[Hiring] Senior Director, AI Strategy and Innovation @KIPP

Role Description

• Develop and lead KIPP's multi-year, network-wide AI strategy, aligned to One KIPP and the KIPP 2030 Plan.
• Serve as the AI expert for the entire KIPP Foundation and the go-to advisor for regions, the Schools team, and Foundation leadership on AI tools, uses, and risks.
• Own KIPP's position on instructional AI and the standard the network uses to judge whether a tool serves its students.
• Translate the strategy so it travels: a regional superintendent can repeat it in a sentence, a development officer can put it in front of a funder, and a school leader recognizes it in the guidance they receive.

• Manage the AI pilot group, setting its priorities and the standard of evidence for AI pilots across the Foundation and regions.
• Design and administer the measurement system for AI pilots: assess pilot quality, collect, and analyze evidence, and produce reports on each pilot.
• Partner with the Schools team and external researchers to set the comparison design, subgroup breakouts, and data plan before licenses are issued.
• Apply a common evaluation framework to every AI tool under consideration.

• Serve as the final recommender on AI vendors, uses, and approaches for both Foundation and regional work.
• Make scale, continue, or stop recommendations grounded in pilot data and present them to the AI Working Group and senior leaders.
• Identify, negotiate, and steward partnerships with research and development partners, key vendors, and university researchers.
• Help Foundation teams use AI more effectively in their own work.

• Coordinate AI work across KIPP regions, maintaining a current inventory of tools, cost, funding sources, early outcomes, lessons learned, and privacy considerations.
• Advise regions on how tools fit KIPP's approach and what evidence the network needs to recommend them.
• Broker multi-region pilots with a shared challenge, a common evaluation design, and a clear division of labor.

• Build KIPP's relationships with funders investing in AI in education and position KIPP to attract philanthropic dollars.
• Represent KIPP at conferences, convenings, and forums where AI tools, funding, and policy take shape.
• Own the strategic narrative and evidence base the Development team carries externally.
• Carry what pilots teach into national guidance and the annual One KIPP planning cycle.

Qualifications

• Demonstrates passion and commitment to KIPP’s mission and core values.
• Record of setting ambitious goals and achieving them with consistency.
• Sets a clear vision for new or complex bodies of work.
• Able to build and align goals and project plans with organization priorities.
• Defines the right metrics to evaluate work and ensures data-driven decisions.
• Effectively articulates the case for change and translates it into actionable plans.
• Has interpersonal, diplomatic, and relationship-building skills.
• Brings deep, current expertise in AI tools and their applications in education.

Requirements

• 7-10+ years of professional experience, including 5+ years in K-12 education.
• Deep expertise in AI and its uses in education.
• Experience teaching or leading in schools serving students like those KIPP serves.
• Proven record of leading strategy or major initiatives across a school system.
• Experience designing measurement or evaluation systems for programs or pilots.
• Proven record of negotiating and managing partnerships with vendors and research organizations.
• Experience building relationships with funders or securing philanthropic support preferred.

Benefits

• 25 holidays plus 18 additional flexible PTO days.
• 100% paid parental leave.
• 100% coverage of the premium for employee and 75% for employee + family’s medical/dental/vision plans.
• Wellness benefits such as fitness reimbursements and employee assistance programs.
• 401K retirement plan with 4% match and employer-sponsored legal plans.