Senior Director, State Partnerships

This is a full-time, remote position anywhere in the contiguous United States, with national travel expected up to 50%.

What You’ll Do

The Senior Director of State Consulting Services leads high-impact projects and strategic consulting to strengthen instructional conditions and practices in partnership with state education agencies, regional centers, and school systems. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with state leaders, this individual defines long-term strategies, alignment processes, and guidance that support the instructional core. By translating strategy into scalable service models, the Senior Director ensures that state-level initiatives are coherent, practical, and research-grounded.

This role cultivates strategic partnerships, serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials, and embeds visionary thought leadership across engagements while guiding cross-functional teams to ensure service excellence and sustainable impact for educators and students.

Responsibilities:

State Education Agency Partnership Leadership

• Champions multi-year state partnerships that build coherence, capacity, and sustainable practices to strengthen conditions for instructional leaders across state, regional, and district systems
• Partners shoulder-to-shoulder with state leaders to design actionable implementation plans, initiative frameworks, and communication strategies that bring alignment to complex educational systems
• Shapes insightful content, publications, and communications that inform policy and elevate state-level instructional initiatives across the broader educational ecosystem
• Defines scalable, data-informed diagnostic frameworks, toolkits, and service resources tailored to state education agency needs
• Guides partner engagements through proactive progress monitoring to ensure successful execution of strategic initiatives and meaningful outcomes for students
• Establishes data-informed reflection and accountability systems to continuously evaluate and strengthen partnership impact

Strategic Service Line Leadership

• Refines and integrates custom state service lines to align with organizational frameworks, long-term vision, and system-wide goals
• Translates pilot initiatives and early service iterations into sustainable, high-impact service models designed for national reach
• Anticipates sector shifts and guides teams through ambiguity to keep consulting models cohesive, practical, and responsive to partner needs
• Monitors and evaluates the systemic impact of consulting services on instructional conditions across partner states
• Navigates organizational change with resilience, positioning custom state services for long-term sustainability and growth

New Partner Engagement

• Champions initial engagement efforts by creating strategic proposal content, service outlines, and diagnostic materials
• Nurtures strategic advisory relationships with state leaders to expand organizational impact in alignment with shared instructional goals
• Serves as a trusted advisor to state officials, supporting partnership renewals, scope expansions, and lasting systemic alignment

Management & People Leadership

• Coaches and develops team members and project consultants, fostering leadership capacity and supporting high-quality delivery
• Cultivates a welcoming team culture grounded in accountability and organizational values
• Aligns team strategy with organizational vision, ensuring clear direction, necessary resources, and meaningful growth pathways for staff

Candidate Qualifications and Traits:

• 10+ years of relevant professional experience in education, including leadership at the state education agency level or directly supporting senior state officials
• State Systems Expertise: Deep understanding of administrative levers, funding structures, policy contexts, and systemic governance used by state leaders to guide school district improvement
• Instructional Leadership Mastery: Advanced knowledge of high-leverage leadership levers, high-quality instructional materials, and system-wide strategies required to improve classroom instruction across content domains
• Strategic Systemic Implementation: Demonstrated ability to translate complex organizational strategy into actionable implementation plans, diagnose systemic gaps, and define scalable solutions
• Executive Advisory & Partnership Development: Advanced skill in cultivating and sustaining trusted advisory relationships with senior state officials, navigating political dynamics, and expanding collaborative partnerships
• Consultative Facilitation: Mastery in consultative facilitation methods to guide diverse state and regional stakeholder groups through complex decision-making and sustainable change
• Service Design & Adult Learning: Deep expertise in designing data-informed diagnostic frameworks, adult learning experiences, and adaptable toolkits tailored to state agency needs

Instruction Partners provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Instruction Partners complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Compensation:

The salary for this role is $143,750.00. Detailed information about the organizational compensation philosophy can be found here. Competitive benefits and private retirement investment options are available, as well as a generous vacation policy. See our detailed benefits package here: Benefits in Brief Overview. Additionally, Instruction Partners participates in E-Verify. Please see the E-Verify “Notice of Participation” and the Department of Justice “Right to Work ” posters for more information.

Our Mission:

We strengthen instructional leadership in schools, school systems, and states to ensure teachers have the support they need to improve learning experiences and learning outcomes for students— with attention to students of color, students experiencing poverty, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities.

Our Vision:

All students experience an excellent education that prepares them to contribute to their community, achieve economic security, and pursue their dreams.