Job Description
Company Description
About the Organization
KIPP Public Schools is a national network of tuition-free public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 279 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and nearly 210,000 students and alumni.
Our mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.
Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.
The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP public charter schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation helps to develop outstanding educators to lead KIPP schools; provides tools and resources for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations.
About Our Values:
Excellent Results for Students: We value results over effort and know that our work is not finished until all students thrive. We maintain high expectations for self, team, and students. We drive outcomes by operating with agility, removing barriers, differentiating support, and prioritizing student-centered solutions—especially for those at the margins.
Collective Impact: We are one team. We win together. We embody a one-team mindset by working collaboratively across teams, aligning goals, and leveraging the strengths of all teammates. We build trust-based relationships and ensure inclusive decision-making by engaging those closest to the work. We provide clarity through simple, repeatable systems and goals that enable transformational outcomes.
Courageous Action: Our belief in what we can achieve is unwavering, fueling our optimism and commitment to overcome any challenge. We demonstrate an unwavering belief in students’ potential and a commitment to addressing systemic inequities. We approach challenges with resilience, a solutions-focused mindset, and adaptability. We foster a psychologically safe environment centered on trust and accountability where feedback is encouraged. We leverage data to reflect on progress, own setbacks, celebrate successes, and continuously improve to maximize impact.
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Job Description
About The Position
The Vice President of Equity and Diversity is one of the most consequential roles at the KIPP Foundation. This person is responsible for ensuring that equity is not just a value we hold — it is a standard we build into how the network runs, how we measure success, and how we respond when students at the margins are not getting what they deserve. The core purpose of this role is clear: to interrupt patterns of inequitable student outcomes across the KIPP network.
This is a system architect and field leader in one. At the network level, the VP of Equity sets the expectations and criteria by which disparities are identified, named, and addressed — embedding equity into our core planning cycles, progress monitoring processes, and action step routines so that disaggregated analysis is not optional but standard. At the regional level, this person goes where the work is hardest. When persistent patterns of inequitable outcomes demand direct engagement, the VP of Equity works alongside Regional Superintendents and regional senior leadership to guide strategy, support key decisions, and assess progress in real time.
The VP of Equity works in close partnership with the Chief Schools Officer, who is the ultimate decision-maker on where direct regional engagement is deployed. The VP brings rigorous analysis and a clear recommendation — informed by data, by input from Regional Superintendents through the RAPID framework, and by a deep understanding of what regions need — and the Chief Schools Officer determines where and how the Foundation’s equity resources are directed. This is a high-trust relationship that requires both analytical sharpness and strong alignment with the CSO’s vision for what equitable outcomes look like across the network.
This role also drives the cross-functional coordination that equity work requires. Student outcomes do not live in one lane — they are shaped by instructional practice, operational systems, talent decisions, and data infrastructure. The VP of Equity works across Schools, Operations, Data, and other functions to ensure that the network’s approach to equity is coherent, coordinated, and impossible to siloing.
The right candidate pairs deep technical expertise in equity with the strategic judgment to navigate complex, politically sensitive situations and the interpersonal credibility to influence senior leaders. They are energized by the chance to shape how a national network runs — and by the responsibility of ensuring that the students most on the margins are never an afterthought.
Responsibilities
Equity in System Design, Implementation, and Accountability
Set network-wide expectations and criteria for how disparities are identified, named, and addressed — establishing a clear, consistent standard that applies across all regions and all functional areas.
Embed equity into core planning cycles, progress monitoring processes, and action step routines — ensuring that disaggregation is not an add-on but a built-in feature of how the network monitors and responds to student outcomes.
Monitor network-wide trends and progress toward equity goals; identify patterns across regions and shape system-level responses, solutions, and learning opportunities.
Evaluate proposed practices for disparate impact before they scale; build the analytical infrastructure and feedback mechanisms that surface equity risks early and consistently.
Identify and scale effective practices across regions, ensuring that what works in one context becomes a learning opportunity for the full network.
Regional Equity Engagement and Intervention
Design and implement a methodology – in partnership with Regional Superintendents and Schools Team Leadership - to determine which regions require deeper, structured support based on the severity and persistence of disparities in anchor metrics.
Bring forward clear recommendations to the Chief Schools Officer on where direct regional engagement is warranted, drawing on data analysis and input from Regional Superintendents through the RAPID framework.
Once deployed, co-lead equity work in highest-need regions alongside Regional Superintendents and regional senior leadership — guiding strategy, supporting key decisions, and assessing progress with the urgency and rigor the situation demands.
Interrogate root causes and recommend a clear, measurable, timebound course of action where we see persistent discrepancies in our outcomes.
