Jobs at GreatSchools

Founded in 1998, GreatSchools is a national nonprofit that helps parents get a great education for their children. Our programs combine the broad reach of digital media with the power of community partnerships. This year we will reach more than 43 million people, including nearly half of all American households with school-age children.

Our Webby award-winning website, GreatSchools.org, helps families make crucial decisions about where to live and where to send their children to school. With profiles of 200,000 public and private schools and more than one million parent ratings and reviews, GreatSchools.org is the nation's leading guide to PK-12 schools. In addition, GreatSchools.org offers thousands of articles, videos and worksheets that give parents practical ideas and tools to support their children's learning.

Headquartered in San Francisco, GreatSchools operates field offices in Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise specified, all of our open positions are located in our San Francisco, CA office. Sorry, we do not offer relocation assistance.

We are an equal opportunity employer and actively seek to recruit a diverse workforce.

Positions Available:

Director of Media Sales and Sponsorships

Desktop Support Engineer/Systems Administrator

Accountant

Product Manager

Web Analytics Analyst

Director of Media Sales and Sponsorships

We are looking looking for a highly strategic and experienced executive to manage sales of digital media solutions and sponsorships to national and local businesses. For the right candidate, we offer the unique opportunity to leverage your sales and leadership skills while making a difference in the education of millions of children.

The Director of Media Sales and Sponsorships will be responsible for setting media solutions strategy, leading the efforts of our online media sales team, and ensuring that targets are met and exceeded. GreatSchools has established a successful online advertising business that has endemic and cause-advertising components.

The Director of Media Sales and Sponsorships will also lead GreatSchools’ program to establish and grow a sponsorship revenue stream from leading national and local sponsors.

This position reports to the VP of Business Development.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute a strategy for creating and selling innovative media and sponsorship solutions -- from brand to direct response -- that work for a range of advertisers
• Build, coach, and motivate a national sales team to ensure revenue targets are met and/or exceeded
• Work with Sales Managers to negotiate contracts with larger clients
• Ensure effective client communication process including excellent end-to-end client experiences from initial contact through contract negotiation and campaign delivery
• Provide revenue reports, forecasts, and analysis of advertising results
• Manage advertising and sponsorship team budget
• Work with the marketing, product and other internal teams to produce new advertising and sponsorship solutions, proposals, programs and other support collateral
• Maintain knowledge of trends within markets and industries; recognize and address barriers to advertiser and sponsor acquisition and retention
• Some travel required

Experience/Education/Skills Required:

• Minimum 7 years digital advertising sales and sponsorship program experience
• 5 or more years management experience with the proven ability to lead, motivate and develop a sales team
• Strong track record of meeting and exceeding targets
• Proven success in driving revenue through the development of long-term strategic relationships
• Demonstrated track record of structuring and managing complex negotiations to successful closure and delivery
• Experience and knowledge managing branded media and sponsorship campaigns
• Solid understanding of online advertising serving and reporting systems
• Solid understanding of social media, mobile, and emerging opportunities for brands and advertisers
• Knowledge of business and advertising trends and the ability to translate this knowledge into media solutions for clients

Experience/Education/Skills Preferred:

• BA degree required; MBA preferred
• Experience working in a start-up environment or at a major non-profit organization
• Ad agency experience is highly desirable
• Working knowledge of 3rd party research tools (e.g., comScore, Omniture, Quantcast)

Essential Qualities:

• A passion for PreK-12 education along with a passion for the GreatSchools mission of helping parents get a great education for their kids
• Ability to think analytically, set priorities and meet deadlines
• Ability to solve complex issues to achieve objectives and deliver results on multiple projects in a complex, fast-moving and entrepreneurial environment
• Positive work ethic and ability to exercise mature judgment
• Ability to lead teams and positively influence colleagues
• Ability to successfully work within cross-functional teams and the organization

How To Apply:

Please submit a cover letter, including salary requirements, and resume here. Your cover letter should include your reasons why you want to work for GreatSchools. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No phone calls please.

