Special Projects Fellow
The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund) is a nonprofit that supports public schools by investing in the talented educators who lead them. We partner with Chicago Public Schools, the City of Chicago, the local philanthropic community and school leaders to build and sustain a culture of strong leadership. Now celebrating our twentieth year of service, our programs, policy work and data infrastructure have made a measurable, positive impact in schools and improved outcomes for students.
Current Opportunities at The Fund
Special Projects Fellow
We seek to welcome two new team members who are passionate about supporting Chicago’s public schools. The roles will be designated at an Associate or Manager level, depending on candidate experience, and will be structured as two-year long, full time Special Projects Fellowships to manage a broad and diverse range of projects in support of The Fund’s mission and work. At the end of two years, the roles will be re-scoped with new responsibilities to meet the evolving needs of The Fund. Candidates selected for these two-year fellowships will be comfortable with some amount of ambiguity and embrace attributes of adaptability and flexibility.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Fellow will report to the Vice President and work on cross-cutting projects that advance our goals and support our team and partners.
General responsibilities
- Contribute to the management of all day-to-day operations of The Fund, including external engagement, finance, human resources and office management. Fellows will work closely with the Vice President to build and support a high-functioning team.
- Contribute to the development and presentation of materials for internal, external and board meetings.
- Represent The Fund at external events and conversations, and help draw connections to our work.
- Serve on program portfolio mini-teams and build knowledge about the principals and schools served by that portfolio.
Sample Projects
- Design project plans for launching, executing and managing The Fund’s annual budget and strategic planning processes, as well as regular team stepbacks.
- Conduct due diligence and viability assessments on potential programmatic and operational models, help manage external consultants and vendors and create delegation plans.
- Conduct a landscape scan to identify and recommend professional development opportunities for both individual team members and all staff.
- Research and draft memos on education topics, culling from local and national studies as well as programmatic and policy experts.
CANDIDATE PROFILE
The ideal candidate may bring experience from the private, public and/or nonprofit sectors and will possess the following attributes and skills:
Attributes
- Excited by new or unprecedented contexts; comfortable with some measure of ambiguity.
- Reasoned judgment and positive energy, especially in high-stress situations.
- Eagerness to tackle spontaneous assignments or responsibilities as they arise.
- Strong work ethic, detail-oriented approach and consistent follow through.
- A thoughtful and intentional relationship management approach.
Skills & Prior Experience
- Project planning, tracking and communication.
- Analyzing data and presenting trends.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, particularly with diverse audiences.
- Creating strong presentations, specifically in PowerPoint.
- Personal organizational systems to track and prioritize actions, workflow and deliverables.
- A track record of meeting/exceeding goals (in professional or personal contexts).
COMPENSATION
To Apply
Please visit the external application link on Handshake and follow the links to submit your application: resume, cover letter and two writing samples. For the writing submissions, we would like to see a) an example of a substantive professional communication (e.g. a detailed email sent to external partners) and b) an example of an extended memo or other long-form written communication (newsletter, report, etc.).
Questions regarding the job application can be sent to Careers@thefundchicago.org. We regret that we will not be able to respond to phone inquiries about this position.
The Fund employs and values a diverse work environment. We are also an equal opportunity employer. The Fund evaluates applicants for employment on the basis of qualifications, merit and work-related criteria without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, mental or physical disabilities, pregnancy, childbirth, medical condition, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law.