Principal Associate Consultant

ERS is a national non-profit that empowers school system leaders to make transformative shifts in resources, structures, and practices so that all students – especially those with the greatest learning needs and those furthest from opportunity – attend a school where they can learn and thrive.

At ERS, we embrace teamwork and innovation to influence sustainable, equitable change in some of the country’s largest school districts.

If you want to join a team of talented and committed professionals within a mission-driven and collaborative culture, this is the place for you!

The salary range for this role is $115,000 to $145,000 annually. In modeling our commitment to openness and transparency, it’s important to note that we typically don’t hire at the top end of this range to create opportunities for team members to earn performance-based raises throughout their tenure in the role.

Consulting Projects at ERS

We commit to projects that we believe will make the most significant difference for large, public, K-12 school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families. Examples of these projects include, but aren’t limited to:

• Quantitative analysis of budgeting, staffing, scheduling, and student performance data to identify opportunities to better align resources with a district’s needs
• Redesign budget, staffing, and scheduling practices to increase teacher retention and extend learning time for students with the highest needs
• Designing a district’s new student-based budgeting system to better direct resources to students with the highest needs
• Facilitation of learning opportunities for cohorts of district leaders to explore solutions to shared challenges

Consultants at ERS are intentionally allocated to a variety of projects to develop their skills broadly. This empowers consultants to positively impact the K-12 education landscape in a variety of ways.

Quantitative analysis skills are a baseline requirement for consultants at ERS because most of our projects require some degree of quantitative analysis. Some projects require deeper, more complex quantitative analysis. Some require a lighter touch. We define baseline quantitative analysis skills as the ability to strategically and efficiently categorize, make meaning of, map, and interpret large data sets with multiple variables to identify trends, patterns, and next steps. We currently use Excel for most of this work.

What You’ll Do

Education Resource Strategies seeks to hire a results-oriented Principal Associate with experience in strategic consulting, data-driven decision-making, and analysis. This role is an exciting career step for someone who wants to:

• Utilize their extensive analysis and consulting skills in a management role to positively impact equity in K-12 education
• Fuse their previous experience(e.g. as a school leader or with systemic K-12 education work at the district, state, or federal level) with complex analysis skills to partner with school districts in redesigning school systems to better serve students with the greatest needs

In collaboration with a Consulting Partner and Consulting Manager, Principal Associate Consultants serve as a valued thought partner to K-12 education leaders. They utilize data, frameworks, and trends in K-12 education resource use to support the formulation of hypotheses for analysis and investigation. For more information about hypothesis-driven analysis, visit this website.

Principal Associate Consultants apply knowledge of best practices in K-12 school district resource allocation to develop actionable, individualized recommendations. They play a critical role in leveraging analysis, strategies, and solutions to drive transformational change in public education. They also supervise, mentor, coach, and guide the work of junior team members.

Case and Team Management

• Actively participate as a member of ERS project teams, including supervision of one or more Analyst Consultants
• Oversee hypothesis-driven data gathering, processing, and descriptive analytics (For example, with large district financial datasets)
• Build understanding of community, educational, and equity context
• Draw implications and conclusions from quantitative and qualitative analysis to own narrative creation
• Plan, execute, and communicate results with interdependent supervision
• Produce client ready documents and presentations
• Develop and manage the project work plan
• Participate in client meetings and presentations
• Develop strong relationships with and serve as a thought partner to district leaders
• Effectively manage the formal and informal professional development of team members through skill building, coaching, and feedback
• Occasional travel to district partners for approximately 2-4 days at a time, usually averaging less than one overnight trip per month throughout the calendar year (Some project phases may require travel up to two times per month, but this is typically not sustained for more than a month or two)

Firm Contribution

• Contribute to the organization’s knowledge management strategy by helping to develop client decision-making tools, products, and papers for publication and dissemination
• Lead the professional development of junior staff members (Participate in the formal performance review process to calibrate team member growth, strengths, and development opportunities across levels)
• Serve in various ad-hoc leadership capacities (e.g. ERS retreat, ERS professional learning workshops, ERS framework development, research, recruiting)
• Continuously build an understanding of the diversity, inclusion, and equity dynamics affecting ERS’ work internally and externally by incorporating multiple perspectives to enhance equity in our work

Qualifications (Refer to this website for operational definitions of skill levels)

As an organization committed to developing inclusive, empowered teams, it’s important to name that candidates do not need the preferred qualifications outlined below to advance in our search. These are not mandatory requirements. As you will see below, connection to our mission, values, and impact is critical.

Required

• Bachelor’s degree
• 3-5 years of school leader, systemic K-12 education work at the district/state/federal level, strategic consulting, quantitative analysis, or comparable experience (With a strong emphasis on strategy and analytics)
• Extensive descriptive analytic skills (Efficiently and accurately categorize, make meaning of, and interpret large data sets with multiple variables)
• Extensive strategic analysis skills and a high capacity for conceptual thinking (Leverage different frameworks to maximize impact and thrive in a hypothesis-based environment where inductive rather than deductive reasoning is the norm)
• Significant experience in both process and project management (High degree of organization, attention to detail, ability to meet deadlines within tight timeframes)
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills (Including the ability to synthesize complex material and effectively communicate ERS’ mission and impact to our target audience)
• Demonstrated passion for and commitment to ERS’ mission and values exemplified through work experience, leadership opportunities, or community involvement

Preferred

• Graduate degree (MBA, MPA, MPP, or MEd with analytic coursework and analytic practical experience)
• Ability to learn or basic/working knowledge of programming languages such as R, Python, or Stata
• Experience in education consulting or reform work

 

Benefits
We regularly benchmark our benefits. This honors our commitment to offering a comprehensive, competitive compensation package (salary & benefits) that meets employee needs.

• Medical, dental, and life insurance benefits
• 403b Retirement Plan, including employer matching
• Education reimbursement
• Three weeks paid vacation, 13 paid holidays, and up to three weeks of paid sick time (Per year)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Dependent Care Accounts (DCA)
• Access to office gym

 

Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Belonging

As an organization, we still have so much to learn about the continuing impact of systemic racism and oppression. We also acknowledge that we must look inward to best actualize ERS’s mission. Therefore, we strive to develop an equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist organization rooted in belonging for all team members.

We remain committed to transforming the systems, structures, policies, resource decisions, and cultural messages that are driving inequitable outcomes by:

• Helping our school district and school leader partners understand the patterns of structural racism and oppression that impact the students and families in their community.
• Devoting organizational resources to support the ongoing learning of all ERS team members related to the causes and patterns of structural racism and oppression, how they impact the experiences we bring to our shared environment, and the ways we work with each other.

ERS is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, ancestry, pregnancy, or military service.