Executive Director of Schools

Rocky Mountain Prep; Denver (CO); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

5 Weeks of Paid Holidays

Comprehensive Health Insurance

PERA retirement

Job summary

Rocky Mountain Prep is seeking an Executive Director of Schools to train, coach, and monitor principals, driving strong outcomes across our network. You will build principal skills and mindsets to improve schools and deliver results, reporting to the Chief Achievement Officer and aligning with the Big Five goals.

You will lead management cycles, use data-driven action, advocate for schools, and coordinate network resources to ensure equity and instructional leadership across campuses.

Qualifications

• Minimum of three years as a principal with a record of results: documented gains in student achievement and school performance, strong attendance, and staff retention.
• Proven ability to coach adults to proficiency in walkthroughs, lesson rehearsal, and student work analysis.
• Strong data analysis skills and a record of building and managing systems that change practice and drive results across multiple schools or teams.
• Willingness to work an 80/20 schedule, with most of your time in schools.
• Master’s degree in educational leadership or a related field preferred.
• We use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.

Responsibilities

• Establish a trusting partnership with each principal as their manager and coach: set clear expectations for the principal role and the partnership, and create space for consistent, timely two-way feedback with candor and care.
• Execute the development and management cycle: hold principals accountable to the bar, monitor progress, retain and promote high performers, and develop low performers or, when needed, manage them out with dignity.
• Lead effective one-on-ones: co-create the agenda, use most of the time to improve principals’ skills and school outcomes, celebrate successes, and plan concrete action steps with a way to monitor follow-through and impact.
• Execute coaching cycles on walkthroughs, lesson rehearsal, and student work analysis meetings: align on criteria for success, observe, create space for reflection, give targeted feedback, model and practice, and co-create bite-sized action steps with built-in accountability.
• Diagnose school and leader performance against a bar of excellence using quantitative and qualitative data, identify root causes, and connect schoolwide gaps to leader performance gaps.
• Create leader coaching plans: set SMARTIE goals from the diagnosis, build a time-bound plan with clear benchmarks, and invest the principal in it.
• Monitor data across the portfolio, adjust coaching plans to increase support where needed, and manage principals to outcomes with consistent feedback and performance conversations.
• Elevate principals’ perspectives and voices in network decisions, and protect their time for instructional leadership and driving outcomes.
• Build collaborative working relationships with network teams, and bring in the Academic Team and other experts to solve problems and remove barriers to student learning.
• Coordinate network resources (people, materials, funds) to schools equitably based on each school’s strengths and trends, and give input on network priorities and systems.
• Set a vision and norms for the principal community aligned to student outcomes, and foster collaboration across schools: create a safe space for candid conversation, celebrate successes, and use data to spread exemplary practices.
• Lead effective principal PD: use data to prioritize the development needs, build in practice to mastery, and align coaching cycles and data gathering with PD topics so follow-through is accountable.
• Analyze portfolio-wide data at critical points of the year, triangulate sources, and identify the highest-leverage focus areas for each school and principal.
• Create monthly priority plans with your top priorities, actions, and share of time, and share them with principals. Build a weekly schedule focused on time in schools, differentiated by school and leader need.
• Pivot to provide on-the-ground support during moments of crisis, then work with principals to prevent repeat crises.

Skills

Principal leadership

Coaching adults

Data analysis

Time management

Employee development

Education

Master’s degree in educational leadership

Job description

Location: Network Support Team (NST) positions are primarily in person, with team members expected to work on-site 80% of the week at the NST office or one of our Rocky Mountain Prep campuses, based on the needs of their role and the organization. Team members may work remotely up to 20% of the week. This structure keeps our NST team closely connected to the staff, students, families, and communities we serve while allowing for limited flexibility to work remotely.

The RMP Promise

Rocky Mountain Prep is a movement of educators, families, scholars, and advocates committed to changing public education in Colorado by democratizing college access for historically marginalized students and families. We operate twelve college-preparatory schools serving students from early childhood through twelfth grade, and we are fundamentally a world-class learning organization that invests deeply in every educator who joins us. Teachers engage in ongoing coaching and professional development, supported by clear expectations, transparent feedback, and opportunities to strengthen their craft and advance along individualized career pathways grounded in our PEAK values. Rooted in a culture of rigor and love, RMP promises to coach, develop, and champion every team member so they can do their best work and grow as professionals, people, and leaders.

RMP’s Big Five Goals

Every RMP team member plays a role in advancing our shared goals for student success and organizational strength. Our Big Five Goals establish the key outcomes we are working toward together across our schools and network:

1. Student Achievement: 60% average proficiency on CMAS & PSAT by Spring 2027; zero schools rated Orange or Red on the 2027–28 Colorado School Performance Framework
2. Financial Sustainability: 5,100 students enrolled, as measured by October Count; $4MM in total philanthropic gifts during the 2026–27 school year
3. Parent Satisfaction: 90% regular attendance; no more than 10% chronic absenteeism
4. Staff Engagement & Enablement: 75% annual staff retention from July 2026 to July 2027
5. Student Persistence — Health & Wellness: 90% year-over-year student persistence from September 2026 to September 2027

Each team member contributes to these goals through their role and collaboration across RMP.

