Director of External Affairs & Chief of Staff

Director of External Affairs & Chief of Staff

Hybrid

Washington, DC

LIBERTY SEEDS

Washington, DC
· Posted August 24, 2026

The Center for Education Reform is a national leader in advancing educational opportunity, innovation, freedom, and parent power. For more than three decades, CER has worked at the intersection of policy and practice — advancing laws and ideas that make innovation possible while supporting the people and organizations turning those opportunities into reality for students and families.

This position offers an unusual opportunity to help lead that work at a consequential moment for CER and for American education.

About the Role

The Center for Education Reform is seeking an exceptional, highly organized, mission-driven leader to serve as Director of External Affairs & Chief of Staff, and to be a member of CER’s senior leadership team.

This is a high-trust, high-responsibility role for someone who thrives at the intersection of policy, organizational leadership, external relationships, communications, and execution. The person in this position must be able to see the whole field, manage multiple complex priorities at once, ensure that critical work moves forward with accuracy and urgency, and keep the CEO and leadership team fully informed in real time.

The right candidate will have a deep and abiding belief in CER’s mission to expand educational opportunity, innovation, freedom, and parent power — and will bring the judgment, discipline, work ethic, and leadership necessary to advance that mission every day.

The position reports to the CEO. The Director of External Affairs & Chief of Staff can work from CER’s Washington, DC office or in a hybrid arrangement. Ideally, this person will live in the Washington, DC area and be in the office 1-2 times a week. CER will also consider virtual arrangements for exceptional candidates who reside elsewhere in the Eastern time zone or are willing to work Eastern time zone hours.

The estimated travel for this role is 15%.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee and support the CEO’s work with external partners related to education policy, innovation, opportunity, and reform.
• Help coordinate the different parts of CER that develop, respond to, analyze, communicate, or support policy initiatives at the state and federal levels.
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of laws, policies, legislation, and emerging developments that fall within CER’s areas of focus, and ensure that leadership is quickly alerted to developments that require attention, action, or response.
• Manage and support the development of CER’s Parent Power Index and related research and policy products, with an exceptional commitment to accuracy, detail, quality control, and timely execution.
• Serve as a key organizational link between the CEO, senior leadership, staff, external partners, policymakers, program leaders, and other stakeholders.
• Ensure that the CEO and leadership team receive the information, materials, analysis, follow-up, and support they need — when they need it — rather than after the fact.
• Help manage major cross-organizational initiatives, ensuring that responsibilities are clear, deadlines are met, important details do not fall through the cracks, and staff are communicating effectively with leadership.
• Liaise with Yass Prize alumni and Prize program leadership and help ensure that important developments, commitments, opportunities, and concerns are surfaced appropriately.
• Help organize CER’s participation in conferences, meetings, convenings, and other significant external engagements.
• Work closely with CER’s communications team to supply policy content, background, ideas, research, messaging, and timely information for external…