Position: Director, Family & Community Engagement

Campus: Home/Central Office (On-Site)

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

United Schools (United) is a nonprofit organization in Columbus, Ohio. After founding its first school in 2008, it has worked together with incredible leaders to open three more schools in the span of ten years. Each United campus is an open enrollment, public charter school that works diligently to close the opportunity gap in Columbus. Moreover, the mission of all United campuses is to transform lives and our communities through the power of education, while maintaining our vision: For every child, an open door. 

United currently operates two high-performing elementary schools (K-5) and two high-performing middle schools (6-8) that serve more than 900 students. We strive to provide students with a rigorous academic experience in a joyful learning environment, and we work hard to ensure that students of all levels grow and succeed by focusing on intentional student support and continual improvement. 

Position Description

United Schools is seeking a Director, Family & Community Engagement to lead the strategy and performance of its network-wide family-facing systems. This role oversees recruitment, enrollment, retention, attendance strategy, family engagement, and the development of student health and wellness access systems—including community partnerships that reduce barriers to attendance and persistence—across United’s four campuses.

The Director partners closely with School Directors and provides dotted-line supervision to campus-based Deans of Family & Community Engagement. This is a senior leadership role responsible for system design, capacity building, and measurable results.

Key responsibilities include:

Lead Network Strategy

• Design and execute the annual recruitment and retention strategy.
• Build clear pipelines from inquiry to enrollment to persistence.
• Develop exemplars and ensure alignment across campuses in messaging, outreach, and family experience.

Drive Performance

• Own network-level enrollment targets in collaboration with senior leadership.
• Monitor retention, mid-year withdrawals, and chronic absenteeism.
• Use data to identify risk early and stabilize performance.
• Reduce enrollment volatility and late-summer surprises.

Develop campus leaders

• Coach and support campus deans of family & community engagement.
• Build their capability in data use, outreach strategy, and execution.
• Partner with school directors to strengthen campus-level performance.

Strengthen Systems

• Standardize and continually improve recruitment, onboarding, and transition processes.
• Maintain enrollment dashboards and reporting systems.
• Lead targeted improvement efforts across campuses.

The Key Responsibilities are meant to be an illustrative but not exhaustive list representative of the types of work the director will lead and support.

What success looks like:

• Enrollment goals are met consistently.
• Retention improves year over year.
• Attendance systems are proactive and predictable.
• Campus DFCEs execute with clarity and confidence.
• Families experience professionalism, responsiveness, and support.

Joining Our Team

United Core Traits:

1. Mission-Driven. Team members believe deeply in the United mission: to transform lives and our communities through the power of education.
2. Growth Mindset. Team members believe in their ability, and the ability of all students, to grow and improve.
3. Relationship-Driven. Team members get proximate to students, families, and colleagues to develop authentic relationships that inform work in the classroom.
4. Conscientiousness. Team members are professional, reliable, diligent, and pay attention to detail. 
5. Emotionally Constant. Team members maintain a sense of calm while addressing a number of priorities.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 5+ years of leadership experience in education, enrollment, operations, or community engagement.
• Demonstrated success achieving measurable performance goals.
• Experience leading or coaching adults preferred.
• Fluency in Spanish, Somali, or Arabic is a plus.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strong strategic thinking, analytical, and creative problem-solving skills.
• Ability to shift between high-level strategy and detail-oriented work.
• Excellent project management skills and ability to manage priorities and work independently.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and storytelling ability.
• Ability to build strong relationships across diverse groups of internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong desire to work or existing experience working in collaborative and entrepreneurial environments where there is opportunity to set a vision and drive results in creative ways.
• Demonstrate a high level of professional maturity including emotional constancy in stressful situations.
• Has a keen self-awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses.
• Is open and committed to implementing frequent feedback from team members.
• Proficient using Google and Microsoft products especially spreadsheet applications.
• Experience running complex projects utilizing the science of improvement (preferred).

Terms of Employment

• Applications will be considered immediately on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
• This is a full-time position reporting to United’s Chief Operating Officer, John A. Dues. 
• Report times are typically Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., although some job-related tasks can be expected outside of these hours.
• Salary: The starting salary for a new Director with a Bachelor’s degree is $80,000. The starting salary for other applicants will depend on professional experience and education level.
• Benefits: 
  • Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability coverage 
  • Employees are eligible to participate in the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS) or the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio (SERS).
• All United campuses are Equal Opportunity Employers.