Deputy Executive Director

Breakthrough • Austin, TX

1d

About The Position

Breakthrough Central Texas seeks a strategic, systems-oriented leader to serve as Deputy Executive Director (DED), responsible for organization-wide leadership of Breakthrough’s program strategy, execution, and outcomes. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the DED manages four Chief Program Officers: the Chief Middle School Programs Officer, Chief High School Programs Officer, Chief College Access Officer, and Chief College and Career Success Officer. Collectively, this team oversees Breakthrough’s Program Team of more than 80 staff and AmeriCorps members serving approximately 3,700 students from middle school through postsecondary completion. This is a pivotal moment for Breakthrough as we continue to scale our impact, strengthen outcomes across the full student experience, and deepen partnerships across Central Texas. As a critical leader in shaping Breakthrough’s next chapter, the Deputy Executive Director will ensure that Breakthrough’s full continuum of services operates as a cohesive, high-performing system that delivers strong, measurable outcomes for students. This role will translate organizational strategy into aligned programmatic execution, build the leadership capacity of senior program leaders, and ensure that systems, structures, and partnerships are in place to support scale, quality, and sustainability. The DED will operate at the intersection of strategy, people leadership, and performance management—driving clarity, alignment, and results across multiple teams, functions, and external partnerships.

Requirements

• Deeply committed to expanding social and economic mobility through educational attainment.
• Believes in the power of long-term investment in young people and is driven by the opportunity to deliver measurable outcomes at scale.
• Values bringing clarity to ambiguous situations, aligning priorities across teams, and making thoughtful, high-impact decisions that balance near-term execution with long-term sustainability.
• Ability to translate vision into action, ensuring that strategy, systems, and resources are aligned to achieve strong outcomes for students.
• Experienced people leader who invests in developing senior leaders, sets high expectations, and creates the conditions for teams to operate with accountability, collaboration, and a strong sense of purpose.
• Builds trust and fosters relationships that enable meaningful impact across teams and with external partners.
• Student-Centered Impact Orientation: Demonstrates dedication to supporting all students’ growth and postsecondary success by setting and achieving ambitious, measurable goals and ensuring that organizational strategy, systems, and outcomes remain centered on student impact.
• Inclusive Communication: Operates with cultural humility and demonstrates written, verbal, and digital communication skills across a range of settings, fostering an inclusive environment that effectively engages stakeholders across diverse identities and experiences.
• Relationship Building: Builds trusting, effective relationships that enable collaboration, productive dialogue, and authentic partnership with colleagues, students, families, community partners, institutional stakeholders, and other key constituents.
• Continuous Learning and Improvement: Embraces and applies feedback, demonstrates curiosity and a growth mindset, and leads a culture of continuous learning and improvement that strengthens individual performance and organizational outcomes.
• Prioritization and Resourcefulness: Effectively allocates time, attention, and resources to the highest-impact priorities, leveraging networks, tools, and innovative approaches to achieve outcomes in complex environments.
• Managing Complexity: Exhibits sound judgment and inclusive decision-making in highly complex and ambiguous situations, responding with flexibility, adaptability, and a bias toward thoughtful action.
• Strategic Thinking: Aligns program and organizational strategy with Breakthrough’s mission and long-term vision, translating strategic priorities into clear direction, systems, and measurable outcomes across teams and functions.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Leads collaboratively across departments and functions to ensure strategic alignment, operational coherence, and meaningful impact, while stewarding organizational culture and effectiveness.
• Talent Development: Coaches and develops senior leaders, ensuring they set priorities, build skills, meet goals, and grow toward professional aims while strengthening leadership capacity across the organization.
• Managing Through Layers: Supports and develops senior leaders to effectively lead their teams, engaging in skip-level leadership when appropriate to ensure clarity, alignment, strong supervision, and consistent staff support across all levels of the organization.
• Data Tracking and Evaluation: Ensures that systems for data collection, tracking, and analysis are accurate, comprehensive, and used with fidelity to drive decision-making, inform program design, and strengthen student outcomes at scale.
• Campus, Institutional, and System Navigation and Partner Cultivation: Works effectively across school systems, higher education institutions, and community organizations, cultivating and stewarding partnerships that support students in navigating systems, accessing resources, and achieving their goals.
• Student Pathway Strategy and Program Expertise: Demonstrates deep understanding of the student pathway from middle school through postsecondary success. Uses this expertise to guide strategy, evaluate programs, and coach leaders to deliver aligned, high-impact services.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Executive Director to define and execute Breakthrough’s programmatic strategy across the full student continuum—from middle school through college and career success
• Ensure alignment across program models, teams, and student pathways so that services are cohesive, complementary, and responsive to student needs
• Translate strategic priorities into clear operating plans, performance metrics, and cross-team systems that enable effective execution
• Supervise and coach four Chief Program Officers, supporting them to lead high-performing teams and deliver strong student outcomes
• Lead through layers by establishing clarity in roles, expectations, and accountability across the Program Team
• Build leadership capacity at the senior level, ensuring Chiefs effectively develop their own teams and sustain strong team culture
• Develop and oversee program-wide systems for tracking student outcomes, program performance, and organizational impact
• Ensure that data, evaluation, and learning cycles inform decision-making, program refinement, and resource allocation
• Set clear goals for short-term and long-term measures tied to postsecondary attainment, and support and hold program leadership accountable for results
• Partner closely with other leaders across departments to align resources, systems, and priorities in support of organizational success
• Serve as a key advisor and thought partner to the Executive Director, supporting priority-setting, resource allocation, and organizational decision-making
• Help steward Breakthrough’s culture, ensuring alignment with organizational values, talent philosophy, and commitment to equity
• Cultivate and steward strategic partnerships with school systems, higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, and community stakeholders
• Oversee the development and implementation of partnership models that support student success and reduce systemic barriers
• Represent Breakthrough in external settings, including with funders, partners, and community leaders, and contribute to organizational storytelling, fundraising, and policy advocacy efforts

Benefits

• Health, dental and vision insurance (Breakthrough pays 100% of employee premiums)
• Life insurance
• Matching 401K retirement plan
• Thirty days of PTO annually, with immediate accrual
• Additional leave benefits, including company holidays and FMLA eligibility
• Annual professional development fund

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed