SLI Program Director

Program Overview

The 49ers STEM Leadership Institute (SLI), created in partnership with the San Francisco 49ers, Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF), and the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD), is a six-year program that will prepare students with high academic potential to be outstanding.

SLI began in Summer 2014 with a cohort of 60 incoming seventh grade students. A new cohort of 60 incoming seventh graders is selected through a competitive application process each year, and students advance with their cohort to the next grade level. By the end of the six-year rollout process, there will be a total of 360 students from grades 7 – 12 involved in the program, located at two state of the art digital fabrication labs at Cabrillo Middle School and Santa Clara High School in the Santa Clara Unified School District. Students complete a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, engage in STEM projects and competitions, and participate annually in 300+ hours of additional learning time. 

Program Director – 49ers STEM Leadership Institute

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF), the Program Director provides strategic, operational, and programmatic leadership for the 49ers STEM Leadership Institute (SLI). The Director oversees the program in its entirety across grades 7–12 and works closely with SVEF leadership, Program Managers, Program Coordinator, SCUSD administrators and teaching staff, the 49ers Foundation, corporate and university partners, students, and families.

The Program Director serves as the central point connecting the many organizations and individuals involved in SLI and is responsible for ensuring that the program remains student-centered, operationally strong, financially sustainable, innovative, and aligned with the goals of SVEF, SCUSD, and the 49ers Foundation.

Strategic Leadership & Program Direction

• Own the overall strategy, direction, priorities, and continuous improvement of SLI.

• Translate SVEF and partner priorities into actionable annual and multi-year program plans.

• Evaluate existing programming and identify opportunities to continue, improve, expand, redesign, or discontinue initiatives based on impact and available resources.

• Develop and refine the student journey from 7th through 12th grade, ensuring intentional progression in STEM skills, leadership, design thinking, project-based learning, career exploration, and student development.

• Identify emerging STEM, technology, education, and workforce trends and determine how they should influence SLI programming.

• Contribute to SVEF organizational strategic planning and represent the needs, opportunities, and priorities of SLI.

Program Operations

• Oversee the day-to-day operation of the entire SLI program across middle and high school.

• Develop and maintain sustainable policies, SOPs, workflows, calendars, systems, and accountability structures.

• Coordinate school-year programming, Extended Hours, Open Lab, workshops, field experiences, competitions, showcases, partner programs, and special initiatives.

• Ensure FabLab operations, equipment access, safety expectations, training, scheduling, materials, and replenishment support program needs.

• Identify operational risks and resolve issues before they significantly affect students, families, teachers, or partners.

• Ensure institutional knowledge and critical processes are documented rather than dependent on individual staff members.

Team Leadership & Staff Development

• Lead and support Program Managers, Program Coordinator, and other program staff.

• Establish clear responsibilities, priorities, deliverables, and expectations.

• Conduct regular team meetings, individual check-ins, coaching, performance reviews, and professional development.

• Delegate program ownership while maintaining appropriate accountability and oversight.

• Identify staffing needs and participate in recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training, and succession planning.

• Build staff capacity so that program operations do not become overly dependent on the Director.

SCUSD & Teaching Team

• Serve as a primary liaison between SVEF/SLI and Santa Clara Unified School District.

• Maintain relationships with district leadership, school administrators, principals, counselors, teachers, and other school personnel.

• Partner with SLI teachers on curriculum planning, student pathways, Extended Hours, student performance, interventions, professional development, and program expectations.

• Address areas where SLI programming intersects with or overlaps district courses and initiatives.

• Facilitate communication and problem-solving when SVEF and district priorities or processes differ.

49ers Foundation & External Stakeholder Management

• Maintain and strengthen the strategic partnership with the 49ers Foundation.

• Serve as a key liaison among SVEF, SCUSD, the 49ers Foundation, funders, corporate partners, universities, and community organizations.

• Understand the priorities and communication styles of different stakeholders while protecting the mission and student-centered focus of SLI.

• Manage expectations when stakeholders have competing priorities.

• Represent SLI in partner meetings, presentations, tours, events, conferences, and other external-facing opportunities.

Students & Families

• Maintain visibility and relationships with students across grades 7–12.

• Monitor academic performance, engagement, attendance, program participation, behavior, and overall student progress.

• Develop systems for student check-ins, intervention, probation/suspension, recommitment, and program exit when necessary.

• Support student advising and access to internships, mentorships, competitions, research, field experiences, and other opportunities.

• Serve as a primary escalation point for complex parent and family concerns.

• Communicate effectively and calmly with families, including in situations involving disagreement, student performance, discipline, expectations, or emotionally charged concerns.

• Develop family information sessions, workshops, communications, FAQs, and engagement opportunities.

Admissions & Recruitment

• Own the annual recruitment and admissions process for new and transfer students.

• Coordinate outreach with SCUSD communications, schools, counselors, teachers, families, and community partners.

• Oversee application development, review processes, scoring, placement priorities, waitlists, and family communication.

• Maintain a consistent, equitable, and structured application-review process.

• Analyze applicant, enrollment, retention, and demographic trends to inform future recruitment.

Curriculum & Student Pathways

• Work with teachers and staff to maintain a cohesive curriculum and student experience across grades 7–12.

