Jobs at GreatSchools

Parents choose GreatSchools to connect with each other - to find the right schools, to share stories and advice, and to get their parenting questions answered. In the past year alone, more than 35 million people visited GreatSchools (www.greatschools.net). With hundreds of thousands of ratings and parent reviews about schools across the country, GreatSchools is the paramount parent-to-parent education community.

A Webby award-winning site, GreatSchools is supported by foundations and corporations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.

Unless otherwise specified, all of our open positions are headquartered 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:

Program Director

Interaction Designer

Business Development Manager

Account Manager

Sales Executive

Creative Director: Consumer Web, Visual Design, and User Experience

Director, Partner Relationships

Program Director

GreatSchools has raised significant capital to begin the next phase of our mission. We are looking for a driven, innovative and results-oriented Program Director to lead the effort to design, implement and evaluate a brand new Internet-based parent training program targeting low- and moderate-income parents. This mission critical position will report to the COO of GreatSchools. The person in this highly visible and newly-created role will be responsible for the following:

• Initiate and drive all market research efforts to ensure that this initiative meets the needs of the target audience.
• Drawing on market research, expert advice, and the talents of the GreatSchools staff, refine the program concept and develop a roadmap for program creation and launch.
• Project manage the development of the program, including the budget.
• Work with the CEO and funders to create and track program success metrics.
• Work with the editorial team to develop program content, including video, in English and Spanish.
• Work with the product management and engineering teams to identify technologies to support program; work with product management to specify the features and look-and-feel of the program.
• Work with the business development group to develop content and distribution partnerships that support this program.
• Collaborate with the Director of Marketing to create branding and positioning of this program to internal and external parties. Work with the Director of Marketing to identify appropriate acquisition and repeat usage strategies.
• Solicit feedback from potential users throughout all stages of program development, including product conception, beta testing, and launch.

This is a fabulous opportunity for someone with the following qualifications:

• Demonstrable and successful record of creating and launching online educational programs, including market research, concept development, project management, marketing and performance assessment.
• A demonstrated leader and effective manager capable of working within a matrixed organization to achieve results.
• Exceptional interpersonal, strategic, analytical, written, oral communication and presentation skills.
• A demonstrated passion for the education arena and a strong belief and connection to GreatSchools mission.
• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple responsibilities; comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and committed to meeting deadlines and creating and improving processes.
• Adaptability, flexibility, and creativity, especially in conceiving, testing and adjusting ideas rapidly, and in handling varying deadlines, shifts in priorities, or other unforeseen events.
• Self-motivated individual who delivers results with minimal supervision and limited resources.
• Undergraduate degree required; advanced degree preferred.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+progdir.gs@greatschools.net, with "Program Director" in the subject line. Applications without cover letters will not be considered. No calls please.

Interaction Designer

This person will work in cross-functional teams to create interactive designs for high-traffic, advertising-supported consumer web applications. Experience with interface design, information architecture, software application design, and interactive content design is required. A passion for user-centered design and creating intuitive and engaging user interfaces is key for this position.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Work closely with product management and development teams to produce innovative, engaging, and effective designs and interactions that help customers solve problems and locate relevant information.
• Develop information design, user profiles or personas, user task flows, and user experience strategies as needed for complex, data-driven web applications.
• Help ensure quality and effectiveness of visual design by participating in the design process, managing user testing, and collaborating with the development team.
• Create rapid prototypes and mock-ups to validate design concepts with stakeholders and customers.
• Develop style guides and design specifications that developers will use to implement and validate interaction designs.
• Help define multivariant tests and integrate learnings from web analytics into UI development.

