Senior Director of Operations

Senior Director, Operations

Role Type: Full-Time

Location: Washington, DC

FLSA Status: Exempt

WHO WE ARE

DC Prep is a high performing network of public charter schools serving over 2,100 preschool through 8th-grade students across six campuses in Wards 5, 7, and 8. We’re proud of  the high bar we set for ourselves to achieve results–our students deserve our best! We recognize that how we support our students to be successful is just as important as the results we achieve, which pushes us to reflect on questions such as: 

• How can we facilitate our students’ academic, social, and emotional development?  
• How can we support our team members’ professional growth and personal ability to do this work long-term? 
• How can we engage our students’ families as our own? 

While this work is hard, it’s worth it – we believe in the transformative power of education, the can-do-itness of our students and staff, and the joy that comes from engaging in meaningful work with people we care about and trust!  

Here’s how we drive results: 

• Rigorous academic focus.  Our Preppies receive the highest level of academic preparation through standards-based instruction, daily targeted interventions, and meaningful assessments.

• Social-emotional learning. We have always had a dual mission of academic and social-emotional skill development.  Our research-based SEL curriculum is integrated into daily instruction, helping students leverage their personal values to strengthen their self-awareness, social awareness, and responsible decision-making skills and create a school-wide culture of empathy and reflection.

• Commitment to reflection and refinement.  Our results tell us that we are moving in the right direction, but there’s further to go to ensure that every student receives a transformative education. As a team, we regularly reflect on our programmatic model to see what’s working and where we can get better.  

Are you interested in learning more about the DC Prep Way? If so, check out our website to find out more about what we’re working towards and how we’re doing it.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Senior Director of Operations will be responsible for leading and overseeing all matters of school administration that are non-instructional across DC Prep, including safety, compliance, school-level finances, and facilities.  DC Prep has six campuses (3 elementary and 3 middle) across 3 sites (Anacostia, Benning, and Edgewood).  The Senior Director of Operations supervises and coaches a team of three senior operations staff, consisting of three Operations Site Leads. The Senior Director of Operations also works very closely with leaders across the Home Office and reports to the Chief Operations Officer.

THE DAY-TO-DAY

Responsibilities of the Senior Director of Operations will include but are not limited to:

Senior Leadership 

• Build and sustain a culture among the operations team of strong leadership by promoting the following mindsets for all ops team members:  a growth mindset, encouraging intentional reflection to learn from both successes and setbacks, maintain a learning orientation under pressure, create a culture of continuous improvement by promoting data-driven reflection, and model accountability by refusing to participate in blame culture or excuses.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Senior team and Executive team, contributing to network-level decision-making, risk assessment, and long-range planning.
• Partner with senior instructional leaders, especially the Managing Directors of Schools and Chief Schools Officer, to ensure operational decisions directly support student achievement, school culture, and staff experience.
• Invest stakeholders and execute the long-term operational vision for the network, ensuring schools have the systems, infrastructure, and support needed to deliver on academic and organizational goals.
• Actively participate, influence and contribute operational best practices to the design and planning process for major capital projects, including long-term space strategy, construction, renovations, and asset management.
• Promote a culture of operational discipline and customer service, ensuring all stakeholders experience the Ops team as a high-quality, solutions-oriented, reliable partner.
• Champion equity-driven operations, ensuring systems, policies, and resource allocation promote fairness, access, and inclusion across all schools and communities served.

