Director of Implementation, Design, and Coaching - ELA

Director of Implementation, Design, and Coaching Job Description - ELA

Oakland, CA

What We Do

At Leading Educators, we know that excellent teaching is the most important driver of student success. The moment a student steps foot in the classroom, their opportunity to learn depends on how prepared their teacher is to translate complex content knowledge, standards, and their knowledge of that student into lessons that help them learn deeply and apply their thinking to the real world.

That's a big lift, and it often happens alone. As a national nonprofit, we partner with school systems to overcome persistent instructional challenges, foster intentional collaboration and adult learning by design, and ignite new possibilities through systemic solutions at the intersection of teaching, talent, and technology.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with educators at every level of the education system to strengthen their instructional and leadership practices, bring a vision for excellent instruction to life with consistency, and ensure every student reaches their full potential.

Through direct support, strategic advising, innovation pilots, and best-in-class research, we help educators work toward a future where every student is ready to thrive. Learn more about our work at leadingeducators.org.

Position

Leading Educators is seeking a Director of Implementation, Design, and Coaching – ELA to serve as the strategic lead driving instructional transformation across seven schools in the San Mateo-Foster City and Ravenswood City School Districts. In this role, you'll own the full lifecycle of ELA implementation—from launch through measurable impact—while building the capacity of school and district leaders to sustain excellence in literacy instruction.

This is a hybrid leadership position that demands equal expertise in instructional coaching, professional learning design, and strategic client partnership. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with teachers, instructional leaders, and district teams to translate complex literacy science into coherent, executable practice that reaches every student.

This role is not for the faint of heart. You'll navigate competing priorities, surface implementation risks before they derail progress, and make real-time adjustments that keep projects on track while maintaining fidelity to high-quality instruction. Your ability to translate data into actionable insights—and to communicate those insights clearly to diverse stakeholders—will directly influence how thousands of students experience literacy instruction. You'll design and facilitate job-embedded professional learning cycles that stick, conduct learning walks that reveal truth, and debrief with precision so that leaders see exactly what's working and what needs attention.

Beyond execution, you'll be a thought partner to district leadership, surfacing opportunities and risks that emerge from school-level implementation and contributing to strategic decisions that shape the partnership. Whether you're coaching a principal through a difficult feedback conversation, designing a professional learning session that shifts teacher practice, or analyzing student work data to refine instructional strategy, you'll bring both rigor and humanity to every interaction.

This is leadership work that matters—work that directly impacts teaching quality and student outcomes.

Do you have expertise in…

• Leading instructional improvement initiatives and designing adult professional learning that translates to changes in classroom practice?
• K–8 literacy instruction, high-quality instructional materials (including Benchmark, CKLA, and MyPerspectives), and the Science of Reading and its application to foundational skills, language development, and reading comprehension?
• The California English Language Development (CA ELD) Standards and evidence-based practices for both Integrated and Designated ELD instruction?
• Managing complex, multi-school implementation efforts at the district or school level, with the ability to establish systems that track progress, identify risks, and drive measurable outcomes?

Do you enjoy…

• Building trust-based relationships with school and…