Job Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in visual design, human factors, interaction design, or related discipline. Advanced degree in Design or HCI a plus.
• 4+ years interaction and visual design experience in web application product design. Experience with interaction design in distributed, open source, and agile development teams is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience in information architecture, interactivity, prototyping for innovative product design.
• Ability to translate business requirements into effective UI solutions, manage the development of usable design standards and visual style guides, identify conflicting design requirements and constructively solve problems for the end-user's best interests.
• Thorough understanding of widgets, controls, and feedback mechanisms used on the web, their appropriate uses and what they communicate to users.
• Extensive knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.
• Solid presentation skills and experience presenting design scenarios and solutions confidently and credibly to internal stakeholders and executives.
• Ability to manage time and resources on multiple projects with multiple timelines and multiple missions. Ability to deal with changing priorities as needs dictate.
• Experience with running multivariant tests is desirable.
• Experience integrating video and interactive technologies is highly desirable.

How To Apply:

Please send a COVER LETTER and RESUME to jobs-ue@greatschools.net with "Interaction Designer" in the subject line.

A portfolio demonstrating interaction design experience is required. Please send a URL in the body of your application.

Business Development Manager

The Business Development Manager will primarily be responsible for identifying, negotiating, and managing online distribution partnerships for GreatSchools on a national, state, and regional level. This experienced dealmaker will be expected to effectively present the value and benefits of serving as a co-brand partner of GreatSchools.net. Target partners include major companies that provide online products and services for media companies, realtors, relocation companies, parenting and community-based organizations, and others that value high-quality school information.

This position reports to the VP of Ad Sales and Business Development.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Negotiate online distribution partnerships with Business Managers and Advertising Directors of major companies.
• Perform all activities associated with the sales cycle (prospecting, presenting, closing, renewing and servicing accounts).
• Prepare proposals and negotiate licenses to establish and maintain distribution partnerships.
• Evaluate internal resources requirements versus expected benefits of partnerships and prioritize efforts to focus on initiatives that offer the highest probability of significant returns.
• Develop strong relationships with Advertising Sales, Marketing, and Product Development teams to effectively implement business development initiatives.
• Manage relationships with existing distribution partners to improve associated performance (e.g. revenue and traffic) through license compliance and/or renegotiations, joint marketing, and addressing ongoing co-brand maintenance issues.
• Analyze performance of accounts and report results.

Experience/Education/Skills Required:

• B.A. degree in business, finance, or marketing, or equivalent experience in the field.
• Minimum four years of applicable sales and marketing experience in developing partnerships, including prospecting and cold calling for lead generation.
• Excellent presentation, communication, analytic, and interpersonal skills.
• Experience selling online consumer products and/or services desirable.
• In-depth knowledge or experience associated with online media and real estate industries.
• Experience in relationship building and account management.
• Experience developing distribution licensing agreements.
• Experience managing a large prospect and client base.

Essential Qualities:

• Action-oriented, resourceful, and with a high degree of integrity.
• Flexible and creative problem-solving abilities.
• Leadership, ownership, passion and a positive work ethic.
• Independently motivated team player.
• Preference for a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
• Demonstrated record of success working in an entrepreneurial environment.
• Experience working in a small start-up environment is a strong plus.
• A strong commitment to GreatSchools' mission.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+busdev.gs@greatschools.net with "Business Development Manager" in the subject line. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No calls please.

Account Manager

The Account Manager is responsible for managing advertising operations (with the support of an Advertising Operations Specialist) and providing account management services for online advertising sales and business development.

This position reports to the VP of Ad Sales and Business Development.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Work with Advertising Operations Specialist to ensure successful delivery of online advertising campaigns, including the selection and delivery of ad networks for excess inventory.
• Work with Ad Sales Team to develop and update inventory forecasts.
• Work with Advertising Operations Specialist and Sales Team to produce billing reports for finance department.
• Coordinate ad operations activities with other departments, including product management, editorial, engineering and finance.