Work with Equity Leads to build ongoing regional capacity and ensure that equity work continues with depth and consistency between direct engagements.
Cross-Functional Alignment
Drive cross-functional coordination across Schools, Operations, Data, Talent, and other functions to ensure a coherent, unified approach to equity across the network — preventing equity from being siloed into a single team or lane.
In partnership with the Chief Schools Officer and Chief of Staff, ensure that internal Schools Team systems — including data review processes, regional support allocations, and accommodations decisions — are consistent with the Foundation’s commitment to equity.
Collaborate with senior leaders across divisions on strategic planning, executive-level discussions, and network-wide alignment work where equity is a central consideration.
Leadership Development & Field Stewardship
Develop Equity Leads to support ongoing regional equity work — building their capacity to sustain and deepen the work between direct engagements and over time.
Support the development of anti-racist leadership and mindsets across KIPP Foundation teams; design and implement professional development opportunities for program staff with an emphasis on closing disparities and building racial equity awareness.
Model a culture of candor, learning, and accountability on equity within the KIPP Foundation — pairing rigorous analysis with the interpersonal depth that unlocks real change in systems and in people.
Represent KIPP externally on equity — partnering with sector peers, funders, and research organizations to build the knowledge base and advance the field.
Qualifications
Skills and Mindsets
Mission and Student Focus: Demonstrates passion and commitment to KIPP’s mission and possesses the desire and ability to uphold KIPP’s Core Values (Focus on Excellent Results, Collective Impact, and Courageous Action)
Self Management: Demonstrated record of setting and achieving ambitious goals for their departments in complex or ambiguous environment; uses data, research, and analysis to set a high bar of excellence for goal setting; effectively distributes and redistributes work among direct reports, teammates, and teams to optimizes goal attainments; effectively sets and fosters a culture that enables and celebrates teammates’ achievements and goals attainment.
Problem Solving: Takes calculated risks to test and implements correct, scalable solutions. Addresses the root of problems and removes obstacles from work. Understands how solutions may unearth other obstacles further downstream.
Data-Driven Actions and Decisions: Effectively uses data to shape teamwide decisions and the learning agenda or evaluation of a function or significant initiative. Able to generate, implement, and evaluate solutions with a focus on scalability and sustainability.
Communication and Change Management: Effectively articulates case for change to multiple functions, teams, and/or offices through clear and compelling presentations, tailoring communications and engagement approach for different audiences. Effectively translates vision into actionable plans among across team stakeholders; Champions KF and networkwide change with all stakeholders.
Collaboration: Identifies and leverages opportunities with both internal and external stakeholders to increase impact. Leads successful collaboration across functions and evolves plans to get strong results. Has the interpersonal, diplomatic, relationships building and communication skills to connect and compel teammates across different functions to collaborate effectively toward shared goals.
Experience and Qualifications
10+ years of progressive experience in equity, diversity, inclusion, organizational development, or related systems-level leadership work, ideally in K-12 education or complex nonprofit environments.
Proven record of designing and implementing equity-centered systems at scale — policy frameworks, practice guidelines, and measurement approaches that drive organizational accountability.
Demonstrated ability to advise senior executives on sensitive, complex, and contested issues; strong judgment about when to push, when to partner, and when to hold the line.
Strong fluency with data disaggregation and equity measurement — able to define what success looks like and drive organizational accountability against it.
Deep expertise in racial equity, diversity, and inclusion across adult workforce and student-facing practices.
Strong track record of navigating cross-functional and cross-regional stakeholder environments in high-trust, high-stakes conditions.
Prior practitioner experience in K-12 is strongly preferred (e.g., teacher, school leader, or equivalent role with direct student/family-facing accountability)
Additional Information
Work Conditions
Moderate Travel: 11-20% (20-40 days per year)
Full time, Exempt
Location
It is preferred, but not mandatory for this role to be based out of a KIPP Foundation office. This role has the option of working from a remote office full-time. KIPP Foundation offices are in NYC and Chicago.
Compensation and Benefits
In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, and relevant experience. The salary range for this position is $197,600-$236,500. In addition, KIPP Foundation provides a variety of benefits to employees, including:
25 holidays for + 18 days additional flexible PTO days (flexible PTO increases to 23 days for years 3 and 4 and to 28 days for years 5+).
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, discounted tickets to theme parks/attractions, backup care support for children and adults/elders, and our employee assistance program
Finance Security benefits include such as a 401K retirement plan with 4% match, employer-sponsored legal plans, life/disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts
KIPP Foundation embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities with whom we work and the world that’s around them. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.
