Senior Operations Specialist - Early College and Career Education

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third largest school district in the United States, serving over 360,000 students at 600+ schools. CPS employs over 34,000 people, more than half of whom are teachers, and has set ambitious goals to ensure that every childin every school and every neighborhoodhas access to a world-class learning experience, resulting in graduation from high school college- and career-ready. And CPS students are making incredible progress. Recently, CPS announced a record-high graduation rate of 77.5% and boasts some of the fastest learning growth in the nation among large cities.

Reporting to the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Business Operations Manager the Senior Operations Specialist will be responsible for a range of business operations roles to support the successful development and operation of CTE labs citywide. Through partnership with a broad range of CTE team members, Principals, Teachers, School based personnel, and CPS departments including Procurement, Facilities, Office of Budget and Grants Management, as well as a number of CPS vendors this individual will support CTE students by ensuring that labs are operating at an optimal level with functioning state of the art equipment and ideal classroom conditions. The Senior Operations Specialist will collaborate with CTE team members to ensure that labs meet industry standards and will serve students studying coursework in areas such as agriculture, culinary arts, personal care services, transportation, health, pre-engineering, automotive technology, carpentry, cosmetology, and information technology. The CTE Senior Operations Specialist will follow a systematic approach to ensuring that all infrastructure and equipment is in place and operational for all CTE labs by the start of the school year and throughout the academic year.

This Specialist will also oversee all operational aspects of closing and phasing out CTE labs per grant and CPS standards by partnering with CTE team members, school staff, and CPS Facilities to aid efforts such as asset inventory, asset transfers between schools, and asset disposition, such that high-value CTE equipment is utilized as efficiently as possible when programs are closed. In addition, the CTE Senior Operations Specialist will train all stakeholders to report on lab maintenance issues, and liaising with CPS Facilities and Information Technology Services to ensure expedient resolution of facility issues as they occur, such that classroom instruction does not get disrupted. Finally, this individual will oversee the budget for new lab development, will be responsible for equipment procurement efforts (including coordinating strategic sourcing agreements where needed), and will make resource allocation recommendations and provide additional technical, budget, and strategic support to senior ECCE/CTE department personnel and various stakeholders as needed.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Act as CTE department liaison to Facilities and Information Technology Services departments to ensure over 200 CTE labs citywide are operational and able to ensure delivery of the CTE curriculum at all times; facilitate lab issue resolution as needed. Includes serving as CTE representative at cross-departmental planning meetings.
   
   
2. Establish strong relationships with CTE Principals, teachers, and related school-based staff to provide timely response to requests for budgetary or procurement support.
   
   
3. Develop, manage and report on resource allocations, budget implementation and financial processes and policies for CTE labs within the CTE budget.
   
   
4. Collaborate with CTE Managers to build and maintain a comprehensive budgeting model for CTE Program Managers based on baseline equipment/materials/supply needs of CTE program labs.
   
   
5. Assist Business Operations Manager in the development and coordination of all budget and procurement training activities for school based staff, teachers and CTE staff.
   
   
6. Partner with Business Manager and Procurement to develop preventative maintenance plans to aid in the operational longevity of common CTE lab equipment.
   
   
7. Manage the CTE equipment repair process by collaborating with CTE teachers, ITS, Facilities, Program Managers, school based staff and the Business Operations Manager and EFE Manager when needed to coordinate the repair of CTE equipment.
   
   
8. Collaborate with Business Manager, EFE Manager, Program Managers, Facilities and school based staff to coordinate, develop and execute plans to transfer and dispose of CTE assets associated in closing programs. This includes asset inventory, selection of disposition process (e.g., recycle within CTE, donate outside of CPS, sell, scrap, etc.), and disposition.
   
   
9. Manage procurement-to-payment process for all CTE equipment purchases by monitoring open purchase orders at schools and working with vendors to ensure that all Purchase Orders are closed before the grant deadline.
   
   
10. Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders including Principals, Teachers, School Business Managers, CTE team members, and various CPS departments (e.g., Procurement and Facilities) to manage the overall operational development of new CTE labs (i.e., facility infrastructure development, and equipment procurement, delivery, installation, and set-up).
    
    
11. Partner with Business Operations Manager, CTE Program Managers, CTE teachers and Procurement Department to establish strategic source vendors for CTE programs.
    
    
12. Performing any other activity as designated by the Business Operations Manager, and fill in for the Manager as required.
    
    

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

1. Project planning and implementation capabilities, including experience aligning and managing activities toward execution of identified goals.
   
   
2. Self-starter with ability to conduct multiple projects concurrently, both independently and as a member of a collaborative team.
   
   
3. Outstanding problem-solving and analytical skills, with student centered and a 'can-do,' solutions-oriented approach to problem solving.
   
   
4. Ability to build trusting relationships and collaborate effectively both at the school level and with senior level central office personnel (e.g., Chief Operations Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, etc.); able to unite teams around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success.
   
   
5. Experience in budget management; familiarity with CPS budgeting procedures a plus.
   
   
6. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
   
   
7. Strong organization and technology skills (e.g., familiarity with Microsoft Office programs, especially Excel).
   
   
8. Strong customer service orientation (e.g., CTE staff, students and school based staff)
   
   
9. Ability to work in a faced paced and high energy environment.
   
   
10. A track record of success as demonstrated by superior academic and professional achievement.
    
    

Type of Education Required: BA/BS in business or related field from an accredited college or university is required. Master's degree preferred.

Type of Experience and Number of Years: Five or more years of professional experience. Significant project management experience, i.e., experience successfully managing large scale, inter-departmental projects without direct authority. Must have experience with budget management. Knowledge of career and technical education and/or Perkins grant guidelines a plus but not required.

Residency Requirement:

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of his or her CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district.