Founding Director of Operations

ROLE AT A GLANCE

The Director of Operations is a Founding leadership role responsible for launching and scaling operations at Power Public Schools. Reporting to the Founder & Executive Director, this role owns student recruitment and enrollment, facilities and campus operations, human resources and personnel administration, school logistics (transportation, safety, food service), student information systems and data compliance, and financial administration with internal controls. This is a mission-critical role for our August 2027 launch and beyond as we build from one founding school toward a multi-school network. Success requires an operator who can build systems others rely on, anticipate challenges, and navigate startup complexity with both urgency and equity-centered judgment.

Level: Experienced — 3 to 5+ years in operations, finance, or nonprofit management

Type: Full-Time, 12-Month, Exempt

Location: Mableton, Georgia (hybrid; on-site upon opening of the school)

Reports To: Founder & Executive Director

Peers: Founding Principal

Mission: Public Education / Charter School Launch

Primary Tools: Google Suite: Calendar, email, document; sheets; Zoom for video-conferencing; Slack for Team Communication; Asana for task management; AI tools for drafting, summarizing, and building systems; cloud accounting, HR platforms, procurement systems

WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

Building a school from the ground up requires disciplined systems, thoughtful planning, regulatory readiness, and consistent execution. The Founding Director of Operations is the operational backbone of Power Public Schools, translating vision into the people, processes, partnerships, and infrastructure required for a safe, compliant, and successful opening day, and for every ordinary day after it.

You will lead the school's non-instructional operations and coordinate the internal team members, external consultants, vendors, and service providers who execute this work. You remain accountable for operational readiness while partnering closely with the Founder and Executive Director, the external CFO, the HR consultant, board leadership, and specialized advisors.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Salary: $85,000–$95,000 base, commensurate with experience and demonstrated operational leadership.

Benefits package includes employer-supported retirement, health, dental, fertility and vision coverage, paid time off per the employee handbook, tuition reimbursement, and professional development and operational coaching in partnership with external consultants and the Founding Leadership Cohort.

ABOUT POWER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Power Public Schools is a tuition-free public charter school opening in August 2027 in Mableton, Georgia, in South Cobb County. We open with grades 6 and 7 and 100 students, and we grow deliberately from there. Slow growth is a choice. It lets us get every year right before we add the next one.

At Power Public Schools, we believe ALL people possess a power of intrinsic intelligence. Our mission is to excite, enlighten, and empower ALL our students to exemplify their excellence.

We teach through the POWER 5 Innovation Model (Premier Pedagogy; Power Principles; Power Learning AI; Power Hour & Passion Projects; & Practical Partnerships); the Georgia Standards of Excellence; AI-empowered personalized mastery; project-based community passion projects; early college and dual enrollment pathways; and leadership development. We are founder-led, in the pre-launch build phase, and we are building the operational, academic, and cultural foundation for a school meant to last generations.

We are an organization built on love. We ask every team member to hold the bar, own their growth, do hard things, lead with love, shine their light, and be the model.



WHAT YOU'LL OWN

As Director of Operations, you will own the strategic design, implementation, and daily management of the operational infrastructure that enables Power Public Schools to function with excellence, equity, and reliability. You'll report to the Founder & Executive Director and partner with school leadership to ensure every system—from student enrollment to facilities to finance—is documented, measurable, accountable, and continuously improving.

1. Founding-Year Launch Management and Operational Readiness: You will hold the integrated operational launch plan and make dependencies, deadlines, risks, and decisions visible across workstreams.

• Translate the opening vision into a sequenced, owner-assigned launch plan with milestones, critical paths, decision dates, and contingency plans.
• Run a disciplined operating cadence: launch dashboards, weekly priority reviews, decision logs, risk registers, and clear follow-through.
• Coordinate consultants, service providers, vendors, and internal owners while retaining accountability for the quality and timeliness of the result.
• Anticipate downstream impacts across enrollment, staffing, facilities, transportation, finance, safety, technology, and family experience.
• Escalate early when a decision, dependency, compliance issue, or resource constraint could place opening readiness at risk.

2. Student Recruitment, Enrollment, and Registration: You will own the end-to-end system that moves families from awareness and interest through intent-to-enroll, lottery, registration, onboarding, attendance, and persistence.

