Lead, Service Delivery Management

Job Overview

The Lead, Service Delivery Management formerly known as the Director of School Operations (DSO) is a senior, enterprise-level leadership role responsible for operational excellence across a portfolio of Connections Academy schools. The Lead, Service Delivery Management focuses on strengthening the effectiveness of school leaders and leadership teams through hands‑on partnership, coaching, and operational problem‑solving. This role directly manages the primary school leader and at each school will work directly with principals, directors, and school leadership teams to ensure schools are operationally strong, well‑supported, and positioned to serve students successfully.

The Lead uses a multi-layer leadership model to ensure alignment and execution of school operations to PVS standards and values. This is accomplished by supporting operational systems, compliance structures, and leadership accountability through school-based leadership teams. The scope of this role is inherently complex and high-impact, requiring a majority of time spent working directly with schools, the ability to lead leaders, operate at scale, and balance competing priorities across multiple schools and PVS simultaneously.

The Lead works in a number of cross-functional teams identified as key members to accomplish school goals. This includes close partnership with the School Success Partner (SSP), who holds overall accountability for school/account success and continuity of operations. In addition, they provide critical support to operationalize and hold leaders accountable for academic improvement strategies identified by the Academic Outcomes Teams.

• Lead operational execution across multiple schools and leadership teams.
• Ensure compliance with regulations and contract requirements, operational efficiency, and sustainability at scale.
• Strengthen school leader effectiveness, stability, and succession
• Enable enrollment growth through operational readiness while maintaining a focus on student experience and success.
• Partner with SSP to translate account strategy into disciplined, scalable execution
• Support academic improvement by holding school leaders accountable to initiatives established by the Academic Outcomes team who holds academic accountability.
• Ensure Connections Academy model is implemented with fidelity and overall alignment to Pearson values.

• Directly manage and coach multiple school leaders across a portfolio of schools.
• Indirectly support and influence entire leadership teams and school staff through strong systems, expectations, and execution discipline.
• Establish consistent operational expectations across schools while allowing for local nuances where required.
• Hold school leaders accountable for execution of:
• Academic action plans and initiatives
• Compliance and charter/SOA requirements
• School year cycle milestones and operational deliverables
• Monitor operational health, engagement trends, and compliance indicators across schools to identify risks and required interventions.
• Provide structured, data-informed coaching to leaders to improve execution at scale.

• Work closely with schools to ensure they are operationally prepared to support enrollment growth.
• Validate leadership capacity, staffing structures, onboarding processes, scheduling, and systems readiness at each school.
• Identify school operational constraints that could limit growth, persistence, or staff sustainability.
• Strengthen retention-supporting school practices that indirectly impact student and staff experience.
• Identify risks to charter stability and renewal readiness and work across PVS departments to mitigate risks.

• Ensure consistent execution of school year cycle activities across multiple schools, including:
• Calendar and handbook alignment
• Annual policy and process reviews
• Summer school planning
• Identify strain points affecting leaders and staff and coordinate mitigations across the portfolio of schools.

• Serve as a leader of leaders,…