About the Role

The Executive Director of Schools trains, coaches, manages, and monitors principals so they can drive school outcomes. Your job is to build principals’ skills and mindsets so they can improve their schools and deliver strong results. You are accountable for the Big Five across your portfolio, and you work in schools, not around them.

You report to the Chief Achievement Officer, who sets the bar for the role, holds you accountable for portfolio results, observes you in the field, and coaches you against the five core skills below.

Executive Director of Schools at Rocky Mountain Prep will...

Lead management and coaching cycles

• Establish a trusting partnership with each principal as their manager and coach: set clear expectations for the principal role and the partnership, and create space for consistent, timely two-way feedback with candor and care.
• Execute the development and management cycle: hold principals accountable to the bar, monitor progress, retain and promote high performers, and develop low performers or, when needed, manage them out with dignity.
• Lead effective one-on-ones: co-create the agenda, use most of the time to improve principals’ skills and school outcomes, celebrate successes, and plan concrete action steps with a way to monitor follow-through and impact.
• Execute coaching cycles on walkthroughs, lesson rehearsal, and student work analysis meetings: align on criteria for success, observe, create space for reflection, give targeted feedback, model and practice, and co-create bite-sized action steps with built-in accountability.

Use data-driven action cycles

• Diagnose school and leader performance against a bar of excellence using quantitative and qualitative data, identify root causes, and connect schoolwide gaps to leader performance gaps.
• Create leader coaching plans: set SMARTIE goals from the diagnosis, build a time-bound plan with clear benchmarks, and invest the principal in it.
• Monitor data across the portfolio, adjust coaching plans to increase support where needed, and manage principals to outcomes with consistent feedback and performance conversations.

Advocate for schools and drive network systems

• Elevate principals’ perspectives and voices in network decisions, and protect their time for instructional leadership and driving outcomes.
• Build collaborative working relationships with network teams, and bring in the Academic Team and other experts to solve problems and remove barriers to student learning.
• Coordinate network resources (people, materials, funds) to schools equitably based on each school’s strengths and trends, and give input on network priorities and systems.

Facilitate the principal learning community

• Set a vision and norms for the principal community aligned to student outcomes, and foster collaboration across schools: create a safe space for candid conversation, celebrate successes, and use data to spread exemplary practices.
• Lead effective principal PD: use data to prioritize the development needs, build in practice to mastery, and align coaching cycles and data gathering with PD topics so follow-through is accountable.

Invest time in high-impact areas

• Analyze portfolio-wide data at critical points of the year, triangulate sources, and identify the highest-leverage focus areas for each school and principal.
• Create monthly priority plans with your top priorities, actions, and share of time, and share them with principals. Build a weekly schedule focused on time in schools, differentiated by school and leader need.
• Pivot to provide on-the-ground support during moments of crisis, then work with principals to prevent repeat crises.

Requirements

• Minimum of three years as a principal with a record of results: documented gains in student achievement and school performance, strong attendance, and staff retention.
• Proven ability to coach adults to proficiency in walkthroughs, lesson rehearsal, and student work analysis.
• Strong data analysis skills and a record of building and managing systems that change practice and drive results across multiple schools or teams.
• Willingness to work an 80/20 schedule, with most of your time in schools.
• Master’s degree in educational leadership or a related field preferred.
• We use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.

Salary

This is a full-time position with a salary range of $140,000 to $190,000, based on experience and qualifications.

Rocky Mountain Prep uses a transparent compensation structure designed to ensure consistency and equity across our organization. Salaries are determined using an established compensation ladder that considers comparable years of experience and other role-specific criteria. Because compensation is set through this standardized process, salaries are not individually negotiated.

Benefits

At Rocky Mountain Prep, taking care of our team is essential to building joyful, academically excellent schools. We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Paid Time Off – including vacation, personal, and sick days
• 5 Weeks of Paid Organizational Holidays – including Winter and Summer breaks
• Comprehensive Health Insurance – medical, dental, and vision coverage, with 100% of medical coverage for employee-only plans.
• Retirement Through PERA – Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado
• Paid Leave of Absence Options – including parental, medical, and disability leave
• Mental Health & Wellness Support – to help you thrive personally and professionally
• Pre-Tax Accounts – flexible spending accounts (FSA), dependent care accounts, and health savings accounts (HSA)

*A detailed list of benefits is here.

Why RMP?

At Rocky Mountain Prep, you won’t just find a workplace, you’ll find a movement grounded in love, excellence, and equity. We believe that every child deserves access to a world-class education and that every adult deserves the coaching, care, and opportunity to grow while delivering it. High expectations and deep belonging define our culture: we celebrate diversity as a source of strength and push one another to create classrooms and teams where everyone can thrive. You’ll be part of a joyful, mission-driven community that balances data with heart, rigor with grace, and ambition with humility. At RMP, we cultivate the curiosity, confidence, and character that fuel lifelong learning and meaningful leadership.

Demonstrate Eligibility to Work in the United States

All employees must verify their identity and eligibility to work in the United States at the time of hire. Rocky Mountain Prep does not sponsor visas at this time. RMP is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants of all backgrounds.

Join our movement to transform public education in Colorado and prepare every student for college and beyond.