Vacancy Details

PMGR - Pedagogic Manager - 162803

Senior Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives - FACE

Division of Family and Community Engagement and External Affairs

Senior Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives – FACE

Please Note: This Position only open to internal NYC Public Schools (NYCPS) employees.

Position Summary: Under the executive direction of the Chief of Family and Community Empowerment, and with wide latitude for independent judgment and initiative, the Senior Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives serves as a senior leader responsible for building and leading a critical portfolio focused on home-school partnerships and the coordination of school- and district-level family leadership structures. 

This role oversees implementation of signature mayoral and Chancellor initiatives, compliance with Chancellor’s regulations for parent leadership, day-to-day operations and outcomes of the home-school partnerships team, and the building and sustaining of updated work flows connected to Parent Coordinators, Parent Associations/Parent-Teacher Associations (PA/PTAs), School Leadership Teams (SLTs), and district-based Family Leadership Coordinators (FLCs) and Family Support Coordinators (FSCs), ensuring these entities function as a cohesive, high-impact system that advances meaningful family engagement and strengthens school communities.

The Senior Executive Director is responsible for standing up and operationalizing a new vertical reflecting an evolved vision, strategy, and infrastructure for effective execution of school and district-based parent leadership at scale. This includes designing and implementing aligned systems, workflows, and supports; building leadership capacity across a large, distributed network; and ensuring consistency, accountability, and high-quality service delivery across schools and districts. The role requires strong cross-functional coordination to align efforts with internal stakeholders and eliminate fragmentation.

The Senior Executive Director provides direct supervision and executive-level management of senior leaders and staff within the portfolio, ensuring strong performance, clear expectations, and consistent accountability. This includes ongoing coaching, structured performance management, and regular evaluation to strengthen execution and outcomes across both school- and district-facing roles. The role is responsible for building leadership capacity across the team, developing clear standards for performance, and fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. In addition, the Senior Executive Director plays a critical role in talent development and succession planning to ensure long-term organizational stability and leadership strength across the system.

This position carries significant public visibility and accountability, including full oversight of mayoral initiatives within the portfolio. The Senior Executive Director ensures that commitments are made with fidelity, timelines are met, and risks are proactively managed, while maintaining clear and accurate reporting. This role is essential to advancing the Mayor and Chancellor’s priorities and delivering on the vision for meaningful family empowerment by establishing a responsive, coordinated, and accountable system of support for parent leadership across the city. Performs related work.

Reports to: Chief, Office of Family and Community Empowerment

Direct Reports: Senior Director of Capacity Building, Senior Director Strategic Initiatives, Data Analyst, Mass Engagement Media Strategist, Intake Coordinator, Program Specialist (2),

Key Relationships: Mayor’s Office, Chancellor’s Office, Superintendents and district leadership teams, Office of the First Deputy Chancellor senior leadership, Division senior leadership (Chief of Staff, Chief Executive, Chief of Operations)

Responsibilities

Mayoral Initiatives and Public Accountability

·         Serves as the executive lead for the Office of Family and Community Empowerment's highest-priority Chancellor and mayoral initiatives, ensuring that strategic priorities are translated into coordinated implementation plans, measurable outcomes, and sustainable operational practices across the Office.

·         Develop enterprise-level implementation strategies for executive initiatives, establishing governance structures, milestones, accountability mechanisms, and cross-functional workstreams necessary for successful execution.

·         Provides executive oversight of initiative portfolios to ensure alignment with evolving Chancellor and mayoral priorities, proactively identifying implementation risks, resolving barriers, and adjusting strategies to respond to changing organizational needs.

·         Coordinates closely with executive leadership across NYC Public Schools to ensure Office initiatives are integrated into broader agency priorities and are implemented consistently across divisions and districts.

·         Serves as the primary liaison to executive leadership regarding initiative status, emerging issues, and strategic recommendations, ensuring accurate and timely communication of progress, risks, and accomplishments.

Organizational Leadership and Strategy

·         Serves as a senior member of the Office's executive leadership team, partnering with the Chief to establish long-term organizational priorities, strategic direction, and enterprise-wide planning for family and community empowerment.

·         Leads strategic planning efforts across the Office by identifying opportunities to strengthen organizational alignment, improve operational coherence, and position the Office to effectively respond to emerging agency priorities.

·         Designs organizational frameworks that improve coordination among programmatic teams while maintaining alignment with broader citywide goals, executive priorities, and family engagement objectives.

·         Provides executive leadership with strategic analyses and recommendations regarding organizational structure, policy implementation, resource allocation, and cross-functional decision-making.

·         Works collaboratively with senior leaders to ensure individual program areas contribute to an integrated, cohesive vision for family and community engagement rather than operating as independent functions.

·         Provides strategic, dotted-line leadership to the Home School Partnerships portfolio, partnering with the Senior Executive Director of Parent Leadership & District Engagement to ensure operational work—including Parent Coordinators, PA/PTAs, School Leadership Teams, district family leadership structures, professional learning, compliance, and parent leadership initiatives—remains aligned with Chancellor priorities, mayoral commitments, and broader Office strategy without assuming direct supervisory responsibility.