Accountant

We are looking for a part-time (30 hours/week) accountant who will provide support to our Accounting Manager. Experience in accounting operations and familiarity with SAGE MIP and Microsoft Office applications preferred.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Process vendor invoices and respond to inquiries
• Review and process expense reimbursements
• Process monthly corporate credit card charges and reconcile against statements
• Track and maintain records for fixed assets
• Prepare monthly accruals, depreciation and journal entries
• Assist with AR collections and processing cash receipts
• Assist with day-to-day accounting tasks and special projects such as tax and audit preparation, year-end 1099 forms issuance, and account reconciliations
• Maintain accounting and finance files

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 2+ years' relevant accounting experience
• Self-starter capable of managing and prioritizing multiple projects
• Detail-oriented and highly organized
• Excellent communications and interpersonal skills
• Sensitive to confidential information and ability to keep personnel issues and information confidential
• Strong skills with Microsoft Excel and experience with SAGE MIP or similar accounting software preferred
• Nonprofit accounting experience a plus

This is a part-time (30 hours/week) position and is located in our San Francisco office. Only apply if this is what you are seeking. No phone please.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, including salary requirements and resume to jobs+accountant.gs@greatschools.org, with "Accountant" in the subject line. Your cover letter should include your reasons why you want to work for GreatSchools. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No phone calls please.

Desktop Support Engineer/Systems Administrator

We are looking for a Desktop Support Engineer/Systems Administrator who will provide internal IT support for both on-site and remote employees as well as carry out administrative tasks on Windows and FreeBSD/Linux servers.

The ideal candidate for this role has solid desktop support and customer service skills along with a desire to learn more technical skills. There is the opportunity to grow towards a Unix Systems Administrator, and we are willing to train someone with the right attitude towards learning. This is a perfect opportunity for someone to learn what it takes to operate a high-traffic website with challenging uptime goals.

This position reports to the Director of Technical Operations.

Major Responsibilities:

• Provide timely resolution and top-notch customer service to employee helpdesk requests on Windows 7 and Mac OS X platforms
• Provision, configure, maintain, and upgrade computers for employees
• Configure and manage VoIP phone system
• Configure and manage email and calendaring system
• Manage Windows servers, including but not limited to Active Directory, file shares, and corporate anti-virus protection
• Track and maintain accurate records of technology assets
• Procure new equipment in a cost-effective manner and maintain vendor relationships
• Set up, troubleshoot, and maintain office printers and A/V equipment
• Create documentation for common end-user questions; keep internal documentation up-to-date
• Stay abreast of new technologies and determine applicability in business environment
• Assist Unix Systems Administrators with website maintenance, including but not limited to:
  • Scripting (automating) routine tasks
  • Upgrading software as needed
  • Maintaining DNS records

Experience/Skills/Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or 2+ years’ relevant desktop/technical support experience
• Ability to diagnose and troubleshoot problems on both Windows 7 and Mac OS X
• Experience managing Windows Server 2003/2008, Active Directory, and file servers
• Experience with network-level services such as DNS, DHCP, VPN’s
• Experience with VoIP phone systems and configuration
• Experience with managing email servers, distribution lists, and configuration of a variety of mail clients on desktop and mobile platforms
• Some familiarity with UNIX/Linux; shell scripting experience a plus
• Self-starter capable of managing and prioritizing multiple projects and requests
• Detail-oriented and highly organized
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

How To Apply:

Please submit a cover letter, including salary requirements, and resume here. Your cover letter should include your reasons why you want to work for GreatSchools. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No phone calls please.

Product Manager

We are seeking a results-oriented Product Manager to drive digital media product development, specifically building consumer-facing tools that advance strategic objectives and increases revenue.

The efforts of this new position will be on growing the core GreatSchools.org website, specifically new and improved online experiences for families to navigate the K-12 school choice process. Project focus areas include creating consumer web experiences that facilitate family-school matching, school selection and school quality research.

The Product Manager reports directly to the VP of Product. You will be part of a core team of product managers, designers and developers working towards the completion of a broader product enhancement project. You will be instrumental in rapidly rolling out medium-to-large new features and tools projects, and must interface with stakeholders in product marketing, editorial, and technology departments to confirm requirements and project trade-offs. Familiarity with both waterfall and agile development methodologies is highly desirable.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Drive products through the full lifecycle, from concept and development through release and post-launch monitoring, working closely with other departments
• Develop hypotheses about desired features (in project tracking software) with input from cross-departmental stakeholders
• Work with the UX design team to produce wireframes and visual design mocks and/or plan usability testing for product features
• Gather project estimates from the development team, identifying priorities and trade-offs as needed to keep projects time- and cost-efficient
• Manage a test and learn process to gauge success, develop project lessons and inform future improvements
• Cultivate stakeholder awareness of project status

