Associate Partner, Innovative Public Schools

Associate Partner, Innovative Public Schools

OPPORTUNITY

Nationally recognized nonprofit venture philanthropy seeks to hire an Associate Partner on the Innovative Public Schools Team to find, fund, and support leaders designing the next generation of innovative, future-ready public schools in K-12 education.

ORGANIZATION

NewSchools is a venture philanthropy that builds a better education system by connecting people, resources, and ideas. We bridge the gap between those with capital and those with the courage to put that capital to work on the frontlines of K-12 education. We envision an education system that keeps its promise to all students. That’s why we invest in the ideas and energy of education leaders and entrepreneurs who are advancing innovative solutions that expand the definition of what works. There’s a better way to advance education through philanthropy—one that is more equitable, more collaborative, and more courageous–and we’re proving it every day.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Innovative Public Schools (IPS) team at NewSchools Venture Fund seeks an Associate Partner (AP) to lead our work finding and supporting school founders building future-ready school models. In this role, you will hold a portfolio of up to 10 public school teams in the design phases, roughly two years before opening, and lead our new work supporting AI-native and AI-supported fresh start schools. You will spend meaningful time in the field learning how innovation is showing up in schools and bringing that learning back to evolve our strategy. You will report to Ariana Valenzuela, Partner, and may work remotely from anywhere in the U.S. This role requires up to 25% travel for in-person team meetings, retreats, and school site visits.

Your legacy at NewSchools will include:

Lead recruitment and selection for emergent, AI-native school models

Own the recruitment strategy for founders building future-ready models — AI as core infrastructure, college and career pathways, talent and time redesign, and models for historically underserved students.

Build and continuously refine a national pipeline of innovative founders across charter and district schools, using pattern recognition to identify promising models before they’re fully formed.

Shape funding application and selection criteria that distinguish founders with genuine model ambition from those who use the language of innovation without the substance.

Bring an innovation lens to application review, due diligence, and selection alongside the IPS team.

Author investment recommendations for leadership and the board, making the case for which founders merit early-stage capital and why.

Own the design-phase experience for a portfolio of Y00 school teams

Serve as the strategic relationship owner for up to 10 school teams in their earliest design phase (two years before opening), diagnosing where each founder’s model is strong, underdeveloped, or at risk, and shaping the support plan accordingly.

Coach founders through the hardest design decisions — instructional coherence, AI integration, talent and staffing, authorization, launch readiness — bringing judgment on what distinguishes a genuinely differentiated model from one innovative in name only.

Design and lead adult learning experiences — cohort convenings, design sprints, school visits, peer consultancy — differentiated by stage and model, curating outside experts and exemplar schools where that accelerates a founder’s thinking more than internal coaching can.

Partner with other associate partners to ensure strong handoffs and learning arcs across the Y00-Y3 trajectory.

Contribute to IPS’ AI schools work

Serve as the IPS lead for identifying, selecting, and supporting AI-native and AI-supported fresh start schools, setting the bar for what counts as AI built into a model’s core design versus AI used as an added tool.

Manage and evaluate relationships with AI implementation partners, matching founders to the right technical support and holding partners accountable for the outcomes they’re meant to enable.

Contribute to NewSchools’ AI learning agenda with the Research and Learning team — which approaches to AI integration are most promising, what they require in staffing, scheduling, instruction, and assessment, and what conditions help these models succeed and sustain.

Translate field insight into strategy and influence

Spend significant time in schools, incubators, and convenings to build a firsthand, current view of how innovation is actually showing up and surfacing what founders need that we’re not yet providing.

Synthesize field and portfolio insight into sharper selection criteria, support strategy, and investment priorities, ensuring NewSchools’ thesis evolves with what’s actually working rather than lagging behind it.

Build NewSchools’ external influence and credibility by sharing what we’re learning with the field, positioning NewSchools as the organization with the clearest read on where AI-native school design is headed.

Take on emergent strategy work as IPS priorities evolve

Lead or contribute to new innovation initiatives and special projects, partnering with the team lead to define scope, approach, and timeline as NewSchools’ strategy develops.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in the education field, including school leadership, school design, management consulting, or philanthropy

At least 5 years of experience serving as a school principal or coaching school principals

Direct experience with AI in schools, such as building AI into instructional or operational systems, supporting AI adoption, or evaluating AI tools and models

Experience founding, designing, or redesigning innovative school models, or coaching early-stage founders through design and launch

Demonstrated ability to design and deliver impactful adult learning experiences for leaders and teams

Travel up to 25% for in-person team meetings, retreats, and school site visits

Preferred

Experience making or contributing to investment, funding, or high-stakes organizational decisions

EXPERIENCE YOU BRING

Building deep networks across K-12 education, especially among school founders and innovators

Designing and maintaining systems and routines that capture, organize and share learning

Owning multiple workstreams from inception through completion with attention to detail and strong organization

Collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders to achieve ambitious goals

Leading reflection and improvement cycles for workstreams, using data and documented learning to inform decisions and improve team effectiveness

Producing high quality written and verbal materials for internal and external audiences at a variety of levels

YOUR WAYS OF WORKING

Think strategically, drawing on a deep understanding of the education landscape and networks, especially in new school creation, AI, and talent

Exercise strong judgment about leaders and models, giving candid, timely feedback while building trust

Approach emerging school models with deep curiosity, and distinguish ambitious design from new language on a conventional model

Bring a clear, considered point of view on why you want your impact to be in philanthropy, understand how a funder’s role differs from a school leader’s, and believe in philanthropy’s power to create momentum for systems-level change

Believe in AI’s potential to strengthen K-12 education, and keep building your knowledge as the landscape evolves

Maintain an active view of the field and market through sustained scanning, relationships and dialogue with stakeholders in the space, and use it to identify gaps and develop a clear, defensible perspective on what innovation is needed

Ground decisions, priorities, and actions in NewSchools’ mission and commitment to equity

Communicate clearly and proactively, share information before being asked, and