• Executes and enhances strategy for student recruitment efforts targeting families with school-aged children in surrounding areas; is an active participant in on-the-ground recruitment activities.
• For the founding campus: recruits a new cohort of 6th & 7th grade students by January 31, 2027, and oversees the student lottery and formal enrollment process.
• For existing schools: recruits a new cohort of Kindergarten students every year and enrolls children in grade levels with availability.
• Collaborates with Principal to nurture applications and ensures they lead to enrollment and registration.
• Creates family engagement, onboarding, and registration events that warmly welcome families to Power Public Schools and ensure persistence through their first year and beyond.
• Ensures all enrollment and registration paperwork is submitted and complies with all federal, state, and organizational student registration requirements throughout the enrollment process (transfers, testing, etc.).
• Leads planning and execution of new student orientation and onboarding to help students get acclimated to campus culture and expectations in an inviting, engaging, and equity-centered way.
• Leads planning and execution of new family welcome events to help parents integrate and get acclimated to campus culture, expectations, and community.

2. Student Persistence and Attendance

• Drive toward 90% year-over-year student persistence and communicate attendance expectations to families.
• Collaborate with school leadership and teachers to implement best practices, raise awareness, analyze ADA trends, and leverage tracking mechanisms to positively impact Average Daily Attendance.
• Identify and problem-solve challenges that impact attendance and persistence, working cross-functionally with academic and support teams.

3. Financial Administration, Internal Controls, and Back-Office Coordination: You will manage day-to-day financial operations in partnership with the Executive Director / Founder and a fractional CFO, protecting public resources through accuracy, transparency, and sound controls.

• Oversee accounts payable, accounts receivable, deposits, purchasing, reimbursements, vendor payments, and supporting documentation.
• Implement segregation-of-duties controls so authorization, custody, record keeping, and reconciliation are appropriately separated or independently reviewed.
• Administer purchasing, contracting, and expense-approval workflows in accordance with board-approved policies and delegated authority.
• Support annual budgets, forecasts, cash-flow monitoring, and monthly budget-to-actual reporting; surface variances and emerging risks with recommended action.
• Maintain complete, audit-ready records and support the external CFO and Board Treasurer with annual audit preparation and recurring financial reporting.
• Coordinate payroll inputs, timekeeping, benefits deductions, retirement administration, and related back-office processes with the appropriate providers.
• Complete the Georgia Charter Schools Association Financial Management Certification after hire and apply that learning to daily systems.

4. Facilities, Campus Operations, Procurement, and Inventory: You will ensure the building and every operational detail around it are safe, clean, accessible, welcoming, and ready for learning.

• Partner with the Executive Director / Founder, landlord, board representatives, and contractors to administer lease requirements, coordinate improvements, and monitor obligations.
• Own the path to opening-readiness approvals, including permits, inspections, safety documentation, and Certificate of Occupancy dependencies.
• Manage facilities vendors and services such as HVAC, janitorial, pest control, lawn care, utilities, repairs, and preventive maintenance.
• Build a digital procurement workflow for furniture, technology, equipment, supplies, and administrative resources; document specifications, approvals, lead times, receipt, and deployment.
• Maintain accurate inventory and asset-management systems, including receiving and logging incoming shipments and monitoring condition, location, and replacement needs.
• Create campus-use procedures for space scheduling, deliveries, visitors, keys/access, room setup, events, and after-hours use.
• Ensure the campus, furniture, core technology, and critical building systems are fully operational at least two weeks before opening day.

5. Human Resources and Personnel Administration: You will build reliable people-operations infrastructure in partnership with the HR consultant and school leadership, ensuring compliance while creating a smooth and professional employee experience.

• Maintain confidential personnel files, employment documentation, I-9 and tax forms, leave and attendance records, required notices, and training logs.
• Coordinate benefits enrollment, retirement administration, payroll inputs, workers' compensation, and other personnel-administration processes with external providers.
• Lead non-instructional onboarding and coordinate operational onboarding for all employees, including policies, safety, confidentiality, technology access, and required training.
• Support recruitment, hiring logistics, background checks, fingerprinting, onboarding, and performance-cycle administration in partnership with the Principal and Executive Director / Founder.
• Build hiring, onboarding, supervision, feedback, and development systems for the operational team; create role clarity and service standards that scale.
• Monitor labor-law, state, authorizer, and organizational requirements and engage the HR consultant or legal counsel when specialized judgment is needed.

6. Transportation, Attendance, Food Service, Health, Safety, and Daily Logistics: You will coordinate the interlocking systems that keep scholars safe, nourished, present, and ready to learn each day.