Team Management 

• Establish clear performance metrics for operational excellence, in collaboration with COO, and regularly evaluate outcomes to drive continuous improvement across the network.
• Manage, coach, and invest deeply in supporting and developing Operations Site Leads, and growing their technical and adaptive skills to learn, contribute, and engage in the work of the team and organization
• Develop and elevate irreplaceable campus operations leaders, building leadership pipelines, coaching for high performance, and empowering school teams to operate with excellence always.
• Develop, review, and provide feedback on onboarding plans for operations team members to ensure new team members are set up to be successful
• Develop and hold campus operations team members accountable to consistently high customer service standards by instilling operational discipline and ensuring stakeholders experience the team as a reliable, responsive, and solutions-oriented partner
• Partner with Director of Facilities, Operations Site Leads, and Principals to foster consistent implementation of school operations priorities
• Steward financial resources responsibly, collaborating with Finance and other HO directors to manage school level budgets effectively and in alignment with strategic priorities
• Design, implement, and monitor internal controls and systems to ensure financial resources (including gift cards, donor checks, and cash secured on site) are properly tracked, safeguarded, and utilized in accordance with policy, minimizing risk and protecting organizational assets
• Execute crisis management and organizational risk mitigation, including emergency preparedness, response protocols, and long-term scenario planning
• Develop and lead communication and response around significant safety events
• Proactively communicate relevant updates and information to operations team members so they can effectively do their work
• Serve as back-up member to manage sites when team members are unavailable or not present

Cross-Functional Team Collaboration

• Act as a liaison between Home Office teams and school-based operations staff, ensuring that all campuses are safe, secure, clean, cost-effective, and fully operational at all times
• Lead and project manage cross-team projects related to the operational work of preparing all campuses for the first day of school, Network-wide professional development days, and other large scale operations projects as needed 
• Partner with Home Office support team on cross-team network initiatives and systems (e.g. enrollment, school budget, compliance, compliance, financial audit, leave tracking, payroll)
• Working in partnership and across teams to strategically identify operation issues and implement sustainable solutions
• Collaborate very closely with Managing Director of Schools to create academic and cultural environments which supports our collective goal: preparing students for High School and college success

Student and Family Services Support  

• Manage relationship and contract with DC Prep’s after school program provider; serve as liaison to ensure program is meeting expectations
• Manage certain program-related vendor contracts (e.g., uniforms, music instruction, picture day, special events)
• Oversee and coordinate MKV resources and support for our at-risk student population and students experiencing housing instability, ensuring their basic needs are met (e.g., transportation, supplies, referrals, and services) so they are able to attend school consistently and fully engage in learning.

WHO YOU ARE

You are an incredibly reflective leader with a growth mindset whose superpower is embracing change and helping others around you adapt to change.

The Senior Director of Operations brings a strong learning orientation and growth mindset, proactively seeking opportunities to build expertise, stay ahead of emerging best practices, and approach new workstreams with humility and curiosity. You embrace adaptability, recognizing that change is constant within a dynamic and evolving school system, and navigates complexity with clarity, confidence, and calm. 

You model effective change leadership by guiding teams through transitions thoughtfully and purposefully, even under pressure. You exemplify accountability and reflective practice—learning from both successes and setbacks, maintaining focus on solutions, and refusing to engage in blame culture or excuses. With a willingness to challenge the status quo, you identify legacy practices that limit effectiveness and drive innovative operational improvements that deliver transformational outcomes for students and staff.  

You are a leader who deeply understands the large locus of control you have as a Senior Director and deliberately cultivates this same locus of control and influence in the OSLs and Ops team you support. 

The Senior Director of Operations demonstrates a strong sense of ownership with an empowered mindset—taking full responsibility for outcomes rather than deferring or attributing challenges to external factors. You operate with a high internal locus of control, proactively identifying issues, driving solutions, and seeing initiatives through to completion. You consistently anticipate obstacles, make informed decisions, and mobilize resources to resolve problems efficiently and effectively, even in complex or ambiguous environments.

You are an effective team leader and manager who focuses on investing, developing, and coaching team members. You enjoy leading a team to meet ambitious goals. You are a leader who listens, supports, and coaches your staff to be the best they can. You believe in the power of transparency, communication, strong team culture, and feedback. You lead and manage with an equity lens. You feel comfortable leading a functional team through influence as many operations staff members will be supervised by your direct reports. You are known for inspiring teams who serve in a service-oriented function.