Qualifications

• The ideal candidate has highly relevant experience in two or more of the following areas: web application development, information architecture, transactional web experience design, user flow design, or data visualization
• Experience distilling complicated information to its essential meaning, while providing a rich learning and action-oriented experience for users
• Extremely detail-oriented with keen ability to understand high-level project objectives
• Solid understanding of social networking landscape
• Demonstrated passion for building products that delight users and align with a greater mission/vision
• Collaborative, team player at the core, with strong initiative to drive forward project goals individually
• Experience managing products for multiple platforms (web, tablet, print on-demand) desired
• Familiarity with schools, school data, and education reform is a plus
• Experience in an agile software development environment, with rapid feedback loops and quick release cycles
• Ability to drive ideas from concept to completion through strong organizational, project management, and teamwork skills
• Ability to manage multiple large, complex projects
• Excellent verbal and written communications
• Ability to leverage cross-functional teams and individuals to achieve project goals
• Predisposition to think analytically and always seek analysis as a pathway to product decisions

This is a full-time position and is located in our San Francisco office. Only apply if this is what you are seeking. No phone please.

How To Apply:

Please submit a cover letter, including salary requirements, and resume here. Your cover letter should include your reasons why you want to work for GreatSchools. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No phone calls please.

Web Analytics Analyst

We are looking for a Web Analytics Analyst to join our team. You’ll be in good company here, because what we do best is leverage best practices in online and social media to help parents support their children’s education. You will help determine, through site instrumentation and data analysis, how GreatSchools can optimize the delivery of helpful information, tools and services to the 44 million visitors we serve each year in order to maximize our social impact, brand leadership and financial sustainability. In rising to this challenge you exhibit creativity, flexible thinking and optimism, while staying grounded in your deep experience in business analysis and web analytics.

As a member of the Business Insights team, you will report to the Director, Research and Evaluation. You will manage a wide range of projects, independently at times and sometimes in close collaboration with members of every department: product, data, engineering, marketing, research, editorial, and sales. Your analysis and recommendations will influence organization-level strategy, processes and decisions. Your skills make you very popular in our office, where decisions are driven by evidence, and innovation is supported by a test-and-learn culture.

Responsibilities:

• Ensure that our web sites have proper site instrumentation that is optimized for measuring social impact, brand, and sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Collaborate closely with product, data, engineering, marketing, research, editorial and sales departments to develop and implement tracking plans for new products on the site
• Use SiteCatalyst to measure onsite traffic – visitors, page views, engagement, referrer traffic, etc.
• Create and regularly update web analytics dashboards to monitor progress toward organization-wide and funder goals
• Guide product teams through the design and set-up of new product testing (A/B, multivariate)
• Help senior leadership understand our competitive landscape, and maintain expert POV on important trends in web/mobile publishing, digital advertising, analytics, segmentation and targeting
• Communicate insights to stakeholders and become the organization’s trusted advisor for all things web analytics-related, from front-end reporting to making high-level business recommendations
• Utilize public sources of information such as Census and NCES data to create a full picture about user behavior
• Measure and optimize conversion from email and referral traffic, through funnel and click stream analysis

Required skills (or demonstrated ability to pick them up quickly):

• 1-2 years experience in web analytics or ad yield optimization preferred, analyzing large sets of user and/or ad sales data
• Experience in top-tier web analytics tracking tool instrumentation, preferably Omniture, including tagging, hierarchy, targeting, testing. Will consider Google Analytics experience
• Self-starter with strong organizational, verbal, analytical skills and incredible attention to detail
• Great data analysis and statistical skills, and an Excel power-user, however ready and able to go beyond Excel to link data from different sources such as Omniture, ad server, and internal databases
• Demonstrated management skills, including prioritization, project planning and management, coaching of colleagues and direct reports, and ability to up-level important insights
• Ability to do a quick back of the envelope calculation and equally comfortable modeling scenarios with multiple unknown variables
• Plus: Experience with mapping web site taxonomies to support ad inventory management, yield insights and identifying optimal ad packages

How To Apply:

Please submit your cover letter, including salary requirements, and resume here. Your cover letter should include your reasons why you want to work for GreatSchools. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No phone calls please.

This is a full-time staff position in our San Francisco office. Only apply if this is what you are seeking.

To inquire about positions with schools or school districts, please contact them directly using the information featured on their individual profile pages. Click here to locate a specific school or school district in the region of your choice.