Senior Manager, People Operations

About the Organization 

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of tuition-free public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 279 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and nearly 210,000 students and alumni.

Our mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. 

The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP public charter schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation helps to develop outstanding educators to lead KIPP schools; provides tools and resources for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations. 

About Our Values: 

Excellent Results for Students: We value results over effort and know that our work is not finished until all students thrive. We maintain high expectations for self, team, and students. We drive outcomes by operating with agility, removing barriers, differentiating support, and prioritizing student-centered solutions—especially for those at the margins. 

Collective Impact: We are one team. We win together. We embody a one-team mindset by working collaboratively across teams, aligning goals, and leveraging the strengths of all teammates. We build trust-based relationships and ensure inclusive decision-making by engaging those closest to the work. We provide clarity through simple, repeatable systems and goals that enable transformational outcomes. 

Courageous Action: Our belief in what we can achieve is unwavering, fueling our optimism and commitment to overcome any challenge. We demonstrate an unwavering belief in students' potential and a commitment to addressing systemic inequities. We approach challenges with resilience, a solutions-focused mindset, and adaptability. We foster a psychologically safe environment centered on trust and accountability where feedback is encouraged. We leverage data to reflect on progress, own setbacks, celebrate successes, and continuously improve to maximize impact. 

About The Position 

KIPP Foundation is at a critical moment as we strengthen our ability to build consistent, high-quality talent systems that enable leaders and staff to thrive. A key part of this work is ensuring that our People Operations systems, particularly those related to compensation, benefits, policies, and employee experience, are executed with clarity, consistency, and care. 

The Senior Manager of People Operations & Systems, reporting to the Senior Director of People Operations, plays a critical role in bringing this vision to life through strong execution of core HR operations and Total Rewards systems. This role is responsible for ensuring that compensation and benefits programs, HR policies, and employee processes are implemented accurately and consistently across the Foundation. 

In this role, the Senior Manager will serve as a key operator and problem-solver, translating systems and processes into day-to-day execution that supports a seamless employee experience. From managing compensation and benefits operations to maintaining HR systems and ensuring compliance with policies and regulations, this role ensures that People Operations work is delivered with precision and reliability. 

This role also partners closely across the Talent team to ensure that HR operations effectively support performance management, development, and engagement systems, helping to reinforce a cohesive and high-quality employee experience. 

This is an opportunity for a detail-oriented and systems-minded leader who thrives in execution, enjoys improving processes, and is committed to delivering high-quality operational support that enables both leaders and staff to do their best work. 

Responsibilities 

Total Rewards Execution 

• Lead the execution of compensation and benefits, and retirement programs, ensuring accurate, timely, and consistent delivery across the Foundation. 

• Administer compensation processes, including salary adjustments, stipends, and compensation cycles, ensuring alignment to established structures and guidelines. 

• Oversee benefits operations and negotiating benefits renewal in partnership with leadership, ensuring a high-quality employee experience and effective coordination with vendors and internal partners. 

HR Policies, Procedures & Compliance 

• Execute HR policies, procedures, and operational protocols, ensuring consistent and compliant application across the organization (e.g., internal talent policies and employee handbook). 

• Ensure all employees receive required annual trainings based on organizational law 

• Maintain and update HR documentation, ensuring policies are clear, accessible, and aligned to legal and organizational requirements. 

• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws through accurate and consistent implementation of HR practices. 

• Identify gaps in policies and processes and recommend improvements to strengthen clarity, consistency, and compliance. 

HR Operations  

• Own execution of HR operational processes role changes, employee transitions, and offboarding. 

• Ensure a consistent and high-quality employee experience through reliable and well-executed HR processes. 

• Partner with Development & Growth to ensure HR operations effectively support performance management and employee experience systems. 

• Partner with Manager of People Operations to ensure policies reflect payroll and vendor changes. 

• Partner with Senior Director of People Operations to draft and approve annual org holiday calendar. 

HR Systems, Data & Reporting 

• Administer HR systems (HRIS, benefits platforms), ensuring data accuracy, system functionality, and alignment across platforms. 

• Maintain data integrity and ensure accurate employee records and reporting. 

• Develop and manage dashboards and reports that track key HR operational and Total Rewards metrics. 

• Conduct regular audits to ensure compliance, data accuracy, and process consistency. 

Operational Execution & Continuous Improvement 

• Own execution of People Operations workflows, ensuring high-quality, timely, and consistent delivery of services. 

• Identify and implement process improvements to increase efficiency, reduce friction, and improve clarity for staff and managers. 

• Partner with the Senior Director and Director to translate strategy into operational plans and ensure effective implementation. 

Skills and Mindsets 

• Mission and Student Focus: Demonstrates passion and commitment to KIPP’s mission and possesses the desire and ability to uphold KIPP’s core values (Focus on Excellent Results, Collective Impact, and Courageous Action)  

• Self-Management: Demonstrated record of co-creating ambitious goals with their managers – and driving toward desired outcomes; Effectively monitors progress toward goals for multiple workstreams; Leverages understanding of an organization’s operating model, structure, and core operational process to effectively drive work to achieve goals; effectively works through direct reports and peers to follow through on commitments, ensuring others do the same. 

• Process Management: Able to build and align goals and project plans with organization priorities; leverages relevant organizational processes and systems to execute work; can build and maintain knowledge management systems; effectively develops and codifies processes to ensure efficiency, alignment with organizational processes, and to improve work quality.   

• Data Driven Actions and Decisions: Effectively uses data to inform work streams; accurately synthesizes key findings from data analyses and can effectively communicate the data synthesis to inform actions, decisions, and solutions. 

• Collaboration: Leads successful stakeholder management, accounting for varied perspectives when gathering feedback.  Builds coalition by prioritizing end-user experiences.  Builds trusting relationships and effective communications.  Able to identify and remove barriers to working across teams. 

Experience and Qualifications 

• 4+ years of talent operations, compensations, benefits and human resources policies 

• HR expertise and knowledge in employment laws across multiple geographic territories. 

• A track record of delivering great customer service while effectively managing relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., Finance Teams, IT teams), along with advising, influencing, & challenging stakeholders when needed. 

• Excitement to engage in an innovative and agile environment focused on continuous learning and improvement 

• A drive to make decisions through passion for impact, thoughtful analysis, and a consistent lens on equity 

• Experience using HR systems (ADP, workforce, ATS, salesforce, etc.) 

• Aptitude in Analytics, Data, and Strategy: Able to use data analysis and data-driven narratives to affect decision making and create strategy. 

Work Conditions 

• Travel: Minimal Travel: up to 5% (up to 10 days per year)

• Full, exempt role 

Location 

It is preferred, but not mandatory for this role to be based out of a KIPP Foundation office. This role also has the option of working from a remote office full-time. KIPP Foundation offices are in NYC and Chicago. 

Compensation and Benefits 

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, and relevant experience. The salary range for this position is $104,000 - $123,500. In addition, KIPP Foundation provides a variety of benefits to employees, including:  

• 25 holidays for + 18 days additional flexible PTO days (flexible PTO increases to 23 days for years 3 and 4 and to 28 days for years 5+). 

• 100% paid parental leave 

• 100% coverage of the premium for employee and 75% for employee + family’s medical/dental/vision plans. 

• Wellness benefits such as fitness reimbursements, discounted tickets to theme parks/attractions, backup care support for children and adults/elders, and our employee assistance program 

• Finance Security benefits include such as a 401K retirement plan with 4% match, employer-sponsored legal plans, life/disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts 

KIPP Foundation embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the students and communities with whom we work and the world that’s around them. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.