• Effectively monitor accounts on a daily basis and coordinate all communications, scheduling and approvals between clients and ad team throughout the implementation process.
• Work with Sales Executives to cultivate business relationships and help to grow and retain existing strategic accounts, while delivering superior customer service for multiple clients, and managing client expectations.
• Work with Advertising Operations Specialist to analyze and optimize performance of ad campaigns to achieve optimal ROI and to help maximize revenues. Generate and deliver timely campaign performance reports for clients.
• Work with Advertising Operations Specialist and Sales Team to provide updated inventory forecasts and insure that client proposals and insertion orders are aligned with forecasted inventory for all ad positions.
• Support the development of effective sales proposals and presentations.
• Work with the team and Admin to develop, process, sign off and file all advertising insertion orders.
• Provide support for requests from companies that are interested in licensing our content.
• Communicate with existing and prospective licensing partners and help cultivate business relationships.
• Provide research and analysis support for the development of new business opportunities and evaluation of competitors.
• Coordinate account management activities with other departments, including product management, editorial, engineering and finance.

Experience/Education/Skills Required:

• Bachelors degree with 2+ years online advertising experience.
• 3+ years combined related ad sales experience (print, radio, broadcast, etc.).
• Strong account management and relationship building experience.
• Experience working with commercial ad serving systems.
• Knowledge of business and advertising trends and the ability to translate this knowledge into advertising solutions for clients.
• Solid understanding of online advertising, including pricing structures (CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL), media types (e.g., banners, skyscrapers, box ads, email newsletters) and technologies.
• Proven experience with developing, implementing and maintaining essential business reports.
• Strong track record of meeting and exceeding objectives.
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, highly organized and flexible.
• Superior oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities.
• Proficiency with Powerpoint, MS Excel, MS Word and HTML.

Experience/Education/Skills Preferred:

• Experience working in a small business.
• Ad agency experience is highly desirable.
• Working knowledge of online metrics and research tools (e.g., Omniture; MediaMetrix; Nielsen @Plan).

Essential Qualities:

• Positive work ethic and ability to exercise mature judgment .
• Ability to work independently as a motivated team player.
• Preference for a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
• Ability to think analytically, set priorities and meet deadlines.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+acctmgr.gs@greatschools.net with "Account Manager" in the subject line. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No calls please.

Sales Executive

The candidate for this Sales Executive position will be responsible for identifying, closing and managing advertising partners. Additionally, this person will work with the online advertising sales team to develop unique ad vehicles and programs that build value for our partners.

GreatSchools has established a successful online advertising business. Some of our advertisers include Disney, Nickelodeon, Johnson & Johnson, Quaker, Leapfrog, Kraft, Walmart, and many others. We are looking to hire an individual who can help drive and support our continued growth. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in online ad sales, with exceptional selling skills and a proven record of meeting and exceeding sales targets.

This position reports to the VP of Ad Sales and Business Development.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Identify and initiate contact with advertising prospects, through cold calls, in-person presentations and/or leveraging of existing contact lists.
• Assess customer needs; develop effective sales proposals; negotiate deals; and ensure successful delivery of advertising campaigns.
• Manage all communications, scheduling and approvals between the client/agency and operations team throughout the implementation process.
• Maintain accounts and deliver superior customer service for multiple clients
• Develop campaign performance summaries for clients.

Experience/Education/Skills Required:

• Bachelors degree with 3+ years online ad sales experience.
• 5+ years combined related ad sales experience (print, radio, broadcast, etc.).
• Strong track record of meeting and exceeding sales targets.
• Knowledge of business and advertising trends and the ability to translate this knowledge into advertising solutions for clients.
• Solid understanding of online advertising and marketing, including pricing structures (CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL) and media types (e.g., banners, skyscrapers, box ads, email newsletters).
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, highly organized and flexible.
• Superior oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities.
• Proficiency with Powerpoint, MS Excel, MS Word and the Web .

Experience/Education/Skills Preferred:

• Experience working in a small business or a start-up environment.
• Ad agency experience is highly desirable.
• Working knowledge of 3rd party research tools (e.g., MediaMetrix; Nielsen @Plan).

Essential Qualities:

• Positive work ethic and ability to exercise mature judgment .
• Ability to work independently as a motivated team player.
• Preference for a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
• Ability to think analytically, set priorities and meet deadlines.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+salesexec.gs@greatschools.net with "Sales Executive" in the subject line. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No calls please.

