General Manager, Scholarship Programs

Primer; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Primer seeks a seasoned generalist to own growth and operations of the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit and Alabama Tax Credit programs, expanding Primer’s reach to working-class families. You’ll manage SGOs, coordinate across Bursar, Foundation, Legal, and Finance, and drive growth through paid acquisition, local marketing, and business development.

Starting as a one-person operation, you’ll work with policy, legal, and marketing teams across several states, setting funding timelines and

Qualifications

• Generalist with operations, marketing and external-facing work experience.

Responsibilities

• Own Primer's Federal SGO relationships: negotiate terms and set funding timelines.
• Liaise between SGO teams and Primer's internal teams (Bursar, Foundation, Legal, Finance).
• Launch and run Primer's in-house SGO growth engine: paid acquisition, landing pages, and creative.
• Run outreach to corporate prospects capable of utilizing state tax credits and grow donor networks.
• Own growth end-to-end, including annual targets, creatives, and contractors.

Job description

About Primer

Primer is a growing network of K-8 schools restoring the timeless foundations of American education. Inspired by the original teaching primers that shaped a nation of readers, thinkers, and builders, our schools begin with what has always worked, and build for what lies ahead. Close-knit learning environments. Skilled educators. A culture that takes kids seriously as learners and leaders.

Primers shaped the first 200 years of American children. Primer will ready them for the next.

About the role

You’ll own the growth and operations of our work with two nascent programs - the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program and the Alabama School Choice Tax Credit. - that unlock access to Primer for thousands of working-class families.

One of our operating principles is 'Access is the constraint'. There are plenty of good schools in the US - there are very few that are truly accessible to the hard-working American families that are increasingly being left behind. These new tax credit programs present a tremendous opportunity to finally change that. The Federal program launches January 2027 and Alabama is live now - which means everything you test in Alabama this year becomes the playbook for Federal in January (and other state programs as we expand).

Your goal is simple: grow these programs as quickly as possible through every available channel - paid acquisition, local marketing, business developments (and many more ideas we haven't thought of yet). You’ll own Primer’s relationship with both national and state tax-credit Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) end to end: negotiating final terms, setting state-by-state funding amounts and timelines, and acting as the bridge between their teams and Primer’s internal teams (Bursar, Foundation). In Alabama, you’ll drive corporate donors to state SGO partners - including outreach to corporate prospects who can utilize significant state income tax credits ($1m+) - and build individual donor growth through paid acquisition and Primer’s network.

This will likely be the hardest work of your life. You will work across many states, partner closely with Primer’s policy, legal, and marketing teams, and encounter many unknowns. But if you succeed, you will have built an engine that unlocks a trajectory-changing education for the next generation.

Responsibilities

Federal Tax Credit Programs

• Own Primer's Federal SGO relationships: negotiate final terms, set by-state funding amounts, establish timelines, and grow the relationship over time.
• Liaise between SGO teams and Primer's internal teams (Bursar, Foundation, Legal, Finance).
• Launch and run Primer's in-house SGO growth engine: paid acquisition, landing pages, and creative.

Alabama Tax Credit Programs

• Run outreach to corporate prospects capable of utilizing $1M+/yr in state income tax credits, sourcing through Primer's Alabama network.
• Build individual donor growth through paid acquisition and Primer's network.
• Own growth end-to-end, including annual targets, creatives, and contractors.

What we're looking for

• A true, seasoned generalist who executes across operations, marketing, and external-facing work. You move fluidly between negotiating with a partner, drafting creative concepts for a paid campaign, and analyzing retention cohorts.
• You've owned a number before. You've been measured on dollars generated, deals closed, or revenue grown - and you can walk us through exactly how you did it.
• Comfort negotiating with external partners.
• Experience running or directing paid acquisition - you don't need to run the ads yourself, but you need to know what a well-performing paid acquisition channel looks like.
• Steep slope. This workstream could 10x in 24 months. We're hiring for where you'll be in year four, not just day one.
• You feel the mission. These programs unlock education options for the millions of kids being left behind. If that doesn't move you, the grind won't be worth it.

Why this role may not be a fit

• You're a specialist. If you're world-class at performance marketing but uncomfortable on a call with a corporate partner - or vice versa.
• You need a playbook. The Federal program doesn't exist yet. You're writing it.
• You want to manage a team on day one. You'll start as a team of one with contractors.
• You're uncomfortable being judged on a number. Your success metric is dollars generated.

Primer is a mission-first company. We believe our mission is the highest-leverage way we can create positive change. In service of that, we keep work centered on mission execution and avoid social or political activism at work that's unrelated to the mission.