Associate Director of Student Recruitment & Enrollment Operations

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF STUDENT RECRUITMENT & ENROLLMENT OPERATIONS

Department

Student Recruitment & Enrollment

Reports to

Director of Student Recruitment & Enrollment

Location

Oakland, with at least 1 day/week travel to Stockton

Type

Full-time

FLSA Status

Exempt

Schedule

Full year

About KIPP NorCal

We are a thriving nonprofit network of 23 free, public charter schools open to all students. At KIPP, we believe all children should grow up free to create the future they want for themselves and that schools can and should be a critical factor in making that vision a reality. 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 student community consists of over 7,100 elementary, middle, and high school students in East Palo Alto, Oakland, San Francisco, San Lorenzo, San José, Redwood City, and Stockton. 80% qualify for free or reduced price lunch, 27% are multilingual learners, and 17% receive special education services. We strive to cultivate a representative team of teachers and leaders that reflect our students’ diversity.

Role Overview

The Associate Director of Student Recruitment & Enrollment Operations drives key recruitment and enrollment initiatives across KIPP NorCal, ensuring schools have the systems, tools, and field support needed to meet enrollment goals. Reporting to the Director of Student Recruitment & Enrollment, this role owns defined enrollment Key Results, oversees high-stakes lottery and registration processes, drives applicant-to-student conversion and internal matriculation initiatives, and manages and develops a team of three recruitment staff.

In this role, you own a defined set of department Key Results and decide how to achieve them. You escalate trade-offs that require your Director's authority. People management is role-specific at this level and described in Core Responsibilities below.

Core Responsibilities

Team Leadership & People Management

• Coaches and develops a team of three Stockton-based recruitment staff, establishing clear goals and performance expectations and holding the team accountable for recruitment outcomes across the Stockton sub-region and schools.

• Drives implementation of localized field recruitment strategies and grassroots outreach plans, aligning team capacity and tactics with school-specific enrollment goals and community context.

• Uses field productivity and pipeline data to identify performance gaps, adjust staff deployment and recruitment tactics, and improve progress toward enrollment goals.

Recruitment, Enrollment & Lottery Operations

• Oversees annual application, lottery, seat-offer, and registration processes across KIPP NorCal schools, ensuring accurate execution, regulatory compliance, data integrity, and a consistent family experience.

• Drives applicant-to-student conversion by designing and implementing consistent follow-up systems, monitoring conversion performance, and adjusting approaches to improve enrollment yield.

Strategic Matriculation Management

• Designs and drives internal middle-to-high school matriculation strategies to ensure current 8th-grade families persist within the network's high school ecosystem.

• Deploy multi-audience engagement plans targeting middle school students, 7th/8th-grade staff, and parents to maximize high school retention.

• Establish progress-monitoring benchmarks for matriculation pacing to proactively identify schools needing additional targeted intervention and campaign support.

Systems Optimization & Progress Monitoring

• Develop and refine the operational frameworks, tools, and SOPs required to run efficient, scalable enrollment processes across all regions.

• Analyze and track real-time lead, applicant, and registration data to build comprehensive progress reports for regional executives and the Director.

• Formulate data-driven recommendations to pivot recruitment tactics when regions are pacing behind enrollment targets, ensuring a proactive response to changing market demands.

Stakeholder Engagement & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Aligns with Principals and School Operations Managers to understand unique neighborhood dynamics and effectively communicate enrollment pacing.

• Coaches recruitment staff to strengthen community partnerships and outreach approaches that expand localized recruitment pipelines.

• Collaborate with Regional Support Office teams—including Regional Operations, Data, Communications, and Finance—to align system workflows and campaign rollouts with organizational capacity and fiscal goals.

KIPP Leadership Competencies

These competencies describe the core leadership behaviors expected at this level – they guide how we hire, develop, and grow our people at KIPP NorCal.

• Lead Self: You model vulnerability and coach others on self-awareness and reflection. You lead equity conversations and address systemic barriers in hiring and operations. You are a recognized expert who actively develops others' expertise.

• Lead People: You initiate courageous conversations with directness and empathy, shaping the culture and norms of your team or department. You seek stakeholder input, build coalitions, and create plans that anticipate the skills and resources required for success. You drive cross-functional workstreams with peers, aligning priorities across teams.

• Lead Results: You propose Key Results aligned to department strategy and ensure plans are feasible before moving to implementation. You synthesize complexity, weigh options with discernment, and bring clear recommendations to your Director. You create systems to monitor progress and hold yourself and your team accountable for outcomes.

Knowledge & Skills

Required Qualifications

Experience

• 5+ years of operational leadership experience, including a proven track record of designing and executing field recruitment strategies, grassroots outreach, or community-focused pipeline strategies that drive volume and convert prospects.

• 3+ years of professional experience directly managing, developing, and coaching a team of direct reports, with a demonstrated ability to build a high-performing, collaborative culture.

Education

• Bachelor's degree required.

Knowledge/skills

• Operational Platform & Data Literacy: Advanced proficiency in managing high-stakes student databases (ideally with hands-on SchoolMint execution), alongside strong analytical skills to interpret complex datasets and translate metrics into proactive operational pivots.

• Strategic Field Leadership & Pipeline Management: Deep knowledge of grassroots community outreach, field recruitment, or sales tactics, with a proven ability to design culturally responsive strategies that build and convert localized pipelines.

• Cross-Functional Communication & Influence: Exceptional interpersonal skills with a track record of building trust with regional executives and school leaders, effectively communicating enrollment pacing, and aligning diverse stakeholders around shared operational timelines.

Language

• Fluency in spoken and written Spanish is strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• K-12 Charter Sector Experience: Prior experience working within a Charter Management Organization (CMO) or a deep familiarity with the public charter school landscape, compliance mandates, and local authorization processes.

• Advanced CRM/Systems Expertise: Familiarity with broader marketing operations ecosystems or customer relationship management (CRM) systems (such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Marketo) that interface with core enrollment databases.

Role Details

The following details describe how this role is structured and what to expect day-to-day.

Work Setting

Hybrid 

Travel Expectation

Frequent school travel, including at least 1 day per week in Stockton

Driver’s License

Must have a valid CA driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle for work-related travel 

Physical Demands

Ability to navigate office and school campuses, use technology, and occasionally lift or carry materials up to 20 lbs

Mental Demands

Ability to manage competing priorities, concentrate for sustained periods, analyze complex information, and make decisions under normal work pressures

Environmental

Combination of office and school campus environments, with regular travel between sites 

KIPP Northern California is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

Compensation

KIPP Northern California is dedicated to you and your family's well-being! We offer a competitive salary as well as a comprehensive benefits package. Benefits include medical, dental, vision coverage, paid time off, retirement plan with employer contribution and commuter benefits.

We benchmark annually against comparably-sized non-profit organizations in the regions where we operate, to offer competitive salaries. The salary range for this position is between $104,000 and $127,000. Most candidates would be compensated at $111,000.

How to Apply

Please submit a cover letter and resume by clicking apply on this page.

Questions?

Email [email protected]