Vice President, Program - Tennessee

Blue Engine; Knoxville (TN); On-site; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Six weeks PTO

403(b) employer matching

Flexible work environment

Job summary

Blue Engine in Tennessee seeks a Vice President of Program to build and lead the statewide division, delivering measurable statewide implementation impact, building local capacity, and growing regional revenue.

Reporting to the Chief Product & People Officer, this leader will translate state priorities into a regional strategy, manage a distributed team, and cultivate partnerships with schools, LEAs, and funders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 8+ years of senior K–12 leadership experience.
• Experience leading statewide, multi-district implementation.
• Ability to translate state priorities into regional strategy.
• Strong data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

• Own Tennessee program implementation and impact; lead statewide partnership.
• Build and manage a Tennessee implementation team across regions.
• Generate sustainable revenue in Tennessee and surrounding region.
• Steward external relationships with state/LEA leaders and funders.
• Lead Tennessee divisional planning, budgeting, and cross-functional alignment.

Skills

Senior leadership

K-12 education

Strategic planning

Stakeholder engagement

Budget management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Title: Vice President, Program - Tennessee

Location: Tennessee or surrounding region (within commuting distance to TN); with up to 40% travel required statewide across TN's three Grand Divisions, and occasional travel to nearby regions.

Job Band: Level 5

Reports to: Meredith Pasake, Chief Product & People Officer

Start Date: October 2026 Preferred

Who We Are

Blue Engine is an education non-profit focused on ending the long-standing pattern of disproportionate student outcomes by shifting the paradigm of “typical teaching.” Blue Engine partners with schools and systems to elevate educators' mindsets and skills so all students can access and engage in grade-level learning in every lesson. We support educators in effectively teaching to learner variability by supporting the development of 1) inclusive mindsets & practices, 2) effective co‑teaching and educator collaboration, and 3) data‑driven teacher development systems. Our product offerings support school and systems leaders in system and school‑level planning and design, instructional leader development, and content‑driven teacher development.

The Role

The Vice President of Program will establish and lead a high‑performing Tennessee division that delivers measurable statewide implementation impact, develops local capacity, and generates regional revenue.

As Blue Engine launches its partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education as a statewide technical assistance provider, this leader will build the foundations for Blue Engine’s Tennessee work and lead statewide support for schools and school systems implementing effective RTI²‑A+B. The VP is accountable for executing this work successfully, including implementation quality, contractual performance, team capacity, and evidence of impact across Tennessee's diverse LEA contexts. The VP translates state priorities, school‑system needs, and Blue Engine's approach to instruction and educator development into a coherent regional strategy, then builds the people, systems, relationships, and operating discipline required to deliver it.

The VP also generates revenue in Tennessee and the surrounding region by cultivating relationships, identifying and shaping opportunities, and partnering with Blue Engine's Partnership Development team to move qualified opportunities toward close. This is a division‑leadership role: the VP manages a distributed implementation team, allocates staff and budget, represents Blue Engine externally, and contributes executive‑level perspective to organization‑wide decisions.

