Senior Director, Communications

About the Organization

KIPP Public Schools is a nationwide network of tuition-free public charter schools serving nearly 210,000 students and alumni across 279 schools, with nearly 16,500 educators. The network exists to prepare students with the confidence and skills to shape their own futures, support their communities, and contribute to a more just world.

The broader mission is to partner with families and communities to create joyful, academically strong schools that equip students for college, career, and life beyond. The long-term vision is for every child to grow up free to build the future they want for themselves and their communities.

The KIPP Foundation is the nonprofit support organization behind the network. It helps develop exceptional educators, provides tools and resources for strong teaching and learning, encourages innovation, and shares ideas and practices across KIPP and other public education organizations.

Values

The organization’s culture is grounded in three core values: delivering excellent outcomes for students, working as one team for collective impact, and taking courageous action to drive change. These values emphasize high expectations, collaboration, trust, data-informed improvement, and a strong commitment to addressing inequity.

About the Role

The Senior Director of Communications is responsible for setting and carrying out the communications strategy for KIPP Foundation across both internal and external audiences. The role covers earned media, executive communications, issues management, and internal communications, with the goal of ensuring KIPP’s message is clear, aligned, and influential nationwide.

This leader works closely with the Office of the CEO, senior leadership, and regional teams to align priorities, strengthen the brand, and support a consistent voice across the network. The role manages one direct report and is part of the Marketing and Communications team, reporting to the VP of Marketing and Communications.

Responsibilities

• Build and execute a national earned media strategy tied to KIPP’s annual storytelling priorities, securing prominent national and local coverage across television, print, and digital channels.
• Advise senior leaders on executive messaging, speaking opportunities, and media engagement, including partners in the Office of the CEO, Development, and key program leadership.
• Deepen coordination with regional communications leaders to align local storytelling with national communications goals.
• Identify, shape, and promote regional stories that highlight progress on One KIPP priorities for use in campaigns, speeches, newsletters, announcements, and social content.
• Create external communication plans for new initiatives and partnerships, including press releases and adaptable regional press release materials.
• Work with digital marketing teams to extend earned media, executive messaging, and editorial content through paid media, social channels, the website, and email.
• Act as a spokesperson for the KIPP network when needed.
• Track media coverage, assess reputation risks and opportunities, and guide leadership and regional teams based on findings.
• Provide media training, message coaching, and talking points to Foundation leaders, network leadership, and regional communications staff.
• Maintain and expand media contact lists for proactive outreach, along with a list of validators such as teachers, alumni, and families.
• Lead internal communications so regional and Foundation leaders stay informed, aligned, and connected to organizational priorities.
• Partner across the Foundation to deliver clear and consistent messages to internal network audiences.
• Manage core internal communication channels and key moments such as leadership updates, network-wide announcements, and major organizational messages.
• Design and implement the crisis communications approach, bringing in Foundation and regional stakeholders to ensure fast, coordinated, and clear execution.
• Help strengthen regional readiness by training communications leads to localize and use the crisis protocol effectively.
• Support publication of responses to current events across channels such as email, social media, the website, and the blog.
• Protect the organization’s reputation by advising regions through sensitive situations and helping drive balanced, accurate, and constructive coverage.
• Identify reputational risks early and recommend mitigation strategies and preparedness steps across the network.
• Supervise and develop one direct report by setting priorities, goals, and performance expectations.
• Create systems and workflows that improve execution across the communications function.
• Build a collaborative, accountable, high-performing team culture focused on continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Strong commitment to KIPP’s mission and values, including a focus on student outcomes, collaboration, and courageous problem-solving.
• Ability to define and manage complex work with clear plans, adaptable execution, and organized knowledge management systems.
• Proven record of setting ambitious goals, making progress consistently, and helping teammates strengthen their skills and judgment.
• Comfort using data to choose the right metrics, monitor progress, solve issues, and guide decisions.
• Ability to communicate change clearly, adapt messaging for different audiences, and build support for action across teams.
• Strong interpersonal, diplomatic, and relationship-building skills with the ability to work effectively across diverse stakeholders.
• Capability to coach, manage performance, and distribute work thoughtfully based on team skills and capacity.
• At least 8 to 10 years of relevant marketing and communications experience, ideally in media relations within a large public service or networked organization.
• Access to strong media relationships across national, regional, trade, Black media, and Latino media outlets.
• Experience as a reporter or journalist is considered an advantage.
• Experience advising senior executives on communications decisions in a timely manner.
• Experience working in a demanding environment and balancing both proactive and reactive communications initiatives.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience is required; a master’s degree or equivalent experience is preferred.

Additional Information

This is a full-time exempt position. The role may be based remotely full time, although being located near a KIPP Foundation office is preferred. Foundation offices are in New York City and Chicago.

Travel of about 20% is expected for media opportunities, networking events, trade conferences, and professional development support. Evening and weekend work may be required when rapid-response or crisis communication needs arise.

Compensation and Benefits

The annual salary range for this role is $156,000 to $188,500, with actual pay depending on factors such as market data, internal equity, and relevant experience.

• 25 holidays plus 18 additional flexible PTO days, with flexible PTO increasing to 23 days in years 3 and 4, and 28 days from year 5 onward.
• 100% paid parental leave.
• Employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage at 100% for the employee and 75% for employee plus family coverage.
• Wellness support including fitness reimbursements, discounted theme park and attraction tickets, backup care for children and adults/elders, and an employee assistance program.
• Financial security benefits including a 401(k) plan with a 4% match, employer-sponsored legal plans, life and disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts.

Equal Opportunity Commitment

The organization is committed to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities it serves. Hiring decisions are based on merit and do not consider race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected category.