Chief Operating Officer

Start Date: Immediate

Role Type: Full-Time, 12 month

Location: Washington, DC

FLSA Status: Exempt

Who We Are

DC Prep is a network of public charter schools serving over 2,100 preschool through 8th grade students across six campuses in Wards 5, 7, and 8. While we're proud to be the highest-performing public charter network in Washington, D.C., we recognize that how we support our students to be successful is as important as the results we achieve. That pushes us to reflect on questions such as how we can facilitate our students' academic, social, and emotional development; how we can support our team members' professional growth and personal ability to do this work long-term; and how we can engage our students' families as our own. While this work is hard, it's worth it — we believe in the transformative power of education, the can-do-it-ness of our students and staff, and the joy that comes from engaging in meaningful work with people we care about and trust.

The Opportunity

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) ensures that every campus in the network runs smoothly, safely, and efficiently, so that operations serve DC Prep’s mission by ensuring that school leaders and teachers can focus on instruction and students can focus on learning. But this role is bigger than keeping the lights on: DC Prep is ready to modernize how operations work — creating systems and tools that free up staff time and attention for the things that matter most: kids and relationships. The next COO will bring a vision for people-centered operations that are powered by better data, modern enterprise tools, and thoughtful use of AI — and will help build the routines and systems that help the whole organization learn and collaborate more effectively.

The COO owns the operational backbone of the network across all six campuses: campus-level operations, network-wide operational systems, facilities, and technology. This is a role for someone who treats operational excellence as a form of care for students, their families, and DC Prep's staff — and who also sees the bigger opportunity to reimagine how a mission-driven organization operates.

The COO is a member of the network's executive team and partners closely with the CEO, the Chief Schools Officer, and fellow Chiefs to ensure operations enable — never constrain — the network's academic and cultural priorities. The COO manages a Senior Director of Operations, a Director of Technology, a Director of Facilities & Business Operations, and a Director of Operations. These leaders manage Home Office and Campus-based employees.

Who You Are

You are a problem-solver and a do-er. You have a deep curiosity for why things are the way they are and what it would take to make them better. You like puzzles, and you excel at breaking complicated issues into solvable parts — you ask questions, seek advice, and create a plan to act on what you've learned. Puzzles take patience, persistence, creativity, and a sense of humor, and you stick with them.

You've earned a reputation as a thoughtful and rigorous operator, and you're awfully good at getting things done through people because you understand what matters to them. People trust you — you're experienced, you do the work to stay well-informed, you tell it like it is, and you do what you say you'll do.

You're energized by the opportunity to modernize how a busy organization runs — deeply learning what introducing new tools and systems thoughtfully, with an eye toward what will actually make people's day-to-day easier and more connected, not just what's newest.

You are an effective manager and coach, regularly sought out by current and former colleagues for work advice. You take pride in the high-performing, cohesive teams you've built. And you believe deeply that all students deserve an excellent education, and that too few receive that today.

The Day-to-Day

Responsibilities of the Chief Operating Officer will include but are not limited to:

Organizational Leadership

Serve as a member of the executive team, contributing to the overall strategic direction of DC Prep