POSITION: Senior Manager of School Culture

LOCATION: DSST: Home Office located in Denver, CO

SALARY: $78,000 - $87,360 with up to 6 years of aligned experience

STATUS: Full time, benefits eligible, exempt, in-person position (Denver, CO)

START: 6/4/25

KEY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Manager of School Culture reports to the Director of Mental Health & Culture and works closely with leaders across the organization, especially the Schools Team, the Curriculum and Assessment Team and the Leader Development team. This position provides a unique opportunity for an individual with superior project-management, people-leadership, and relationship-building skills to play a central role in supporting the advancement of one of the organization's most important priorities: school culture.

The Senior Manager of School Culture will lead mission-critical work to:

• Support schools to execute DSST’s vision for a joyous, rigorous school culture that centers equity, values the human condition, and improves student learning

• Build and maintain systems that uphold and support strong school culture

• Define processes and support execution of discipline compliance functions

Essential Functions:

Provide on-the-ground school support and partnership with schools to actualize our DSST culture vision through implementation ( 80%)

• Support in planning and refining culture systems and structures

• Complete side-by-side work on the implementation of systems and structures

• Conduct a performance management cycle to monitor and support growth toward culture goals

Alongside the Home Office Culture Team, create and execute training and professional development for culture leaders and other stakeholders on culture skills, competencies, and compliance. (5 - 20%)

• Build relationships with members of the administration team on all campuses in order to positively impact student outcomes.

• Support the implementation of the culture leader training scope and sequence in collaboration with the DSST Leader Development team.

• Define and implement all trainings related to Discipline and Title IX compliance for all relevant stakeholders.

• Provide on-the-ground training and support for deans and other culture leaders based on support requests and/ or needs identified through data.

Supports all schools to execute DSST’s school culture vision with excellence through codification of network exemplars, implementation of a performance management cycle for culture data, and on-the-ground support of schools. (15%)

• Participate in collaborative processes to enhance and clarify DSST Public Schools’ vision for school culture and community.

• Analyze and codify exemplars of school culture implementation for scaling and use across schools.

Lead the creation and implementation of systems, processes, training, and in-the-moment support for discipline and Title IX compliance across the network. (5%)

• Serve as liaison between DSST Public Schools and Aurora & Denver Public Schools in discipline compliance areas.

• Attend APS & DPS trainings and ensure DSST systems and processes are up to date and properly implemented.

• Support schools with in-the-moment requests related to discipline escalation.

• Collaborate with the DSST and DPS & APS Special Services team on issues of discipline compliance for students with IEPs.

• Serve as one of the DSST Network Title IX Lead

Additional Duties:

As a member of the Home Office Team, you will participate in and support in the execution of Home Office and Network Wide Events and other duties as assigned

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• An unwavering belief that all students can succeed in high school, reach their most ambitious post-secondary goals, and lead exemplary lives

• Desire to personally professionally grow in their practice of becoming an anti-racist educator

• Self-awareness, a regular practice of reflection, and a desire to continuously improve

• Bachelor's Degree required from accredited university

• You want to change the way the public school system serves students so that all kids– regardless of race, ethnicity or income – have the opportunity to go to college.

• Strong commitment to solving education inequity and a passion for the ability of joyful, inclusive culture and student experience to play a role in that solution

• Proactive problem-solver who demonstrates initiative and ability to work individually and with a team

• Experience and comfort with the facilitation of small and large group professional development

• Experience and comfort working with middle school and high school students and school staff

• You create unambiguous systems and procedures to allow others to easily replicate or take advantage of your work and thinking

• You have a strong customer service mindset and the ability to clearly guide users to solutions

• Leadership experience

  • 2-4+ years of school or network-level leadership experience

  • Organizational or system-level vision and strategy setting

  • Implementation and monitoring of strategy

• At least 1 year as a teacher in middle or high school required

• At least 1 year as a culture team leader in a middle or high school required

IDEAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven commitment to and experience with serving students of color, students with disabilities, and/or multilingual students

• 6+ years of experience in education (classroom experience required)

• 2+ years of experience in school leadership (as a culture leader, assistant principal, or principal)

• 1+ years experience in central office or regional leadership

WHO WE ARE

At DSST Public Schools, we are proud to be the largest and highest-performing network of public charter schools in Denver and Aurora with 100% of our students having been accepted into college or post secondary programs since our inception in 2004. When you join DSST, you play a part in ensuring all 7,500+ students at our 16 schools have access to a transformational and joyful education.

INTERVIEW EXPECTATIONS

For most of our positions, we hire on a rolling basis. Therefore, we recommend that you submit your application as soon as you are able! You can learn more about what to expect in our interview process here .

WHY JOIN DSST?

At DSST, we know that our people are the greatest asset we have in reaching our mission of eliminating educational inequity. We work hard to build a work culture that allows our staff to not only feel fulfilled by the work they do but also feel supported to live a joyful, healthy life. We want this work to be your life’s work. Check out why our teachers love working at DSST as well as our benefits website to learn how we deliver on our commitment to the human condition.

• Health and Supplemental Insurance: DSST staff have access to comprehensive medical benefits, including fertility benefits and a mental health counselor that is dedicated solely to DSST staff.

• Time Off: DSST Staff enjoy 11+ weeks off per year + paid PTO (from Day 1!)

• Professional Development: As a learning organization, DSST values both internal and external development opportunities for staff. See some examples below:

  • DSST Back to School Development Series including New Staff Institute, New Educator Institute, New Leader Institute, Leader You, and Teaching & Learning Institute.

  • Weekly 1:1 Coaching from a School Administrator at your campus.

  • Clear internal career pathway opportunities such as our Apprentice Teachers, Emerging Leaders, and School Director in Training Programs. Read more here.

• And more!

DSST COMMUNITY REFERRAL PROGRAM

Not a best fit role for you but know someone else who would be a great fit? Refer them here and earn $500 if they are hired!

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AND DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

DSST Public Schools is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not exclude participation in, deny benefits to or discriminate on the basis of, race, color, religion, National origin, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity), Age (40 and older), Disability, Genetic information (including employer requests for, or purchase, use, or disclosure of genetic tests, genetic services, or family medical history), retaliation for filing a charge, reasonably opposing discrimination, or participating in a discrimination lawsuit, investigation, or proceeding in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is active and may require standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, and crouching throughout the day. The employee must lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds. The employee must have sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate a computer keyboard and other office equipment. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.