Primary Responsibilities And Outcomes

• 1)Own Tennessee programmatic implementation and impact | 30%
  • Set the vision and implementation strategy for Blue Engine's TN statewide partnership, aligning State priorities, contract commitments, LEA needs, and Blue Engine's product and impact objectives
  • Manage and/or execute the most complex and/or high‑stakes partnerships, consulting with leaders at the state and district level
  • Maintain executive accountability for the quality, timeliness, compliance, and impact of all contracted services, deliverables, reporting, and statewide coordination requirements
  • Ensure technical assistance builds sustainable LEA and school capacity rather than relying primarily on one‑time professional learning or Blue Engine delivery
  • Oversee a coherent service model spanning enabling‑conditions diagnostics, support planning, coaching, professional communities, consultation, resource development, and data‑based continuous improvement
  • Ensure implementation strengthens the connection among Tier I core instruction, Tier II and Tier III supports, academic and behavioral intervention, and access to rigorous grade‑level learning
  • Establish and monitor leading and lagging indicators of implementation quality, adult practice, system capacity, equitable access, and student outcomes, especially for students with disabilities
  • Use evidence to identify variation across Grand Divisions and LEAs, diagnose root causes, allocate support, and adjust strategy without lowering the bar for impact
  • Serve as the senior escalation point for high‑risk implementation challenges and make timely decisions about partner strategy, staffing, resources, and corrective action
• 2)Build and manage a high‑performing implementation team | 25%
  • Build, manage, develop, and retain a diverse, Tennessee‑connected implementation team with the instructional, systems, and relationship expertise required for statewide implementation
  • Build a management and quality‑assurance system that includes coaching observations, artifact review, calibration, stakeholder feedback, data review, and targeted professional development
  • Lead workforce planning across geography, expertise, caseload, and contract demand; make staffing assignments that protect service quality, staff sustainability, and financial health
  • Coach directors and managers through technical and adaptive challenges, including performance gaps, partner conflict, ambiguity, and changing state or district priorities
  • Manage the Tennessee division budget and oversee deployment of time, talent, contractors, and other resources against the highest‑impact priorities
• 3)Generate sustainable revenue in Tennessee and the surrounding region | 20%
  • Own an annual regional revenue goal, in partnership with Partnership Development and executive leadership
  • Develop and maintain a regional growth strategy grounded in Blue Engine's product strategy, evidence of impact, market demand, competitive landscape, delivery capacity, and mission fit
  • Build relationships with state, district, philanthropic, and ecosystem leaders who can become partners, funders, connectors, or champions of Blue Engine's work
  • Generate and qualify leads, shape opportunities, and contribute across the full sales process—from early discovery through proposals, pricing, presentations, and close
  • Translate implementation evidence and field insights into a compelling, credible case for investment without overpromising outcomes or creating unsustainable customization
  • Maintain a healthy pipeline and provide reliable forecasts, risk assessments, and next‑step recommendations to Partnership Development and executive leadership
• 4)Steward senior external relationships and Blue Engine's regional presence | 10%
  • Represent Blue Engine with TDOE, LEA leaders, funders, peer organizations, and regional stakeholders
  • Navigate complex political, institutional, and interpersonal dynamics across rural, suburban, and urban contexts and across lines of identity, role, and power
  • Represent Blue Engine at relevant state and regional convenings and position the organization as a thoughtful contributor to the fields of RTI/MTSS, inclusive instruction, and implementation support
  • Inform renewal and expansion decisions with evidence, relationship context, and strategic recommendations, in partnership with Partnership Development and executive leadership
• 5)Lead across Blue Engine | 15%
  • Lead Tennessee divisional planning and budget management and connect regional priorities to Blue Engine's organizational strategy and annual goals
  • Provide strategic input on decisions with product, people, financial, partnership, or enterprise implications
  • Partner across functions to translate patterns from Tennessee implementation into product improvements, implementation standards, organizational learning, and future growth strategy
  • Build a culture of accountability, learning, collaboration, and continuous improvement; give and receive candid feedback and address conflict directly and constructively

Core Responsibilities:

Level 5: Lead a division by setting strategy, managing people and resources, and driving impact across interconnected areas of work.

Required Experience And Capabilities

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Senior K–12 Leadership Experience: 8+ years of experience in K–12 education, including 4+ years in senior leadership roles with responsibility for complex implementation across multiple schools, districts, regions, and/or state‑level initiatives, including experience beyond a single‑school context
• Setting Vision & Direction: Demonstrated ability to analyze multiple forms of evidence, identify root causes and emerging needs, and use those insights to set a compelling vision, translate it into divisional strategy and priorities, and adjust direction as conditions change
• Allocating & Managing Resources: Demonstrated ability to strategically allocate staff, time, budget, and other resources across competing priorities while balancing impact, organizational capacity, and financial health
• Fostering Collaboration: Ability to build trust, navigate conflict, and create the conditions for effective collaboration across teams, functions, roles, and perspectives
• Workforce Planning: Ability to anticipate talent and capacity needs, align staffing and expertise to strategic priorities, and adapt workforce plans as needs evolve
• Building Healthy, High‑Performing Teams: Demonstrated success managing and developing staff, establishing clear expectations and accountability, and building distributed teams that deliver measurable results
• Organizational Ambassadorship: Track record of representing an organization credibly with senior external stakeholders, building influential relationships, and advancing organizational priorities through partnership and communication
• Functional Expertise: Deep knowledge of K–12 school and system implementation, with demonstrated expertise in RTI/MTSS, tiered academic and behavioral intervention, inclusive instruction, and/or special education. Strong understanding of the relationship between intervention and rigorous Tier I instruction and experience supporting diverse learners within grade‑level instructional environments
• Regional Growth & Partnership Development Experience: Experience generating revenue through business development, fundraising, or partnership development, including cultivating senior relationships and moving opportunities toward commitment

Compensation

This role sits in Job Level 5 within our compensation structure with a starting salary range of $150,000-$170,000. Blue Engine provides comprehensive benefits. Compensation for this role will depend on experience, demonstrated performance on core competencies, and alignment with internal equity. Blue Engine offers a comprehensive benefits plan (through JustWorks, a PEO), including employer‑paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, with most dependent costs subsidized. Other benefits include six weeks of paid time off, a 403(b) plan with employer matching, an FSA plan, commuter benefits, and a flexible work environment.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.