Project Management and Leadership Development

·         Leads complex, multi-divisional initiatives that require coordination across executive offices, program teams, external agencies, and community stakeholders.

·         Establishes project governance structures, implementation frameworks, executive decision points, and accountability processes that support successful execution of high-profile initiatives.

·         Provides strategic guidance, coaching, and executive support to senior leaders responsible for implementing major initiatives, fostering collaboration, shared ownership, and organizational alignment.

·         Builds organizational capacity for project management by establishing standardized planning processes, implementation tools, and executive reporting structures that strengthen consistency across the Office.

·         Supports succession planning and leadership development by mentoring senior staff on executive project management, strategic thinking, systems leadership, and enterprise collaboration.

Cross-Functional Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement

·         Serves as the principal executive coordinator for initiatives requiring collaboration across multiple NYC Public Schools divisions, City agencies, and executive offices.

·         Develops and sustains productive relationships with senior leaders across the Chancellor's Office, Mayor's Office, First Deputy Chancellor's Office, Legal, Policy, Communications, Operations, Technology, district leadership, and other internal partners to facilitate coordinated implementation of strategic priorities.

·         Provides executive guidance on navigating complex stakeholder dynamics, helping Office leadership manage competing priorities, sensitive issues, and organizational interdependencies while maintaining productive partnerships.

·         Coordinates cross-functional governance structures that improve communication, clarify roles and responsibilities, reduce duplication of effort, and strengthen accountability across initiative teams.

·         Represents the Office in executive meetings, interagency workgroups, and strategic planning sessions as designated by the Chief.

Performance Management and Continuous Improvement

·         Develop executive oversight processes that assess the effectiveness of Chancellor and mayoral initiatives, focusing on organizational alignment, implementation quality, operational effectiveness, and strategic impact.

·         Synthesizes lessons learned across initiatives, stakeholder engagement, and implementation efforts to identify opportunities for improving organizational processes, strengthening collaboration, and refining implementation strategies.

·         Designs and implements comprehensive performance management systems that track program inputs, outputs, and outcomes across the portfolio, including service delivery, stakeholder engagement, and operational effectiveness. 

·         Advises executive leadership on systemic improvements informed by recurring themes emerging from program implementation, staff feedback, district engagement, and family and community stakeholder experiences.

·         Promotes a culture of continuous improvement by establishing mechanisms for organizational reflection, knowledge sharing, and adaptive planning across the Office.

·         Ensures that strategic initiatives remain responsive to evolving agency priorities by continuously evaluating implementation approaches and recommending refinements that improve long-term organizational effectiveness and public impact.

Qualification Requirements:

Minimum

Must currently possess or will possess by date of hire, New York State certification as a school district administrator (SDA) or school district leader (SDL); or the Administrator Certificate plus Superintendent extension.  Please Note: We do not accept internship certificates.

For more information regarding the DOE’s supervisory certification requirements, as well as a link to the New York State Education Department’s website to apply for certification, please visit our website at https://www.schools.nyc.gov/careers/principals-and-assistant-principals/school-leader-and-supervisory-certification.

Plus

·         Minimum ten years of experience working in an educational program or institution.

·         Master’s degree in education, leadership or a related field.

·         Knowledge of all instructional mandates and related requirements, current educational research and practice, as well as knowledge of community needs and priorities.

·         Excellent interpersonal and communication skills required to cooperatively work with staff, parents, students, and the community.

·         High-level critical thinking, decision-making, and executive-level management skills.

·         Thinks innovatively, strategically, and creatively about the work with strong communication skills which enables candidate to work efficiently across multiple work streams and stakeholders.  

Preferred

·         Demonstrated success leading large-scale, systemwide strategy and transformation efforts with measurable results, including the development and execution of multi-year strategic plans that strengthen coherence and improve outcomes.

·         Strong ability to diagnose complex challenges, identify root causes, and design high-leverage, systemic solutions, supported by experience in strategy development, policy design, and enterprise change management within large organizations.

·         Proven ability to lead through influence across senior executives, government agencies, community partners, and cross-functional teams, ensuring alignment and prioritization across multiple workstreams.

·         Advanced analytical skills, using data, research, and community insight to inform strategic decisions and continuous improvement.

·         Experience piloting and scaling innovative models that improve outcomes for historically underserved populations.

·         Knowledge of public-sector systems, governance structures, and political and organizational dynamics.

·         Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear strategic materials and advise senior leaders on high-stakes decisions.

·         Demonstrated success building and leading high-performing strategy, innovation, or transformation teams.

·         Deep commitment to equity, with experience authentically centering family and community voice in strategic planning, system redesign, and decision-making.

Salary: $200,000 - $224,538

NOTE: The filling of all positions is subject to budget availability and/or grant funding.

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

It is the policy of the Department of Education of the City of New York to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, marital status, partnership status, disability, sexual orientation, gender (sex), military status, unemployment status, caregiver status, consumer credit history, prior record of arrest or conviction (except as permitted by law), predisposing genetic characteristics, or status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual offenses and stalking, and to maintain an environment free of harassment on any of the above-noted grounds, including sexual harassment or retaliation. For more information, please refer to the DOE Non-Discrimination Policy.