Aspiring Principal Coach

Aspiring Principal Coach (Aspiring Principal Program)

Location: Austin, TX

The Holdsworth Center is a non-profit organization founded and largely funded by Charles Butt, Chairman of H-E-B, a regional retail company. Our mission is to impact, over time, the quality of K-12 public education for all Texas students by supporting and developing leaders. Based in Austin, Texas, we were founded in 2017 in honor of Charles’ mother, Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt, who was an educator, a philanthropist, and a lifelong champion for social justice.

We partner with public school districts to help them grow outstanding leaders at all levels so that staff thrive, and students excel in every classroom. At Holdsworth, we believe leadership isn’t just about titles. We make a deep investment in leaders at both the district and campus levels, including teachers who lead students in the classroom and influence and lead their colleagues.

The Holdsworth Center is seeking three (3) Aspiring Principal Coaches who shares a deep commitment to our mission and whose experience and vision will deepen our capacity and enhance our impact as we aim to be of service to public school districts across the state of Texas.

Purpose & Responsibilities

In Summer 2025, Holdsworth will launch new program offerings for aspiring principals (initially on a regional basis, with the first cohorts anticipated to be in the Permian Basin region of Texas and New Mexico), with the aim of enhancing the readiness and quality of certified school leaders for their first principalship.

The Aspiring Principal Coach will lead and facilitate the effective implementation of all components of the Aspiring Principal Program, including learning sessions, coaching, campus visits, and peer collaboration. Alongside and in collaboration with other Aspiring Principal Coaches and a program team, the Aspiring Principal Coach will guide cohorts of aspiring principals through a year-long program.

Currently reporting to the Managing Director of Campus Programs, the Aspiring Principal Coach will work closely with aspiring principals, mentor (rotation) principals, and site principals to ensure efficient and effective communication, high-quality program delivery, and participant success. They will work with talented, mission-driven peers in a fast-paced, dynamic environment to:

Coaching and Support

• Provide exceptional coaching and mentoring support to aspiring principals through a variety of directive and non-directive skills as necessary in biweekly sessions.
• Draw on personal experiences and academic concepts to deliver highly engaging and productively challenging coaching and support in formal and informal coaching settings.
• Develop tailored responses for individual aspiring principals based on their focus areas, their learning journey, and their unique needs.
• Continuously work to improve the coaching and facilitation skills of yourself and the team.

Campus Visits/Rotations

• Engage aspiring principals in deep reflection and preparation before visiting campuses outside their current district.
• Facilitate planning and reflection with aspiring principals before and after rotations.
• Develop relationships with rotation principals to ensure positive experiences for all parties.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of rotations.
• Work collaboratively with Aspiring Principal Team to ensure reliable logistics, operations, and communications prior to and throughout each rotation.

Peer Collaboration & Relationship Management

• Serve as one of the “faces” of our new programs, building relationships with aspiring principals and increasing coherency of the overall program through on-site facilitation and delivery (initially, most facilitation will take place in the Permian Basin with groups ranging in size from ~30 to ~40).
• Develop and negotiate relationships between site principal, rotation principal, and aspiring principal to foster the growth of the aspiring principal.
• Leverage our Learning Management System (LMS) to support leaders’ individualized learning paths, self-reflection, and peer collaboration to maximize impact on learning.

Learning Sessions

• Ensure the team delivers the highest possible quality learning sessions by providing excellent facilitation of specific content, on-the-spot coaching during simulation learning, and incorporating lessons learned from prior cohorts and sessions
• Collaborate with a team of faculty, presenters, facilitators and coordinators to deliver effective and engaging learning experiences that bring cohorts together, building a psychologically safe environment for aspiring principals to grow their capacity and ability to lead sustainable improvement towards excellent and equitable outcomes for students.
• Work collaboratively with the Aspiring Principal Team to ensure reliable logistics, operations, and communications prior to and at each session

Desirable candidates will have a range of prior experience and capabilities including:

• Strong alignment with organizational mission and values—Drive for Excellence & Equity, Be of Service, Believe in People
• Recent experience as a school principal
• Proven ability to facilitate engaging, challenging, and thought-provoking discussion among diverse audiences, manage group dynamics and use questioning techniques to identify solutions and actions rather than taking a wholly directive approach (with large audiences as well as smaller groups)
• Working knowledge of the education landscape in Texas and New Mexico, including knowledge of the context within which our participants work.
• Strong project planning skills and detail orientation to effectively plan for multiple program elements at one time.
• Self-motivated individual who demonstrates initiative without waiting for direction, openness to receiving feedback from peers and Holdsworth staff, and a deep curiosity and motivation to learn coupled with a results-focused orientation.
• Experience delivering challenging and supportive coaching experiences to leaders that both helps them make progress on their own leadership goals and serves as a model of outstanding coaching practice
• Has significant experience with leading and/or participating in extensive coaching development and skill-building
• Credibility with school leaders, faculty/experts, and our partner organizations
• Ability to work well in a team environment, establish good rapport at all levels of the organization, collaborate with other faculty and experts and work with and relate to people from diverse backgrounds.
• Flexible; ability to adapt to an ever changing, growing organization as we pilot and learn from these new endeavors; Embraces a portfolio of work that may change over time as we learn from our expansion programming.
• Demonstrated commitment to promote educational opportunity and access for all students in Texas.
• Engage alongside Holdsworth staff in personal and professional development.

Geography

• Candidates must currently reside in Austin, Texas or currently live in Texas and be willing to relocate to Austin by September 1, 2025.
• This full-time role has up to 50% travel in the Permian Basin. Some evenings and weekends may be required while executing program sessions with leaders.

Compensation & benefits

• Salary Range: $100,000 $110,000
• Compensation for the role will depend on several factors, including but not limited, your qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. The Holdsworth Center also factors internal pay equity in evaluating compensation.
• This position is eligible to participate in company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short-term and long-term disability coverage, four weeks of paid time off, an employee assistance program, participation in a 401k program that includes company match, and many other additional benefits.

How to apply

Interested candidates can submit a current resume and completed questionnaire detailing their interest in this Aspiring Principal Coach position and the work of The Holdsworth Center between now and March 7, 2025. If selected for the interview process, next steps are scheduled to begin between March 18-28, 2025, and proceed through March & April, with an ideal start date of June 2, 2025.

At the Holdsworth Center, all employment decisions are based on job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.