Manager, Event Design & Operations

About the Organization 

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of tuition-free public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 278 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and nearly 190,000 students and alumni. 

Our mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. 

The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP public charter schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation helps to develop outstanding educators to lead KIPP schools; provides tools and resources for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations. 

About Our Values: 

Excellent Results for Students: We value results over effort and know that our work is not finished until all students thrive. We maintain high expectations for self, team, and students. We drive outcomes by operating with agility, removing barriers, differentiating support, and prioritizing student-centered solutions—especially for those at the margins. 

Collective Impact: We are one team. We win together. We embody a one-team mindset by working collaboratively across teams, aligning goals, and leveraging the strengths of all teammates. We build trust-based relationships and ensure inclusive decision-making by engaging those closest to the work. We provide clarity through simple, repeatable systems and goals that enable transformational outcomes. 

Courageous Action: Our belief in what we can achieve is unwavering, fueling our optimism and commitment to overcome any challenge. We demonstrate an unwavering belief in students' potential and a commitment to addressing systemic inequities. We approach challenges with resilience, a solutions-focused mindset, and adaptability. We foster a psychologically safe environment centered on trust and accountability where feedback is encouraged. We leverage data to reflect on progress, own setbacks, celebrate successes, and continuously improve to maximize impact. 

About The Position 

We are seeking a highly organized and mission-driven Event Design and Operations (EDO) Manager. This full-time, exempt position reports to the Director of Event Design and Operations and works in close collaboration with the Schools Team.  The EDO manager is responsible for achieving at least a 90% satisfaction rate on logistics from attendees, securing positive feedback from Foundation programming partners on mid-year surveys regarding planning efficiency and communication, and ensuring all events are delivered on time and within budget, and strengthening a shared sense of ownership, across the network, for all student outcomes. The ideal candidate is passionate about K–12 public education and thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. They bring strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills, and are comfortable managing complex projects and engaging with high-level stakeholders. Experience with event planning and cross-functional coordination is essential.  The EDO manager is part of the Event Design and Operations (EDO) team, which provides comprehensive planning and execution support for events—whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid—across multiple teams. Our mission is to ensure consistent, high-quality event delivery from start to finish. As a detail-oriented and collaborative team, EDO partners closely with internal stakeholders to offer strategic guidance and manage logistics, communications, financial processes, and program evaluation for key events. 

Responsibilities 

1. Strategic Planning & Program Design Partnership 

• Lead the planning and execution of high-impact KIPP events and programs with a commitment to excellence. 

• Collaborate with programming directors to co-create the vision, annual strategy, and goals for cohort-specific learning experiences. 

• Develop detailed project plans aligned with programming leads’ objectives. 

• Set agendas and lead planning calls to identify gaps, align on program strategy, and ensure cohesion across workstreams. 

• Facilitate and support cohort team planning meetings to drive clarity and execution. 

• Provide thought partnership to session designers and hold stakeholders accountable to timelines and deliverables. 

2. Event Operations, Logistics & Communications 

• Manage all aspects of event logistics including set-up, registration, session execution, on-site support, off-site activities, and event break-down. 

• Lead communications for each event, including programming agendas, logistical details, instructor and participant communications, and supporting documents (e.g., pre-reads, handouts, binders). 

• Oversee coordination with external vendors (hotels, catering, transportation, etc.), ensuring services are contracted, executed smoothly, and aligned with event needs. 

• Review, edit, and produce high-quality event materials. 

• Manage virtual programming components such as webinars, conference calls, and engagement on KIPP Share. 

• Print, pack, and ship instructionally-related materials as needed. 

3. Budget, Evaluation & Knowledge Management 

• Lead financial planning and monitoring processes including budget setting, expense tracking, invoice coding, and contract processing for programming-related activities. 

• Create and distribute post-event evaluations, including participant, instructor, and internal team surveys. 

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative data analysis to generate insights that inform program improvement. 

• Participate in after-action reviews and support team learning. 

• Maintain systems for internal knowledge and resource management. 

• Support team operations including supplies, materials inventory, and special projects as needed. 

Skills and Mindsets 

• Mission and Student Focus: Demonstrates passion and commitment to KIPP’s mission and possesses the desire and ability to uphold KIPP’s core values (Focus on Excellent Results, Collective Impact, and Courageous Action)  

• Achievement & Outcomes Orientation: Demonstrated record of co-creating ambitious goals with their managers – and driving toward desired outcomes; Effectively monitors progress toward goals for multiple workstreams; Leverages understanding of an organization’s operating model, structure, and core operational process to effectively drive work to achieve goals; effectively works through direct reports and peers to follow through on commitments, ensuring others do the same. 

• Effective Teaming & Stakeholder Management: Leads successful stakeholder management, accounting for varied perspectives when gathering feedback; builds coalition by prioritizing end-user experiences, building trusting relationships, and effective communications; able to identify and remove barriers to working across teams; Maintains a positive, service-oriented mindset; Demonstrated professional finesse that will allow you to successfully handle the unique and ever evolving needs of our facilitators (many of whom are high profile) and attendees.  

• Effective Work Management: Effectively drives work they own through clear action planning. Manages time effectively around competing priorities.  Skilled in creating and executing project plans through partnership with stakeholders and effective delegation to achieve intended results on time. Skilled in knowledge management.  Detail oriented, execution focused and an ability to see the big picture while managing every detail  

• Strategic Decision Making and Agile Problem Solving: Effectively uses data to inform work streams, especially to handle the curveballs and the unknown; accurately synthesizes key findings from data analyses and can effectively communicate the data synthesis to inform actions, decisions, and solutions. 

• Continuous Learning: Engages in the work of personal development at working, knowing that personal development is ongoing and vital to their personal and professional success; hold themselves accountable to evolving, growing, learning and unlearning in ways that improve results for students, adults, and the larger community.  

Experience and Qualifications 

• Education – Bachelor’s degree preferred but not required  

• 3-5 years of experience managing in-person and/or virtual events preferred.  

• Experience in customer service role preferred.     

• Previous project management experience preferred.  

• Proficiency with Survey Monkey, Qualtrics, Cvent, Zoom and Microsoft Office Suite.  

Work Conditions 

• Full-time, Exempt position     

• Travel requirements: up to 30%     

• May require occasional heavy lifting (up to 50lbs) or physical setup of materials and equipment for events or programming. 

• Position includes some evening or weekend work, as determined by the nature of the role (e.g., evening events, weekend conferences, or special projects). 

• Flexibility in scheduling is expected to meet programmatic or event-related needs outside standard business hours. 

Location 

It is preferred, but not mandatory for this role to be based out of a KIPP Foundation office. This role has the option of working from a remote office full-time. KIPP Foundation offices are in NYC and Chicago. 

Compensation and Benefits 

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, and relevant experience. The salary range for this position is $80,000-$95,500. In addition, KIPP Foundation provides a variety of benefits to employees, including:  

• 25 holidays for + 18 days additional flexible PTO days (flexible PTO increases to 23 days for years 3 and 4 and to 28 days for years 5+). 

• 100% paid parental leave 

• 100% coverage of the premium for employee and 75% for employee + family’s medical/dental/vision plans. 

• Wellness benefits such as fitness reimbursements, discounted tickets to theme parks/attractions, backup care support for children and adults/elders, and our employee assistance program 

• Finance Security benefits include such as a 401K retirement plan with 4% match, employer-sponsored legal plans, life/disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts 

KIPP Foundation embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities with whom we work and the world that’s around them. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.