District Fellow & Chief of Staff at Bay Ed Fund

Talent on Fire Consulting•Sunnyvale, CA

1d•$160,000 - $215,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This is a hybrid position, jointly held between Bay Ed Fund and the Sunnyvale School District. The Fellow is embedded within the district as Chief of Staff to the Superintendent — serving as on-the-ground, day-to-day support for the district’s most critical strategic and community work — while remaining part of the BEF team, drawing on the organization’s cross-district knowledge, tools, and network to accelerate impact. The Fellow brings the best of both organizations to every interaction: BEF’s systems-level expertise and the district’s deep community relationships. The District Fellow & Chief of Staff is a strategic partner, project leader, and systems thinker embedded at the heart of district operations. Positioned at the intersection of the Superintendent’s office, district leadership, BEF, and the broader school community, this role will guide a year-long visioning process enabling stakeholders across the Sunnyvale community to define what they want for their districts and schools. The Fellow is a trusted thought partner who translates vision into action, builds authentic relationships across the organization and community, and serves as an essential bridge connecting district leadership, BEF, and external partners. This is a year-long position, with the potential opportunity to transition to a full-time role at Sunnyvale School District or Bay Ed Fund if there is fit and need.

Requirements

You have 7+ years of professional experience, across K-12 education, education reform, consulting, or a district/nonprofit leadership context. You can leverage your experiences to manage up to senior leaders and create exceptional teams, products, and experiences.
You regularly evaluate your work and the team’s work to identify highest-leverage priorities amid competing demands. You consistently bring data to bear when making decisions and iterate based on quantitative and qualitative feedback.
You hold a deep commitment to building authentic trust with families, educators, and community members. You also know how to navigate sensitive information, competing stakeholder interests, and organizational dynamics with care.
You are an exceptional written communicator who can own a public narrative across audiences and formats; comfortable driving communications independently when no dedicated comms staff is available; experience with bilingual contexts a plus
You’ve proven your ability to design and sequence stakeholder engagement, adapting strategy to shift different audiences toward ownership over time. You’re also able to manage complex, multi-stakeholder projects from planning through execution.
You are skilled at drawing out authentic stakeholder voice through interviews, focus groups, and feedback sessions — and translating what’s heard into meaningful action.
You are comfortable in ambiguity, able to create structure and clarity where none yet exist. You thrive in a fast-moving, startup-like environment.
We have found there is no substitute for in-person meetings to build the relationships needed for this work. Therefore, we require the person in this role to live in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, or Santa Clara county.

Nice To Haves

Adept at communicating in Spanish: You are able to engage a diverse range of community members, including many who are Spanish-speaking.
experience working directly in Sunnyvale.

Responsibilities

Serve as the district’s primary point of contact for all visioning and strategic planning activities, managing the relationship between the district, BEF, and external partners
Develop and manage materials for vision design team and community vision meetings, including bilingual communications for families and community members
Provide substantive feedback on deliverables developed by external planning partners
Conduct empathy interviews and gather insights from teachers, administrators, families, and community members to inform planning
Leverage cross-district learnings from BEF’s network to strengthen the district’s approach
Develop and maintain objectives, key results, and milestones for all BEF initiatives; build tracking systems to monitor progress
Co-lead BEF project management meetings and facilitate stepbacks with the BEF team
Serve as the connective tissue between the district team, BEF, and external partners — ensuring both organizations are aligned on priorities, progress, and next steps
Work closely with third-party vendors and ensure deliverable quality and timeliness
Identify high-leverage opportunities for the district leadership team — including principals and site administrators — to engage in the strategic planning process and BEF initiatives
Design and maintain a year-long engagement plan that sequences touchpoints intentionally across stakeholder groups — educators, families, school leaders, and community members
Segment and tailor engagement by audience, recognizing that different groups require different entry points and levels of involvement
Identify and cultivate early adopters who can co-facilitate engagement and amplify the work within their communities
Build visible feedback loops that show stakeholders how their input shaped the plan
Manage the engagement calendar to sequence asks, avoid fatigue, and sustain momentum across the full arc of the planning process
Own the narrative of the community vision and strategic planning process — ensuring all stakeholders understand where the district is, where it’s headed, and why their voice matters
Draft communications across formats and audiences: family-facing updates, administrator briefings, board summaries, and community announcements
Serve as the primary communications lead for visioning work, including in contexts without a dedicated communications director, ensuring consistency, accessibility, and bilingual reach
Equip school site leaders and educators with materials to communicate vision progress to their own communities — making them messengers, not just recipients
Lead operations for large-scale in-person events, including visioning meetings, family engagement nights, and district-wide gatherings
Coordinate translation, childcare, event setup, staffing, and logistics with district and operations teams
Develop run-of-show documents and manage day-of execution