You are a talented project manager with a strong systems-orientation, and may be the most reliable and organized person you’ve ever met. You are so impeccably organized and have a strong reputation for planning ahead and always meeting time-sensitive deadlines. Your colleagues would describe you as incredibly efficient, quick on your feet, and an overall “jack-of-all-trades” who thrives on getting things done and helping others solve problems. You also take great satisfaction in your ability to create and manage against project plans. And, honestly, everyone else takes satisfaction in that, too— they can always depend on you to get things done well, on time, and with the right degree of input and collaboration. You are willing to dive into any situation, work on any challenge, develop better systems, and explore all opportunities to ensure that students are best served.

You love collaboration and are an influencer. You have experience working with diverse teams and understand how to work effectively with staff across different functions, roles, and levels. You have had success influencing others to achieve strong outcomes on projects that involve multiple stakeholders and voices. You are able to build trust and strong relationships.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years work experience, with 3+ years in management; school operations management strongly preferred
• Experience managing diverse teams to strong outcomes
• Desire and willingness to do “whatever it takes” to support student achievement in traditionally under-served communities
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and influence skills
• High-quality written and oral skills to effectively communicate with varied audiences including students, families, staff, and external community stakeholders 
• Superior systems orientation, analytical skills and sound judgment to make critical decisions autonomously
• Capable of thriving in circumstances involving ambiguity and nuance
• Meticulous organizational ability, in order to strategically prioritize multiple urgent issues, organize workload, handle multiple responsibilities, and meet deadlines
• Emotional constancy and extraordinary interpersonal skills to ensure purposeful and professional relationships with all colleagues and community members
• Positive attitude, maturity, and personal stability sufficient for a demanding position
• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality in regard to work performed
• Excellent computer skills, including fluency with Google Suite, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Belief in DC Prep’s mission, values, and commitment to diversity
• Bachelor’s degree

Essential Functions 

• DC Prep Operations Site Leaders are on duty at their assigned campus Mondays through Fridays from 7:15am to 4:15pm and must be prepared to facilitate arrival for all students and families at 7:30am.  On Wednesdays, DC Prep campus staff and leaders report until 5:00 for Professional Development. 
• SDO must maintain a consistent on-site presence at one of the six DCP campus locations at least four days each week to support + coach campus operations leaders, with regular visibility + observation across campus operations.

• SDO provides hands-on operational leadership through direct engagement with campus-based teams, administrators, and service providers.
• SDO remains accessible and responsive by phone/email/text outside of standard business hours, as required, to address:
• Campus emergencies and safety-related incidents
• Changes in campus operating status (e.g., weather-related closures, delayed openings)
• Urgent or time-sensitive communications to internal and external stakeholders
• Support for OSLs in navigating complex or escalated campus needs
• SDO monitors and oversees daily campus operations i.e. arrival + dismissal, campus conditions, staffing needs, and operational readiness through regular on-site observation and engagement, ensuring consistency, compliance, and service continuity across assigned locations.
• Additional responsibilities may arise during the school year.  This could include: attending staff and student field trips, after school events, family-teacher conferences, home visits, and other events involving parents and students, as needed. This list is not exhaustive. DC Prep will communicate mandatory events outside of school hours with ample notice.

Physical Demands

The physical demands and environmental conditions described below are representative, but not exhaustive, of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the role.  All of these physical requirements should be able to be performed with clarity, coherence and connectedness to DC Prep’s vision.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Must be able to sit and work at a desk/computer for extended periods of time
• Must be able to spend the majority of the day standing or mobile throughout the classroom, as well as talk, hear, grasp, reach and lift up to 30lbs with or without accommodations
• Ability to concentrate in active and noisy environments such as cafeterias and playgrounds, to more moderate situations such as classrooms or large group professional settings
• Must be able to have repetitive wrist/hand/finger movement to work on computer and/or related office equipment
• Ability to handle potential high stress conditions

JOIN US

Do you believe that Learning Has No Limits? Are you eager to join a supportive, innovative, and collaborative community of educators? Are you committed to growing your strengths as an educator through individualized professional development and coaching? Apply today!

We’re an equal opportunity employer and hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability. We strongly encourage diverse candidates to apply.