Managing Director of Schools

About Ascend

Ascend is a network of high-performing public charter schools serving students across Brooklyn. Our mission is to ensure that all students—regardless of background—have access to an education that empowers them to unlock their full potential, achieve academic excellence, and pursue a future of boundless opportunity. We cultivate rigorous learning environments where students develop critical thinking skills, confidence, and a lifelong love of learning.

At Ascend, educational equity is a driving force. We are committed to closing the achievement gap by delivering high-quality instruction, fostering a culture of high expectations, and equipping every student with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in college and beyond. Through this unwavering commitment, we prepare students not only to succeed academically but to seize every opportunity that lies ahead.

About the Role

The Managing Director of Schools (MD) is a results-driven, execution-focused instructional leader responsible for the performance, preparedness, and leadership development of a portfolio of Ascend schools. Reporting to the Senior Managing Director of Schools, MDs are key stewards in translating Ascend’s instructional, operational, and cultural vision into consistent, high-quality execution at the school level.

MDs ensure each school in their portfolio is launch-ready, tightly run, and fully aligned with Ascend’s model and standards. They are directly accountable for coaching and developing principals, supporting them to lead rigorous instruction, manage strong operational systems, and achieve ambitious student outcomes. They drive coherence across schools by using data to inform decisions, identify trends, and support school leaders in meeting clearly defined performance benchmarks.

MDs ensure instructional and culture systems are backward-planned from rigorous academic expectations and grounded in continuous improvement. They assess and monitor classroom practice and academic implementation, ensuring alignment with Ascend’s vision for excellence. They help principals cultivate school-wide cultures of high expectations, where every student has access to standards-aligned, high-quality instruction. Through targeted coaching, MDs build principal capacity in instructional leadership and ensure daily operations support student achievement.

MDs are also responsible for ensuring that every school in their portfolio operates consistently and faithfully to the Ascend model. They work in close collaboration with fellow MDs to calibrate implementation, align expectations, and cross-reference progress, ensuring all Ascend schools deliver a cohesive and high-quality experience for students, staff, and families, regardless of location or grade band.They play a critical role in helping principals create and maintain optimal learning environments, spaces that are focused, joyful, and free from disruption, distraction, or dysfunction. MDs act swiftly to remove barriers to learning and serve as advocates for the systems, structures, and supports that enable schools to thrive.

As cross-functional leaders, MDs collaborate across academic, operations, talent, and data teams to proactively address risks and leverage opportunities to optimize instruction, school culture, and operational execution. They lead with urgency and precision to ensure strong school readiness and accelerate student learning and achievement across their portfolio.

This is a compelling opportunity for a dynamic leader to shape the quality and consistency of schools across a growing network, ensuring every student receives the excellent education they need to access boundless opportunities in their future.

Responsibilities

Instructional Leadership

• Assess and monitor instructional practices across the portfolio of schools to ensure alignment with Ascend’s vision of rigorous education, high expectations, and strong student outcomes.
• Hold principals accountable for cultivating a school-wide academic culture where rigorous instruction is the norm and student learning is accelerated through thoughtful planning, effective execution, and high-quality teaching.
• Ensure that curriculum implementation, lesson planning, assessment practices, and classroom instruction reflect a consistent commitment to academic excellence.
• Support school leaders in partnering with student services and special education teams to ensure all students, including those with exceptionalities, receive the instructional access, scaffolds, and support needed to succeed in rigorous academic environments.
• Collaborate with the Chief Schools Officer and other leaders to design and facilitate annual professional development, including summer institutes and network-wide training, that strengthens instructional leadership and classroom practice across schools.

Strategic Leadership

• Provide direct coaching, development, and evaluation of school principals to ensure they lead with clarity, strategic decision-making, and strong operational oversight.
• Monitor school health by analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, including student achievement, staff culture, and operational performance, and deliver responsive support or intervention to build principal capacity.
• Ensure every school in the portfolio is fully staffed, launch-ready, and executing Ascend’s school model with fidelity across academics, operations, and culture.
• Drive data-informed school improvement planning by guiding principals to backward-plan from student outcomes and continuously raise the bar for performance.
• Partner with the Senior Managing Director of Schools and executive leaders to evolve and refine the execution of Ascend’s school model, ensuring it is grounded in evidence and responsive to the real-time needs of students, staff, and school communities.

Leadership Pipeline and Team Development

• Work alongside school principals to identify, develop, and coach internal candidates for school leadership roles and provide future leaders with guidance and feedback
• Guide principals in the recruitment, development, and performance management of their leadership teams, including assistant principals and instructional coaches.
• Serve as a thought partner to principals and network leaders on talent development strategy, succession planning, and leadership transitions.
• Establish, manage, and develop strong peer relationships and teams that collaborate, communicate, and work together for Ascend students and its community.
• Foster and facilitate positive relationships and collaboration with network and school-based leaders to advance efforts that support achievement for all students and to advance Ascend’s mission and goals.
• Strengthen network-wide programs and practices through the utilization of feedback from school and network leaders, staff, students, families, and the community.

Cross-functional Collaboration and Organizational Alignment

• Serve as a key connector between school operations and network strategy, ensuring alignment between the day-to-day needs of schools and the systems, tools, and supports developed at the network level.
• Partner closely with academic, operations, talent, and data teams to surface needs from the field and proactively design solutions that remove barriers to school performance.
• Translate school-based realities to the broader network leadership team, contributing insight and recommendations in senior-level decision-making spaces.
• Leverage feedback from principals, staff, families, and students to inform and strengthen network-wide policies, practices, and resource allocation.
• Intervene swiftly when school conditions, staff dynamics, or operational breakdowns hinder student learning or staff effectiveness.
• Champion high expectations and professional norms that foster strong staff culture, team cohesion, and community partnerships at the school level.

Equity, Judgment, and Data-Informed Decision Making

• Use data and observation to diagnose challenges and design school-level supports that address gaps in instruction, school climate, and operations.
• Make timely, informed decisions that balance urgency and sustainability, always centering what’s best for students and aligned with Ascend’s values.
• Apply a lens of equity and inclusion to all leadership practices, ensuring that systems, supports, and outcomes reflect Ascend’s commitment to access and excellence for all students.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, with an advanced degree preferred
• A minimum of four years of experience as a high-performing principal in a successful school system
• Extensive expertise in teaching, learning, and school leadership across elementary, middle, or high school levels, with a proven track record of designing and implementing effective instructional strategies that lead to measurable improvements in student academic outcomes, as evidenced by internal and external assessments.
• Demonstrated success in driving school-wide academic excellence, accelerating student growth, and closing opportunity gaps, ensuring students of all backgrounds achieve high levels.
• Brings a future-thinking and strategic approach to sustaining both academic experience as students progress through each grade band, focusing on coherence and long-term academic outcomes.
• Proven experience designing and executing talent development strategies, delivering high-impact professional learning, and cultivating a culture of continuous growth and instructional excellence.
• Deep expertise in analyzing student performance data and applying evidence-based strategies to enhance teaching, curriculum alignment, and network-wide practices, ensuring sustained academic success.
• Exercises strong judgment in decision-making, balancing data-driven insights with students, educators, and communities.
• Proven ability to manage through influence and partner with diverse staff, motivating and guiding leaders, particularly in complex school settings.
• Proven experience in school design, operations, and strategic resource management, identifying best practices and scaling them to ensure efficient, high-impact schools focused on student achievement and instructional excellence.