Creative Director: Consumer Web, Visual Design, and User Experience

We're seeking an exceptional Creative Director: Consumer Web, Visual Design, and User Experience for our San Francisco Headquarters. This is a sole contributor position with the plan to eventually expand the department. (Those seeking immediate managerial roles would not be appropriate.)

We're looking for an outstanding individual who:

• Has strong Consumer Web, Visual Design, and User-Experience background.
• Has managed small-to-medium sized teams (see above).
• Is an esthetic problem solver who thrives on creating engaging customer solutions that communicate clearly and contribute to overall ease-of-use.

The Role and Its Responsibilities:

• Assume overall responsibility for the UI and visual design of our web-based applications and our (currently limited) print presence, including marketing collateral.
• Act as the liaison between varying business units to guarantee smooth and timely delivery of software products or updates.
• Collaborate with User Interface Design, Engineering and Product to drive our user experience towards the next generation.
• Collaborate with Marketing to design successful campaigns, email templates, and marketing collateral.
• Design compelling graphic elements, clear and visual mock-ups, and engaging interactive prototypes.

Qualifications and What You Bring:

• 7 - 10 years overall industry experience.
• 4+ years experience designing for advertising-based consumer sites.
• 4+ years in User Experience-focused Visual Design.
• 4+ years team management of small-medium sized teams.
• Strong knowledge of standards and best practices for online media, including user interface, user experience design and information architecture as well as impressive samples of work in the online world.
• Understanding of Web 2.0 practices, applications, design practices and trends.
• Strong design skills including screen layouts, information design, typography, color usage and branding.
• Adobe Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and HTML knowledge required. Considered a plus if you also have proficiency in Quark, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
• Strong conceptual skills, a meticulous eye for detail, and the ability to take a project from inception to completion.
• Commitment to understanding customer needs and business goals as they relate to our application.
• Ability to take and give creative direction and go through iterative rounds of revisions to deliver best work.
• Strong project management skills with ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects to meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to oversee contract resources to manage bandwidth as needed.
• Ability to work independently and with cross-functional teams in a collaborative, teamwork environment.
• Self-starter who can get things done.
• Strong verbal and communication skills are a must.
• Sense of humor a plus.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+creativedir.gs@greatschools.net, with "Creative Director" in the subject line. Include a link to your online portfolio that includes sample URLs. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No contract offers and no phone calls please.

Director, Partner Relationships

GreatSchools is undertaking a significant new initiative and is looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Director, Partner Relationships, to create and nurture key partnerships to ensure the success of this effort. This new initiative, called College Bound, will be an online training and support group aimed at low- and moderate-income parents. The core of College Bound will be mini-courses that help parents develop the knowledge and skills that they need to guide their children to College, beginning at an early age.

The Partners will play a pivotal role in both defining the product offering as well as ultimately acting as distribution partners. Potential partners may include schools, school districts, charter management organizations, states, community-based nonprofit organizations, advocacy organizations, libraries, media organizations, corporations and labor unions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with key team members to identify potential partners and craft strategy for securing partner buy-in and participation.
• Build relationships with early key partners to inspire their participation in program development.
• Learn about potential partners' related parent training efforts and bring those insights back to the GreatSchools staff.
• Nurture key relationships once developed including developing effective ongoing communication plan.
• Over time, develop a partner program which ensures deep, committed Partner Relationships.
• Work with internal teams to facilitate relationships between key team members and partners as appropriate.
• Provide input into key measures of partnership success.

Ideal candidate will possess the following skills:

• Demonstrated ability to form deep, committed Partner Relationships in a nonprofit context.
• Proven success in both free and paid partnership development.
• Self-starter who is flexible, independent and results-oriented.
• Excellent communication, written and verbal skills a must.
• Demonstrated ability to work with cross-functional teams in a collaborative, teamwork environment at all times.
• Bachelor's degree; 7 - 10 years relevant work experience.
• Previous experience in education space required.
• Experience working with low-income families a plus.
• Written/spoken Spanish a plus.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, including salary requirements and resume to jobs+partnerrelat.gs@greatschools.net, with "Director, Partner Relationships" in the subject line. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No phone calls please.