Director of Programs

Academy For Urban School Leadership (AUSL)•Chicago, IL

22h•$105,000 - $110,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting new teachers in underserved communities to ensure every student receives a great teacher and a transformative education. Founded in Chicago, IL, AUSL became the first urban teacher residency in 2001. Building on 25 years of transformative impact, AUSL is entering a period of rapid expansion to address the nation’s critical teacher shortage. As part of AUSL’s Vision 2030 plan, the organization is committed to training 500 new teachers annually by 2030. The Director of Programs is a senior operational and strategic leader within the program team, serving as the connective tissue across all program verticals. This role ensures leadership has real-time visibility, operational infrastructure, and strategic insight to drive program-wide excellence. The Director of Programs partners closely with the Chief Program Officer (CPO) to advance organizational priorities, manage critical cross-functional projects, and ensure the program team operates with clarity, cohesion, and impact. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for a collaborative leader with strategic acumen and operational rigor, passionate about new teacher development and the systems that enable educators to thrive.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in education, teacher development, or a related field, with at least 3 years in a program or operational leadership role.
Deep expertise in new teacher development and evidence-based instructional practices.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional projects and driving results across multiple teams.
Strong analytical skills with experience in data synthesis, cohort modeling, or program performance analysis.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to synthesize complex information for senior leadership.
Proven ability to build systems, SOPs, and documentation that enable organizational scale.
Track record of supporting and developing talent, including hiring, performance management, and leadership coaching.
Has reliable transportation to commute to school sites in and around Chicagoland.
Genuinely enjoys in-person collaboration and thrives working alongside colleagues, with the flexibility to adjust their schedule and location as team and project needs shift in a hybrid environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a Chief of Staff, Deputy Director, or senior strategy and operations role within an educational organization.
Familiarity with new partner launch processes or organizational expansion in an education context.
Comfort operating in a fast-paced, growing organization with an ability to navigate ambiguity and lead through change.

Responsibilities

Coordinates across all program verticals to ensure real-time visibility into program performance and emerging priorities.
Leads monthly program leadership team data review cycles, synthesizing program-wide insight to inform CPO-level strategic decisions.
Builds and maintains program SOPs, playbooks, and documentation that institutionalize best practices as the team grows; manages and operationalizes programmatic shifts and development.
Supports program-wide special projects as needed, conducting research, cohort modeling, staffing projections, and growth planning to enable data-informed decision-making.
Supports New Partner Launches, providing strategic framing and tactical support to ensure smooth, high-quality onboarding.
Serves as a primary point of contact for partner relationships, building trust and ensuring alignment between partner needs and organizational goals.
Monitors partnership health and outcomes, proactively identifying risks or opportunities and adjusting strategy as needed.
Monitors programmatic trends, challenges, and opportunities, proactively surfacing recommendations to program leadership.
Prepares and facilitates org-wide program vision sessions, retreats, and key leadership engagements for the program team.
Acts as a trusted thought partner to the CPO and program leadership, managing sensitive information and representing leadership priorities across the organization.
Supports hiring, leadership development, performance conversations, and talent pipeline development across the program team.
Partners with program leaders to identify professional growth opportunities and strengthen the leadership bench.
Brings deep expertise and knowledge of new teacher development and research-based instructional practices to inform program design, coaching frameworks, and organizational strategy.
Serves as an internal resource and thought leader on best practices in teacher development, drawing on current research to shape program priorities and quality standards.