• Design and manage a practical transportation plan, including vendor agreements, route assumptions, family needs, contingency coverage, and safe arrival and dismissal procedures.
• Build attendance operations and family-notification workflows; monitor patterns and partner with the Student Support Team and school leadership on barriers, intervention, and persistence.
• Establish and maintain the Emergency Safety Plan and a drill calendar covering fire, lockdown, severe weather, reunification, and other required scenarios.
• Supervise school safety/resource operations and partner with public-safety agencies, security providers, and campus leaders on prevention and response.
• Ensure physical accessibility, ADA compliance, emergency access, signage, and accommodations are reflected in campus design and operating procedures.
• Coordinate breakfast and lunch operations, vendor performance, meal-service procedures, required documentation, and funding-related nutrition requirements.
• Oversee health-office operations and coordination with the school nurse/health aide, families, health department, and emergency responders.
• Create clear duty schedules and operating procedures for arrival, dismissal, transitions, meals, events, and other high-volume moments.

7. Student Information Systems, Technology, Data Privacy, and Cybersecurity: You will ensure the school's operational technology is reliable, integrated, secure, and usable - and that student and family data are treated with care.

• Lead implementation and administration of the selected SIS, including lottery, enrollment, registration, attendance, and student-record workflows.
• Define data ownership, data-entry standards, quality checks, permissions, reconciliation routines, retention, and audit trails across systems.
• Coordinate technology infrastructure, internet connectivity, devices, operational software, account provisioning, and responsive IT support.
• Partner with the Board's AI and Innovation Committee and appropriate advisors to review school software, external tools, and data partnerships for FERPA, COPPA, privacy, security, and contractual requirements.
• Implement secure, auditable student-data practices and train staff on password security, phishing prevention, appropriate access, incident reporting, and other cybersecurity expectations.
• Turn operational data into useful leadership insight without creating disconnected side systems or competing versions of the truth.

8. Operational Compliance, Authorizer Readiness, and Funding Requirements: You will convert compliance obligations into recurring systems rather than last-minute scrambles.

• Maintain an integrated compliance calendar for state, federal, charter, authorizer, board, insurance, facilities, employment, safety, nutrition, transportation, and funding-related requirements.
• Assign owners, evidence requirements, internal review dates, and escalation points for every recurring submission or certification.
• Prepare accurate operational records and documentation for authorizer monitoring, board oversight, audits, inspections, grant or funding compliance, and public accountability.
• Monitor changes in requirements and coordinate external expertise when the school needs legal, financial, HR, facilities, safety, or technical interpretation.
• Build quality-control checks so compliance evidence is complete, organized, retrievable, and reviewed before submission.

9. Vendors, Partnerships, Athletics, Electives, and Extracurricular Operations: You will create the operational conditions for partners and programs to deliver a high-quality scholar experience.

• Source, evaluate, contract with, onboard, monitor, and renew vendors using clear scopes, service standards, documentation, and accountability.
• Coordinate insurance, background checks, access, scheduling, invoicing, data/privacy terms, safety procedures, and performance follow-up for external partners.
• Provide operational support for athletics, electives, extracurricular activities, school and community events, and auxiliary programs.
• Manage calendars, transportation, facilities use, supplies, staffing logistics, permissions, and risk controls connected to these programs.
• Build equitable, responsive vendor and community relationships that balance quality, cost, reliability, and alignment with POWER's mission.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Reliable opening: The campus opens in August 2027 safe, staffed, supplied, compliant, and fully operational, with critical systems tested and ready at least two weeks early.
• Enrollment strength: The founding cohort is fully enrolled and registered; leadership has timely visibility into pipeline performance, family feedback, barriers, and corrective action.
• Financial stewardship: Money moves through clear approvals and internal controls; monthly reporting is accurate, timely, and decision-ready; records remain audit-ready.
• Repeatable systems: Core operations are documented, trained, quality-checked, and executable by the people closest to the work.
• Family and staff confidence: People experience operations as warm, clear, responsive, equitable, and dependable - especially when the situation is complicated.
• Continuous improvement: The team uses data, feedback, and after-action learning to strengthen systems rather than repeat preventable problems.

YOUR FIRST 90 DAYS

DAYS 1–30 (LEARN THE GROUND) : Visit Mableton, Austell, South Cobb to understand community. Set up for enrollment intake process. Map facility path to Certificate of Occupancy with landlord and Executive Director. Establish procurement, approval thresholds, and internal controls with external CFO. Begin GCSA Financial Management Certification. Enroll in required compliance trainings.

DAYS 31–60 (BUILD THE SYSTEMS): Open enrollment application; publish lottery process and timeline. Build enrollment dashboard tracking applications, acceptances, demographic reach. Stand up personnel file, I-9, and onboarding infrastructure. Issue first monthly budget-to-actual with external CFO. Draft and implement segregation-of-duties procedures. Finalize procurement plan and approval authority matrix. Begin transportation vendor RFP process. Scope furniture, equipment, and technology needs.

DAYS 61–90 (PROVE IT WORKS): Track enrollment against 100-seat target with recovery plan. Hold 2+ enrollment events with family feedback. Test registration workflow end-to-end. Advance transportation vendor contracts. Scope, quote, and approve furniture/equipment/technology. Draft Emergency Safety Plan. Document operational systems. Confirm facility timeline and inspection dates. Spot-check 10–15 transactions for control compliance. Design onboarding for Registrar and Facilities Manager.

From Day 90 Through Opening

• Run the lottery and waitlist process; move accepted families through complete registration and onboarding; maintain a named recovery plan for any enrollment gap.
• Secure transportation, food service, safety, health, technology, facilities, and other critical vendor commitments with adequate contingency coverage.
• Complete required inspections, permits, documentation, training, and operational readiness checks.
• Receive, inventory, install, and test furniture, equipment, devices, networks, supplies, and core systems.
• Hire, onboard, train, and coach the operational team; prepare all staff to execute high-volume daily routines.
• Conduct tabletop exercises, dry runs, and opening-readiness reviews; resolve gaps before scholars arrive.

YOU'LL SUCCEED HERE IF YOU

• You execute. You move on enrollment, facilities, and systems setup. Executing is the bar, and then you make it better.
• You think in systems. You see how enrollment flows into transportation, how facility quality affects retention, and how compliance protects scholar success.
• You operate with urgency and precision. You navigate ambiguity, decide clearly, and stay accurate under pressure.
• You put families and staff first. Your systems exist to serve scholars, not to protect your calendar.
• You design for all means all. You build policies with intention so that every family can access them.
• You are genuinely tech-fluent. AI, cloud accounting, HR platforms, and security tools do not intimidate you.
• You are coachable. You want feedback, you use it, and you get 1% better.
• You hold the bar for both systems and relationships. Excellence in one without the other does not count.

THIS ROLE IS NOT A FIT IF

• You prefer established systems with clear precedent. This is a build-from-scratch role in a founding-stage school.
• You believe you must be the subject-matter expert in every domain. You will manage vendors and systems. You will not need to be an HVAC technician or a transportation engineer.
• You are uncomfortable with operational ambiguity. Until doors open, priorities will shift as we learn.
• You view operations as separate from mission. At PPS, how we do the work is part of what we teach.
• You need extensive approval before moving. This role rewards good judgment and swift decision-making.



WHY POWER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

• Build from scratch. Design operational systems intentionally, without being constrained by legacy processes that no longer serve students.
• Hold real ownership. Lead non-instructional operations and shape the school's daily experience, readiness, and long-term sustainability.
• Work with strong partners. Collaborate with founder-led school leadership, an external CFO, HR and technical specialists, board leaders, and mission-aligned advisors.
• See the human impact. Every well-designed system gives teachers more space to teach, families more confidence, and scholars a stronger place to learn.
• Grow with the school. Your scope, team, and leadership influence will expand as POWER grows deliberately from its founding cohort through grade 12.

READY TO APPLY?

POWER Public Schools is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage applications from candidates of every background and do not make employment decisions on the basis of any legally protected characteristic.

REQUIREMENTS

Must Have

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, school operations, public administration, or a related field.
• Minimum 3–5 years of professional experience in school operations, finance, public administration, military logistics, or nonprofit management.
• Demonstrated experience managing vendor contracts, multi-tiered systems, or diverse operational teams.
• High proficiency with cloud-based tools and the ability to learn student information, CRM, finance, HR/payroll, procurement, and collaboration systems quickly.
• Proven track record in bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, and internal controls.
• Willing to complete the Georgia Charter Schools Association Financial Management Certification (GCSA-FMC).
• Tech-fluent: comfortable with cloud accounting systems, student information systems, and modern collaboration tools.
• Able to clear fingerprint and criminal background checks under O.C.G.A. Section 20-2-211.1.
• Able to commute or relocate to Mableton, Georgia

Highly Valued

• Direct experience launching or scaling a charter school.
• Experience managing school transportation networks or multi-tiered logistics.
• Background in HR administration or personnel management.
• Experience with enrollment and student recruitment in education.
• Familiarity with FERPA, COPPA, and school cybersecurity practice.
• Strong project management skill and comfort with iterative planning methods.
• Roots in or long relationship with South Cobb, Mableton, or Austell.
• Experience with light personal/logistical support that keeps a leader productive.