Associate Partner, Innovative Public Schools
at NewSchools Venture Fund, United States
Listed on EduAtlas: live school vacancies from schools’ own careers pages and public job services. Apply on newschools.bamboohr.com.
- Salary
- Not given in the advert
- Closing date
- Open until filled
- Start
- Not given in the advert
- First seen
- 9 November 2026, on a public job listing
On newschools.bamboohr.com · Send it by: WhatsApp · LinkedIn · Email · X
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The advert
Associate Partner, Innovative Public Schools
OPPORTUNITY
Nationally recognized nonprofit venture philanthropy seeks to hire an Associate Partner on the Innovative Public Schools Team to find, fund, and support leaders designing the next generation of innovative, future-ready public schools in K-12 education.
ORGANIZATION
New Schools is a venture philanthropy that builds a better education system by connecting people, resources, and ideas. We bridge the gap between those with capital and those with the courage to put that capital to work on the frontlines of K-12 education. We envision an education system that keeps its promise to all students. That’s why we invest in the ideas and energy of education leaders and entrepreneurs who are advancing innovative solutions that expand the definition of what works. There’s a better way to advance education through philanthropy—one that is more equitable, more collaborative, and more courageous–and we’re proving it every day.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Innovative Public Schools (IPS) team at New Schools Venture Fund seeks an Associate Partner (AP) to lead our work finding and supporting school founders building future-ready school models. In this role, you will hold a portfolio of up to 10 public school teams in the design phases, roughly two years before opening, and lead our new work supporting AI-native and AI-supported fresh start schools. You will spend meaningful time in the field learning how innovation is showing up in schools and bringing that learning back to evolve our strategy. You will report to Ariana Valenzuela, Partner, and may work remotely from anywhere in the U.S. This role requires up to 25% travel for in-person team meetings, retreats, and school site visits.
Your legacy at New Schools will include:
Lead recruitment and selection for emergent, AI-native school models
• Own the recruitment strategy for founders building future-ready models — AI as core infrastructure, college and career pathways, talent and time redesign, and models for historically underserved students.
• Build and continuously refine a national pipeline of innovative founders across charter and district schools, using pattern recognition to identify promising models before they’re fully formed.
• Shape funding application and selection criteria that distinguish founders with genuine model ambition from those who use the language of innovation without the substance.
• Bring an innovation lens to application review, due diligence, and selection alongside the IPS team.
• Author investment recommendations for leadership and the board, making the case for which founders merit early-stage capital and why.
Own the design-phase experience for a portfolio of Y00 school teams
• Serve as the strategic relationship owner for up to 10 school teams in their earliest design phase (two years before opening), diagnosing where each founder’s model is strong, underdeveloped, or at risk, and shaping the support plan accordingly.
• Coach founders through the hardest design decisions — instructional coherence, AI integration, talent and staffing, authorization, launch readiness — bringing judgment on what distinguishes a genuinely differentiated model from one innovative in name only.
• Design and lead adult learning experiences — cohort convenings, design sprints, school visits, peer consultancy — differentiated by stage and model, curating outside experts and exemplar schools where that accelerates a founder’s thinking more than internal coaching can.
• Partner with other associate partners to ensure strong handoffs and learning arcs across the Y00-Y3 trajectory.
Contribute to IPS’ AI schools work
• Serve as the IPS lead for identifying, selecting, and supporting AI-native and AI-supported fresh start schools, setting the bar for what counts as AI built into a model’s core design versus AI used as an added tool.
• Manage and evaluate relationships with AI implementation partners, matching founders to the right technical support and holding partners accountable for the outcomes they’re meant to enable.
• Contribute to New Schools’ AI learning agenda with the Research and Learning team — which approaches to AI integration are most promising, what they require in staffing, scheduling, instruction, and assessment, and what conditions help these models succeed and sustain.
Translate field insight into strategy and influence
• Spend significant time in schools, incubators, and convenings to build a firsthand, current view of how innovation is actually showing up and surfacing what founders need that we’re not yet providing.
• Synthesize field and portfolio insight into sharper selection criteria, support strategy, and investment priorities, ensuring New Schools’ thesis evolves with what’s actually working rather than lagging behind it.
• Build New Schools’ external influence and credibility by sharing what we’re learning with the field, positioning New Schools as the organization with the clearest read on where AI-native school design is headed.
Take on emergent strategy work as IPS priorities evolve
• Lead or contribute to new innovation initiatives and special projects, partnering with the team lead to define scope, approach, and timeline as New Schools’ strategy develops.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required
• Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in the education field, including school leadership, school design, management consulting, or philanthropy
• At least 5 years of experience serving as a school principal or coaching school principals
• Direct experience with AI in schools, such as building AI into instructional or operational systems, supporting AI adoption, or evaluating AI tools and models
• Experience founding, designing, or redesigning innovative school models, or coaching early-stage founders through design and launch
• Demonstrated ability to design and deliver impactful adult learning experiences for leaders and teams
• Travel up to 25% for in-person team meetings, retreats, and school site visits
Preferred
• Experience making or contributing to investment, funding, or high-stakes organizational decisions
EXPERIENCE YOU BRING