Regional Director of Operations - IDEA Permian Basin

Role Mission

The Regional Director of Operations (RDO) serves as the operations leader for their portfolio of schools and is responsible for achieving operational excellence across non-instructional areas including front office management, attendance, student information systems, child nutrition, transportation, health services, facility maintenance, new construction management, technology coordination, and student recruitment and enrollment.

Supervisory Responsibilities

N/A

Location

This is a full-time on-site position located in the Permian Basin region. Preference will be given to candidates who live in the region, or who are willing to relocate.

Travel Expectations

• Travel between campus sites and regional office required daily.
• Travel to IDEA training events or meetings in and out of region is required.
• Recruitment and enrollment activities will require travel daily and weekly.

Essential Duties

• Coach and develop regional operations leaders, APOs, and campus operations staff through ongoing observations, feedback, professional development, and accountability systems that build capacity, strengthen performance, improve staff retention, and ensure operational excellence across all departments.
• Lead and execute regional enrollment, attendance, and safety strategies by establishing targeted benchmarks and short-term goals, monitoring progress through data analysis, implementing targeted interventions, and driving successful outcomes.
• Analyze and improve campus and regional performance data, operational systems, and stakeholder feedback by identifying trends, determining root causes, implementing corrective actions, and continuously enhancing operational effectiveness and the staff and student experience.
• Manage and monitor compliance with district, local, and state requirements related to enrollment, attendance, and safety through audits, training, accountability measures, and ongoing oversight of campus execution.
• Collaborate with school and regional leaders to align operational and instructional priorities, strengthen campus culture, manage crisis response efforts, and implement strategic initiatives that advance operations and organizational goals.
• Maintain effective partnerships with principals to ensure alignment of operational and instructional goals and strategies and to share development responsibilities and capacity building of APOs.

Additional Duties And Responsibilities

• Perform additional duties as assigned by regional leaders.
• Coach and provide on-going feedback to APOs and other operations team members that builds their job capacity and ensures operational effectiveness across all departments.
• Engage with Vice President of Schools and Regional Student & Family Services Manager to prioritize student persistence and address concerns with campus culture, and coach APOs to problem solve operations-related issues.
• Manage Regional backwards plans to hit enrollment targets leading to lottery readiness and implement targeted interventions and daily mechanisms to track progress for campuses off track.
• Coach APOs through the enrollment cycle (recruitment, registration, re-registration, and onboarding) to meet 100% enrollment at all schools by deadline.
• Maintain compliance to state and local enrollment, attendance, safety, and other requirements through adherence to district policies.
• Lead strategy with regional and school leadership teams to invest, motivate, and implement effective attendance, enrollment, and persistence processes across campuses.
• Execute in-field observations regularly at all campuses on operations processes and identify strengths and gaps in execution.
• Coach and develop APOs and Principals on effective execution that leads to a stronger staff and student experience.
• Analyze Regional and campus data on a daily, weekly, and cumulative basis. Use data for accountability for other stakeholders and identify trends to course correct in a targeted manner based on individual campus needs.
• Train, observe, provide feedback, and implement accountability measures to ensure adherence to the outlined average daily attendance (ADA) policy at each school, particularly official attendance taking times, period-by-period attendance submission, and the implementation of the escalation matrix.
• Identify gaps from previous Beginning of Year (BOY) execution and proactively plan to address them at campuses of concern.
• Seek feedback from various stakeholders to determine root cause and recommend adjustments to current systems for APOs to implement.
• Plan BOY professional development sessions with APOs and observe and provide feedback on the spot to ensure high-quality facilitation.
• Lead the regional safety strategy and hold all regional team members accountable for effective execution of their role in a crisis. Provides next steps and ensures quality communication to all stakeholder groups.
• Ensure all campuses comply with district, local, and state safety requirements, such as required trainings, safety drills, monthly campus crisis team meetings, and door sweeps.
• Execute required safety audits at all campuses in portfolio two times per year and analyze data to identify strengths and gaps.
• Coach campus leaders to close gaps and maintain compliance.
• Ensure all team members attend functional professional development to build technical skill – seek to learn and understand key skills within each department and follow-up with crucial next steps from training (accountability).
• Coach regional managers of operations to effectively engage with campus operations team members and build their capacity to meet goals through regular observations, feedback, data analysis, and accountability.
• Institute operating mechanisms that facilitate the ongoing coaching and support of all team members (APO check-ins, regional operations and APO tactical meetings, regular observation and feedback sessions).

Knowledge and Skills

• Make Strategic Decisions: Encourages diverse perspectives, manages disagreements constructively, creates space for all voices to be heard, clearly communicates final decisions, provides context and anticipated impact.
• Manage Work and Teams: Builds and maintains systems to track progress toward team goals, ensures clarity through defined roles and responsibilities, implements structured processes that support smooth team operations, strategically allocates time and resources to drive goal achievement.
• Grow Self and Others: Uses data to assess development needs, designs learning opportunities that align with team goals and individual career growth, models a growth mindset by being open about own development, ensures personal and team-led learning initiatives are impactful and well-aligned with organizational priorities.
• Build a Culture of Trust: Fosters a team culture where individuals genuinely care for one another both personally and professionally, leads with transparency, encourages open communication, promotes reliability and consistency, regularly seeks and responds to team feedback to enhance the collective experience.
• Communicate Deliberately: Leads inclusive discussions that surface obstacles and drive actionable solutions, ensures all voices are heard, communicates key information clearly across multiple channels, establishes feedback loops that promote open dialogue, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Required Education And Experience

• 8+ years professional experience
• 4+ years people management experience with at least 3 years of managing through layers within an organization
• Bachelor’s degree required

Preferred Education And Experience

• Master’s degree or other advanced degree in relevant field preferred
• K-12 education experience highly preferred
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred

Physical Requirements

• Must be able to sit for extended periods of time without being able to leave the work area.
• Must be able to travel from site to site in personal vehicle.
• Must be able to climb ladders or scaffolding, or climb and work in overhead areas.
• Must be able to lift and carry or otherwise move 35 pounds regularly for deliveries.
• Must be able to work around small children including sitting, standing, running and climbing stairs.
• Must be able to lift and carry small children up to 40 pounds in case of emergency.
• Must be able to work in indoor and outdoor environments, including in times of excessive heat or cold.

What We Offer

• Compensation & Benefits: Salaries for people entering this role typically fall between $114,257 and $135,966, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications and in alignment with internal equity. This role is also eligible for performance pay based on organizational performance and goal attainment.
• We offer medical, dental, and vision plans, disability, life insurance, parenting benefits, flexible spending account options, generous vacation time, referral bonuses, professional development, and a 403(b) plan.
• You can find more information about our benefits at https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/.

Application Process

Submit your application online through Jobvite. Please note that applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible.