Director of Strategic Engagement

Location: Connecticut 

Role Tier: 4 - Director 

About Us

Our nation’s education system is leaving millions of students—including an overwhelming number of students of color and low-income students—unprepared for college, career, and life. Research shows that classroom teachers are the single most important in-school factor in improving student achievement, and we believe a truly thriving teaching profession requires educator voice and leadership. We work to build durable teacher power, especially with those who have been historically excluded from decision-making, to shape the systems and policies that define education. 

Founded by public school teachers, Educators for Excellence is a growing movement of nearly 40,000 educators working together to build a high-quality, diverse teaching profession with the resources and conditions necessary to help every student thrive. Together, we research and develop educator-informed solutions, build teacher power, and advocate for policy change at the district, state, and national levels.

What We Do

Our work is grounded in the belief that the teaching profession is one of the most vital forces shaping our shared future - and that educators must be at the center of shaping the policies and systems that define public education. We focus on developing teacher leadership and power to drive issue advocacy campaigns that shape policy, contracts, and the national conversation. 

To achieve our vision for transforming the teaching profession, we advance and support the implementation of a focused set of policy solutions backed by research and educators. Our agenda focuses on achieving a high-quality, diverse workforce through:

• Building strong and sustainable career pathways.
• Creating coherent systems of instructional support.
• Funding public schools fully and equitably.

By building durable teacher power, teachers unite as a collective force to drive lasting change and advance an equitable, sustainable public education system where every student has the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.

The Opportunity

The Director of Strategic Engagement will lead the design and execution of issue-based advocacy campaigns in Connecticut. This role sits at the intersection of campaign strategy, coalition leadership, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring that E4E’s work drives meaningful policy impact.

This individual will serve as a senior external-facing leader, representing the organization in coalition spaces, facilitating high-impact engagements, and building strategic partnerships. They will shape strategy, not just execute it, and bring strong judgment, discretion, and ownership to complex, fast-moving work.

Scope: What is the nature of the role?

The Director of Strategic Engagement will: 

Coalition Strategy & Execution

• Lead the design and execution of issue-based advocacy campaigns aligned to state and organizational priorities.
• Translate vision into clear campaign plans, milestones, and outcomes.
• Drive project management and decision-making across campaign work.
• Partner with the National Programs team to align on strategy, policy priorities, and execution.
• Ensure campaigns are grounded in strong education policy insight and analysis.

Strategic Engagement & External Leadership

• Represent E4E in coalitions, stakeholder spaces, and public forums with credibility and discretion.
• Build and manage relationships with key external stakeholders, including education leaders and partners.
• Lead and facilitate coalition meetings and convenings that drive alignment and action.
• Support and extend the Executive Director’s external presence and influence.
• Shape stakeholder strategy to ensure engagement efforts directly advance campaign goals.

Partnerships, Facilitation & Capacity Building

• Lead coalition management and partnership strategy, including identifying and cultivating strategic relationships.
• Design and facilitate trainings for educators, organizers, and coalition partners that include other education advocacy organizations, State Department of Education (SDE), district leaders, Educator Prep Programs (EPPs), and other stakeholders.
• Oversee and support organizers and teacher engagement strategy, ensuring strong alignment with campaign priorities.
• Develop partners’ ability to effectively engage in advocacy and collective action.

Minimum Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in education policy, advocacy, or related fields.
• Deep understanding of state-level legislative processes, education policy landscape, and political dynamics.
• Strong relationship builder with demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate across stakeholders.
• Experience leading or contributing to advocacy campaigns or coalitions.
• Excellent communication and strategic thinking skills.
• Experience managing or coaching staff, including organizers or program teams
• Experience creating and facilitating adult learning
• Deep commitment to the values of E4E, to our commitment to antiracism, and to education equity. 
• Knowledge of Slack, Asana, Salesforce, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, and corresponding Google Suite products, understanding of reporting databases (i.e., Salesforce) preferred, very comfortable with phone and email outreach.
• Ability to travel across the state to support events, meetings, and stakeholder engagement, with periodic national travel for organizational convenings and collaboration

Core Values: What beliefs do you embody? How do you approach your work?

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness: This role is externally facing and policy-driven. Centering equity and ensuring diverse voices are represented is core to credibility and impact.
• Dynamic Leadership: This is a senior, strategy-driving role that requires ownership, adaptability during legislative shifts, and strong forward momentum.
• Solutions Orientation: Government affairs work is complex and often ambiguous. This role requires someone who stays grounded in the mission and actively moves solutions forward.
• Respect & Professionalism: This role is constantly engaging legislators, partners, and stakeholders. Strong, thoughtful communication is critical to influence and trust-building.

Positional Skills - What can you do well?

• Setting & Managing Expectations: Clarifies the outcomes of the work and names what progress should look like along the way; delegates and checks in with a productive cadence 
• Thinking Holistically & Making Connections: Connects the work to the big picture, identifies opportunities to streamline tactics, and integrates streams/functions 
• Defining Problems to Solve: Synthesizes data; identifies & prioritizes opportunities to pursue and problems to solve 
• Allocating & Managing Resources: Strategically manages budget and capacity to move the work forward; manages time strategically; plans meetings purposefully
• Setting Vision & Direction: Establishes a clear vision that is mission-aligned, sets measurable goals, and develops teams and activities to maintain alignment with this vision

Functional Knowledge - What do you know a lot about?

• Education Policy Landscape 
• Education Landscape
• Educational Philanthropy Landscape 
• Networking and Brand Building
• Facilitating Coaching Conversations

Benefits & Applying

Compensation Policy: Educators for Excellence (E4E) is committed to valuing team members holistically. We do not engage in salary negotiations; our first offer is always our best offer.

Salary band (based on geographic location): $88,000 -  $128,000

Within this range, our competitive, non-negotiable salary offer will be based on a candidate’s relevant experience and credentials, role-related competencies assessed through our robust hiring process, and geographic location. 

COVID-19 Vaccination Policy: All new employees are required to comply with E4E’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, which requires all staff to be fully vaccinated before the start of employment. An employee will be considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the requisite number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Employees may request an exemption as a reasonable accommodation due to a medical reason or a sincerely held religious belief.

E4E abides by each state’s requirements and acknowledges that they may change over time. If you advance to an interview, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about this job requirement.

Accommodations: We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible interview experience and will ensure that all candidates are provided with reasonable accommodations that allow them to participate in the interview process. To request an accommodation, please email [email protected]

EEOC questionnaire: We place a particular focus on recruiting staff members who share the backgrounds of the communities we serve. We encourage all applicants to complete our EEOC questionnaire as part of your application process (these questions will be included in your initial application). Completing the questionnaire will help ensure our People & Equity team is attracting a diverse pool of qualified candidates for each of our open positions. Please note this information is not included with your application, and our hiring managers do not have access to race and other identifying information at any point in the interviewing or hiring process, including after a hire is made.

E4E uses E-Verify when completing all new hire paperwork. For more information, visit here.