.

Our schools honor, nurture, and challenge the whole child. Ascend fosters critical thinking skills and a love of learning through an inquiry-based learning approach, Responsive Classroom model, and anti-racist education. We are deeply committed to advancing educational equity for all of our students. Students at Ascend benefit from a rich and rigorous liberal arts curriculum that nurtures natural curiosity about the world and guides them to think critically and independently.

For more information on Ascend Public Charter Schools’ model, approach, and core values, please visit our website.

Responsibilities

• Talent recruitment
• Manage the recruitment team members in hiring approximately 300 employees per year, scaling and growing the department to meet Ascend’s growing talent needs
• Along with the chief people officer and the managing director of marketing and communications, communicate Ascend unique value proposition to the market of prospective teachers and leaders through branding opportunities, including the Ascend website, printed materials, social media, public engagements, networking events, conferences, job fairs
• Ensure that recruitment systems and technology are regularly improved and refined, including systems for scheduling, screening, interviewing, monitoring, and cultivating potential applicants to identify the best prospects
• Vet the development of interview guidelines, evaluation methods, and training for hiring to ensure that all school teams are equipped with the resources to run an inclusive and equitable process, to identify and land top-tier talent, and to provide a rigorous but cultivating experience aligned with the Ascend brand
• Ensure that annual recruitment campaigns for teachers and leaders successfully result in the hiring of top-quality educators for Ascend’s schools
• Implement best-in-class diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that build and retain a talent pipeline reflective of the communities Ascend serves across all functions and levels
• Play an active role in ongoing development and adoption of our competency model to facilitate equitable hiring practices and create hiring tools aligned to the competency model
• Talent outreach
• Manage the outreach function to develop a targeted data-driven outreach strategy that builds a short and long-term pipeline of teachers, leaders, and other hard to fill roles leveraging reports and dashboards
• Oversee a direct outreach sourcing strategy; research and develop comprehensive teacher and leader prospect lists
• Oversee all online and traditional recruitment marketing efforts to attract and cultivate diverse talent pools
• Oversee the candidate relationship management system to build a robust database of talented teachers, school leaders, support staff, and network staff
• Identify, develop, and orchestrate prospective candidate cultivation efforts conducted by Ascend staff and oversee other Talent members and Ascend staff involved with outreach initiatives and events
• Talent data and operations
• Manage the data and operations function to create annual, monthly, weekly, and daily data reports for strategy and tactic development; specifically lead the development of the yearly data review, monthly dashboards, and weekly CRM reports for outreach
• Co-lead daily data huddle and other data-specific meetings
• Monitor Talent Team processes and lead process improvement initiatives
• Ensure Talent Team is using data to drive operations and strategy decisions
• Analyze data to track progress toward goals and determine the success of initiatives with the focus on work talent acquisition Oversee talent systems that will help the Talent Team support aggressive hiring for a growing network
• Maintain fidelity and accuracy of talent systems through regular audits
• Ensure all Talent systems are appropriately integrated and transferring data with fidelity
• Talent retention and network culture
• Working with the chief people officer and managing director of human resources, ensure that Ascend and its partner schools are an exceptional place to work and grow
• Provide vision and strategic direction for retention, and sustain, promote, and evolve Ascend’s unique organizational culture to achieve Ascend’s goals and boost employee satisfaction
• Partner with the managing directors of schools to ensure principals have the tools and resources they need to build and implement
• retention strategies for school staff
• Build up and retain the talent team, create career pathways within the talent structure, and develop direct reports to assume higher levels of responsibility

Staff and reporting relationships

The Managing Director of Talent reports directly to the Chief People Officer and oversees that talent outreach and operations function, and the talent recruitment function.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with equivalent work experience required; MBA or Master’s degree in a related field strongly preferred A minimum of three years of responsible leadership experience in management and a proven track record of growing and developing direct reports
• Deep understanding of best practices consultative selling or in recruitment, either as a hiring manager or recruitment leader, in an organization or division of comparable size to Ascend
• A keen eye for identifying exceptional talent, preferably within an educational context
• Energy and creativity in addressing talent issues; courageous; not afraid to break new ground
• Excellent presentation and communication skills (written and oral)
• Deep sense of empathy and ability to communicate across diverse groups; strong service orientation
• Deep intellectual curiosity and rigor; appreciation for research and data and commitment to using it to inform thinking and strategy Absolute integrity and the ability to handle sensitive and confidential employment information with discretion; strong judgment, decision-making, and problem-solving skills
• Passion and commitment to urban education and Ascend’s mission of closing the achievement gap Alignment with the educational philosophy and core beliefs of Ascend Learning
• Experience in supporting organizational leaders with hiring and performance management and building a strong and innovative workplace culture
• Strong project management experience and attention to detail
• Familiarity with employment law, employee benefits, compensation, and compliance preferred but not required

Compensation

Initial salary offers for this position range from $135,000 - $145,000. Salaries are determined using an equitable compensation scale that accounts for years of experience and levels of attained education.

Diversity at Ascend

Ascend is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community, both through our hiring practices and our focus on creating a culture and environment where diverse perspectives, ideas, and identities are valued and integrated into our way of working and educating students. Ascend staff represent a wide diversity of racial, socio-economic, gender, religious, and national identities—opening a window to the entire Ascend community on the richness of humanity. We welcome all applicants who share our mission and vision to join us in our deeply consequential work.