Chief Operations Officer

The Cambridge School Dallas•Dallas, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Chief Operations Officer (COO) is responsible for providing tactical and strategic oversight, management, and planning of all aspects of the daily physical operation and maintenance of the school’s campus, programs, and finances. The COO is central in campus planning and will work closely with the Head of School (HOS) and the Board of Trustees on initiatives related to the school’s aspirations for enhanced and expanded facilities, continued financial growth and stability, and strong community connections. The COO has oversight over several front-facing staff as well as management of several administrators. This person also manages external service contracts. The COO oversees all construction, renovation, and maintenance projects. Reporting directly to the HOS, the COO serves on the executive staff and works closely with the Dean, and other school leaders to fulfill the mission, vision, and brand of the school.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree, ideally in business administration, accounting, finance or general management.
At least 5 years of experience with proven skills working in areas of finance, leadership, and facility management, particularly with an educational institution or other non-profit organization.
Visionary leader, demonstrating strategic and long-range planning skills.
Ability to relate to and work closely with diverse school constituencies, including parents and students.
Experience supervising individuals and teams effectively, including managing hourly and salary personnel.
A collaborative leader and worker with strong internal motivation, follow-through, and strong executive functioning skills.
Strong verbal and written communication skills.
Strong interpersonal skills, including contract negotiation.
Ability to establish, implement and maintain operational policies, procedures, controls and standards in a complex environment with multiple demands and on time and attention.
An advanced understanding of, and ability to use, technology, including Blackbaud, Raptor, SchoolPass, Quickbooks, eSpace, and Microsoft Office products.
Knowledge of design, construction and renovation protocols.
Sound fiscal management skills.
Strength in research, data collection, and analysis.
Creativity and innovation.
Basic understanding of mechanical, structural and electrical engineering.

Responsibilities

Assume responsibility for the school’s insurance policies; maintain sufficient commercial, liability, workers comp, professional, and all other necessary coverages.
Develop campus-wide annual budget for both operating and capital needs.
Manage and track expenses throughout the year, ensuring that all expenditures are consistent with the approved budget, or that deviation from the budget is approved in advance by the appropriate authority.
Oversee the planning, contracting and administration of all major, capital projects for the school, with budgetary projections and goals.
Collaborate with Director of Development and Communication in capital campaign planning and fundraising.
Attend monthly Board meetings and serve as primary financial resource to the Board’s Finance Committee.
Monitor all loans and indebtedness.
Prepare and review financial and budget statements, investment and capital project reports; make presentations to the HOS, Board and committees as appropriate.
Keep HOS and Board informed as to the financial condition of the school.
Maintain general ledger, monitoring all sources of revenue and expense, including restricted giving.
Coordinate planning, execution, and financing of major construction projects at direction of the HOS and Board committees.
Establish need and priority of requests in consultation with the HOS.
Develop recommendations to Finance Committee for annual tuition increases, financial aid budget, and salary plan increments in consultation with the HOS.
Establish and maintain appropriate procedures and controls for all financial systems, in accordance with GAAP standards, and for supervision of accounting and bookkeeping personnel.
Manage and process all business office activities involving payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash, financial aid, general ledger, purchasing, employee benefit administration, taxes and other accounting systems.
Supervise internal auditing of all financial and accounting systems.
Coordinate relationship with the school’s independent auditors and supervise preparation of work papers for annual audit/review.
Respond to auditor’s administrative recommendations in management letter.
Oversee re-enrollment and new student enrollment, including managing student contracts. This includes working with parents on financial issues relevant to their children’s enrollment at the school.
Oversee and collect on aged accounts receivable.
In collaboration with the Board and the HOS, analyze, review, and approve individual financial aid awards.
Ensure the smooth and successful daily running of the school’s campus and facilities, including support for managing special events held on campus.
Oversee summer programming and other auxiliary programs and rentals.
Along with any facility staff, monitor a systematic preventive maintenance program on all aspects of the campus.
Receive reports on regular inspections of these systems and approve corrective action plans as needed.
Oversee room reservations and set up.
Schedule, provide logistical support, and staff for all events on campus both during and after hours.
Partner with any facility team members to respond to all after-hour building emergencies.
Secure bids and oversee the services of the contracted service providers with annual contracts – Preventative maintenance on all mechanical systems, water treatment, janitorial, landscape/irrigation, waste disposal, pest control, elevator service, fire alarm monitoring, etc.
Assume a leadership role in the planning, design, development, and maintenance of future facilities and renovation projects.
Serve as point person during active projects to ensure construction process has minimal impact on day-to-day functioning of the school.
Oversee work order system to identify/correct recurring issues and ensure that requests being routed are in line with long term plans and are accounted for in the annual budget.
Build and maintain protocols for safety and security campus wide. This includes annual training on Standard Response Protocols, Reunification Method, and any other security needs.
Ensure building security systems are operational as well as manage 3rd-party contracts with security officer and school safety equipment such as cameras, electronic doors, alarms, etc.
Ensure compliance with all codes and regulations governing the use, construction, maintenance and improvement of site and facilities.
Foster, maintain, and manage relationships with State, County and local community organizations, including local police.
Manage all purchasing for FFE (Furniture, Fixtures, Equipment) for school operations.
Serve as liaison with the school attorney, along with HOS.
Maintain vigilance for situations that could pose a safety/health hazard; recommend appropriate remedial action.
Advise the HOS of any situations which might have adverse safety or legal consequences for the school.
Coordinate with departmental leaders to streamline event management and encourage collaborative work inter-departmentally.
Maintain data integrity of cyber products, including Datto, Blackbaud, Raptor, SchoolPass, etc.
Establish and supervise the administration of personnel programs and policies as they relate to hiring and termination procedures, time off, Workers’ Compensation, safety, training, performance, evaluation and compensation, and benefit programs.
Provide appropriate information to HOS for salary comparisons, both internal and external, including preparing employment contracts.
Supervise hiring of all support staff for multiple departments.
Conduct background searches and annual SAM training.
Supervise maintenance and security of personnel records.
Assist the HOS and the Board in establishing appropriate employee benefit programs.
Recommend changes to enhance benefits and/or reduce costs.
Ensure that the school’s personnel policies support its programs and that the school’s actions regarding hiring, compensation, training, promotion and separation conform with state and federal requirements.
Oversee projects and progress from non-academic departments and the inter-departmental connectedness of the school.
Maintain fleet policy and records related to campus vehicles and drivers.