Deputy Director II, External Affairs

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION AND THE OPPORTUNITY

EdTrust-West seeks its first Deputy Director II of External Affairs in its Oakland office. The Deputy Director will join a staff committed to fulfilling the mission of closing educational opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and those from low-income backgrounds.

The Deputy Director, External Affairs works closely with the Executive Director to set the vision and strategic direction for EdTrust-West’s advocacy agenda to realize meaningful policy wins at the state and local levels. The Deputy Director will also be a key leader for the organization and will serve as a participating member of the Executive Group (EG) at EdTrust-West. Managing four critical teams and advocacy functions — Communications, Partnerships & Engagement, Greater Los Angeles, and Educator Engagement team — the Deputy Director will drive the above-mentioned functional initiatives from conception to implementation, ensuring coordination and collaboration across teams, managing people and projects, coaching team leaders, and supporting continuous improvement and results.

Through strong internal leadership, vision setting, processes, and collaboration, the Deputy Director will lead the development of and hold accountability for the success and impact of program priorities and related campaigns.

EdTrust is committed to advancing policies and practices to dismantle the racial and economic barriers embedded in the U.S. education system. Through our research and advocacy, Ed Trust improves equity in education from preschool through college, engages diverse communities dedicated to equity and justice, and increases political and public will to build an education system where all students will thrive.

This role, available immediately in our Oakland office, is eligible for telework up to 3 days a week per our current policy. The Deputy Director of External Affairs reports to the Executive Director and will supervise a mid‑sized, multi‑layered team.

The responsibilities and objectives for this role include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Serve as a key member of the Executive Group and Management Group, partnering with the Executive Director in organization‑wide strategic and operational projects; this includes collaboration around the annual work plan and budget, monitoring progress towards team and team members’ goals, coordinating team professional development by developing and making known key metrics to assess the mission‑impact of our efforts
• Center EdTrust-West’s strategic plan as the north star for the organization’s work and develop systems and methods for measuring and regularly evaluating impact and progress for the outlined advocacy functions
• Collaborate with the Executive Director to set and execute the organization’s annual priorities and goals, especially strategizing and operationalizing the external affairs‑focused positioning, programmatic, and campaign aspects of the work
• In partnership with functional team directors and other organizational leaders, guide the vision and strategy for the communications, partnership & engagement, Greater Los Angeles, and educator engagement teams
• Drive alignment across the organization – with special attention to a unified external affairs strategy and messaging to ensure that programmatic, regional, and campaign work is coordinated internally and externally
• Ensure that external affairs engagements cultivate new and sustain existing partnerships and that partner feedback informs the organization’s strategic plan, annual work planning, ongoing advocacy, and messaging externally
• Facilitate and lead cross‑functional team meetings that are specific to key external affairs and advocacy initiatives, regularly aligning and troubleshooting with other organizational leaders
• Coach staff – including direct and indirect reports – on an ongoing basis to understand our external affairs function, key strategic and tactics, and effectively develop and execute impactful, coordinated strategies that drive our external affairs agenda forward
• Lead the ongoing evaluation of external…