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:

Desktop Support Engineer/Systems Administrator

Accountant

Web Analytics Analyst

Senior UI Designer

Web Engineer (contract position)

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.

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.

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.

Senior UI Designer

Do you love designing things that actually make a difference in the lives of those who use them? At GreatSchools we develop products that helped half of America’s families get their kids a great education last year. This position gives you a chance work on a top 500 website, alongside an experienced team, that delivers a great deal of value to real people.

We have an immediate position available for an experienced Senior UI Designer to produce high quality user interfaces for web and mobile properties. The UI Designer will be responsible for interaction design, information architecture, wireframes, and mock ups for GreatSchools’ products. Qualified candidate will work independently and with experienced team members, under the supervision of the VP of Product.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Apply user-centered design practices to create intuitive, delightful and compelling experiences
• Translate business requirements into sketches, concepts, wireframes, story boards, task flows, clickable prototypes, interface guidelines / specifications, and design standards for GreatSchools.org web products
• Collaborate with Product, Marketing, UX and Engineering teams on projects to produce optimal designs and guide the development of features and products that delight users

Requirements:

• Minimum of 4 years’ experience designing user interfaces for consumer-facing web sites; experience with mobile app or mobile web sites preferred
• Deep understanding of requirements gathering using personas, use cases, usability standards, card sorting, heuristic evaluations, web analytics and usability testing
• Solid understanding of web page optimization standards and best practices
• Proificiency in the latest versions of UI design software, including, but not limited to Adobe Fireworks, and Omnigraffle
• Familiarity with HTML, Javascript, AJAX, Flash & CSS is a plus
• Deadline-focused, flexible and able to respond to direction changes with ease
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent organizational skills
• Strong communication and presentation skills are a must
• Experience working in an agile development process is a plus
• Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Information Sciences, Human Factors, UI Design, Graphic Design, Digital Media Design or equivalent a plus
• Detailed portfolio demonstrating solid design sensibility required
• A passion for the GreatSchools mission, to help parents get a great education for their kids

How To Apply:

Please submit your cover letter, including salary requirements, your resume, and a link to your online portfolio 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.

Web Engineer (contract position)

We are looking for a talented and energetic web engineer to join our team in the Bay Area. If you enjoy developing web interfaces, coding business logic, problem solving, taking on new challenges across the full stack, and collaborating in an Agile Scrum team then you could be great fit for this position. This is a 6-month contract position with a possibility of converting to a full-time, regular position.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design and develop web application features with Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Server-side Java and Database development
• Deliver best in class code and features in an Agile Scrum environment working against requirements
• Code and collaborate with other web engineers on small, medium, and larger projects
• Work closely with Product Managers to define and estimate new functionality
• Writing automated test cases for your code and maintaining best in class coding standards
• Perform code reviews as well as provide feedback and improvements in code functionality from other team members

Experience/Education/Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, or equivalent training and experience
• 5+ years programming experience
• Strong experience building web applications with Ruby, Java, J2EE, JSP, JSTL, Spring MVC, and Hibernate
• Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with emphasis on jQuery
• Familiarity with MySQL
• Experience using CVS, Subversion, or Git
• Experience with test-driven development and agile methodologies
• Enthusiasm for working collaboratively within a scrum team

About You:

• You are opinionated yet pragmatic, highly communicative, and have strong technical abilities
• You have an intimate knowledge of full stack web development best practices and have demonstrable experience taking significant projects from spec to release
• You have a strong customer focus and the ability to build solutions fast and of high quality

How To Apply:

Please submit your cover letter, including salary requirements, and your 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 6-month contract position. 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.