1234 Home Reading Helper, Managing Director of Programs, Strategy and Operations

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

1234! Home Reading Helper is a fast-growing, high-impact early literacy organization working to break the cycle of illiteracy – and its long-term links to poverty and incarceration – in underserved communities.

Through its flagship 1234! program, the organization equips parents of children ages 0–6 with four simple, research-based practices to build early reading habits at home. The model combines behavioral design, community-based trust, and structured accountability: weekly scorecards, volunteer engagement at school sites, and milestone incentives that drive consistency.

The organization has reached a critical inflection point:

• Active implementation across Oakland, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Harlem.
• Strong partnerships with Head Start, school systems, and civic leadership.
• Public launch of the Oakland Reads 1234! campaign led by Mayor Barbara Lee.
• A proven model based on the work of Munro Richardson at Read Charlotte with early traction and clear demand for expansion.

You can read more about the program here and hear directly from Jesse Brill in this video.

With growing visibility and momentum, 1234! Home Reading Helper is poised to scale. The next phase of the organization’s success will depend on building the operational rigor, systems, and leadership capacity required to deliver consistent results for families while expanding responsibly.

OPPORTUNITY

1234! Home Reading Helper seeks a founding Managing Director of Programs, Strategy and Operations to serve as the organization's sole employee and senior operational leader, working in close partnership with the Founder, Jesse Brill, to translate vision into sustained, measurable impact.

This role is designed for a mission-driven, entrepreneurial operator who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution. The Managing Director will be responsible for driving organizational performance, ensuring that growth is supported by strong systems, disciplined execution, and measurable outcomes for children and families.

The Managing Director serves as the organization’s primary driver of execution, translating the Founder’s vision into operational reality. While the Founder leads external strategy, partnerships, and growth, the Managing Director ensures that internal systems, teams, and programs deliver consistent, high-quality results.

To better understand the passion and commitment that we are looking for, please watch this 5-minute Video of Jesse [LINK] delivering Mayor Lee’s “Call to Action” at the launch event for the Oakland city-wide “1234!” Oakland Reads Campaign.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Key responsibilities of the Managing Director of Programs, Strategy and Operations include:

• Organizational Leadership & Execution: Lead day-to-day execution across programs and operations, establishing clear priorities, managing workflows, and ensuring consistent program delivery through weekly Zoom calls with each region's leadership and volunteers; attend key meetings with the Founder, track action items, and ensure follow-through across all operational areas.
• Program Performance & Participation: Drive performance management across all regions, including weekly participation tracking, dashboards by school and classroom, scorecard submission, follow up with inactive families, and oversee overall engagement and progress for each child and family.
• Systems, Data & Infrastructure: Build and manage systems, processes, and infrastructure, including dashboards, reporting tools, and data structures; determine required reports and data fields and oversee technical implementation and data integrity.
• Volunteer & Regional Coordination: Manage cross-functional execution across volunteers and regional coordinators, including recruitment, onboarding, training, and ongoing engagement; ensure consistent weekly follow-up with teachers and families.
• Incentives, Communications & Program Delivery: Oversee milestone incentives, communications, and training systems to ensure consistent, high-quality program delivery across all regions.
• Expansion & Capacity Management: Support scalable growth by ensuring operational readiness and disciplined expansion, including onboarding new schools or regions, leading trainings, and recommending staffing or system adjustments.

OPERATING MODEL & LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE

1234! Home Reading Helper operates between vision and execution, designed to enable speed, accountability, and high-quality scaling:

• The Founder leads vision, external partnerships, and growth strategy.
• The Managing Director leads internal execution, systems, volunteer and contractor management, growth strategy and implementation.
• The Managing Director has full ownership of day-to-day operations, including program delivery, infrastructure, and team oversight and coordination.
• Once new partnerships or regions are established, execution responsibility transitions fully to the Managing Director.

PRIORITIES

A successful first year for the Managing Director of Programs, Strategy and Operations will include:

• Stabilizing Core Operations: Establish reliable systems for participation tracking, incentive management, and communication across all active regions.
• Driving Engagement at Scale: Launch and refine volunteer-led parent engagement systems that increase weekly participation and consistency.
• Improving Measurable Outcomes: Significantly reduce inactive families and increase scorecard completion rates.
• Building Scalable Infrastructure: Develop tools, processes, and training systems required to support growth without compromising quality.
• Executing Disciplined Expansion: Expand within existing regions while ensuring readiness and capacity for future geographic scale.

Requirements

In order to fulfill these responsibilities, the ideal candidate will be:

• A proven leader with experience building and scaling operations in nonprofit, education, or community-based organizations.
• An entrepreneurial builder who thrives in ambiguity and can create structure in a fast-moving environment.
• A systems thinker and data-driven operator, able to design and use dashboards, metrics, and performance systems to drive results.
• Deeply committed to improving outcomes for children and families in underserved communities.
• An effective people leader with experience managing teams and/or multi-site programs.
• A strong operator who excels at translating strategy into execution and results.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience in early childhood, literacy, or family engagement initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust within Black and underserved communities.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish).

IMPORTANT NOTE TO FIT

This role requires a professional who is personally engaged in the day-to-day work of the program. Candidates who prefer to operate primarily through delegation, rather than direct hands-on implementation, will not be a strong fit. Equally important, this role involves a close working relationship with the Founder. The right candidate will see that as an opportunity — someone who is energized by learning directly from the person who built the program and who understands that earning trust over time is the path to greater leadership responsibility. To better understand the passion and commitment that we are looking for, please watch this 5-minute Video of Jesse delivering Mayor Lee’s “Call to Action” at the launch event for the Oakland city-wide “1234!” Oakland Reads Campaign.

Benefits

This is a full-time independent contractor position. The annual rate range is $80,000 to $125,000 depending on experience.

Performance-Based Bonus

This role includes a meaningful performance-based bonus structure evaluated twice annually. Bonuses are tied to measurable outcomes including parent enrollment rates, scorecard completion, school-level engagement, and regional program performance. The bonus structure will be designed alongside the founder to reflect the year one goals of the Managing Director role in order to reward sustained results — not just growth.

TO APPLY

Please submit a resume online at https://apply.workable.com/j/B66E79E383.

Our Commitment to Diversity

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