• Oversee integration of areas such as engineering design, fabrication, coding, electronics, design thinking, leadership, and project-based learning.

• Guide specialized pathways and initiatives such as Project Invent, Pay It Forward, mentorship programs, industry projects, patent/innovation work, and other advanced opportunities.

• Ensure students progress from learning technical skills to applying them to increasingly complex real-world problems.

• Evaluate new programs and pilots before scaling them.

Partnerships, Mentorship & Industry Engagement

• Recruit, cultivate, and retain university, corporate, nonprofit, and industry partners.

• Develop mentorships, guest speakers, workshops, field experiences, internships, competitions, research opportunities, and collaborative projects.

• Ensure partnerships have clearly defined objectives, responsibilities, timelines, and student outcomes.

• Maintain relationships beyond individual events so partnerships become sustainable and strategically valuable.

Data, Evaluation & Impact

• Own SLI's program metrics and systems for measuring student and program success.

• Monitor academic outcomes, participation, retention, student development, postsecondary pathways, alumni outcomes, and other agreed-upon KPIs.

• Develop dashboards and reporting systems that allow staff and leadership to identify trends and areas requiring intervention.

• Use data to inform program changes rather than collecting metrics solely for reporting purposes.

• Provide impact data and program narratives for SVEF leadership, SCUSD, the 49ers Foundation, funders, board presentations, and other stakeholders.

Budget & Financial Management

• Develop and manage the annual SLI budget.

• Monitor spending, forecasts, purchasing, reimbursements, program costs, and resource allocation.

• Evaluate programs and events against their cost, staff capacity, strategic value, and measurable impact.

• Work with SVEF finance and leadership on financial approvals, contracts, purchasing, and budget adjustments.

• Ensure resources are directed toward the highest-impact student and program priorities.

Communications & Reporting

• Oversee consistent communication with students, families, teachers, staff, district leadership, partners, and funders.

• Develop or review newsletters, family communications, information nights, presentations, reports, partner updates, and program announcements.

• Provide quarterly objectives, progress reports, data, impact stories, and other reporting required by SVEF and partners.

• Ensure sensitive or complex communications are handled thoughtfully and appropriately.

Events & Experiences

• Oversee major SLI events, showcases, tournaments, partner visits, tours, workshops, conferences, student presentations, and community-facing experiences.

• Establish a clear purpose and expected outcomes for significant events.

• Evaluate events using appropriate KPIs—including student impact, partner engagement, community reach, fundraising/relationship value, and staff/resource investment.

• Recommend whether recurring events should be continued, improved, consolidated, redesigned, or discontinued based on their strategic value.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Continuously assess what is and is not working within SLI.

• Pilot new approaches when appropriate and establish criteria for evaluating whether they should scale.

• Identify opportunities to improve student pathways, curriculum, family engagement, staff operations, partnerships, technology, and program systems.

• Balance innovation with the operational capacity required to execute programs successfully.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Strong commitment to the mission, vision, and student-centered values of SVEF and the 49ers STEM Leadership Institute.

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree in education, STEM, business, nonprofit leadership, organizational leadership, or a related field preferred.

• 8–10+ years of progressively responsible experience in education, STEM programming, nonprofit leadership, program operations, or a related field, including significant experience leading teams and complex programs.

• Demonstrated ability to lead a multifaceted program from strategy through execution, including people, budgets, operations, partnerships, communications, and measurable outcomes.

• Exceptional ability to manage multiple high-level stakeholders with differing priorities and working styles, including school district leadership, teachers, corporate partners, funders, nonprofit leadership, parents, and community partners.

• Strong people leadership skills, including coaching, delegation, accountability, performance management, conflict resolution, and staff development.

• Demonstrated ability to navigate complex and sensitive parent, student, staff, and partner situations with diplomacy, sound judgment, empathy, and professionalism.

• Strong strategic thinking and decision-making skills, with the ability to distinguish between immediate operational needs and longer-term program priorities.

• Excellent project and program management skills, with demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives, deadlines, events, stakeholders, and deliverables.

• Strong financial and operational management skills, including experience with budget development, forecasting, resource allocation, purchasing, and program planning.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to executives, boards, funders, educators, families, and community audiences.

• Demonstrated success building and maintaining strategic partnerships with schools, corporations, universities, nonprofits, funders, and community organizations.

• Ability to work with a high degree of independence, ownership, discretion, and accountability, while collaborating effectively within a broader organizational leadership structure.

• Ability to use data, KPIs, and program evaluation to assess impact, identify areas for improvement, and make strategic decisions.

• Highly adaptable and comfortable operating in an environment where priorities can change quickly and where the Director must balance strategy with hands-on execution.

• Strong proficiency with collaborative technology platforms, including Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365, and ability to learn new systems quickly.

• Ability to meet all requirements for working with public school students, including Live Scan fingerprinting, TB clearance, and other applicable district requirements.

• Availability for periodic evening and weekend programs, student events, partner activities, and community events.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working within or alongside K–12 school districts, particularly in programs involving nonprofit, corporate, and school-district partnerships.

• Experience leading STEM, engineering, makerspace, project-based learning, or career-connected learning programs.

• Familiarity with digital fabrication and makerspace environments, including technologies such as 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC, electronics, coding, and design software.

• Experience developing or overseeing curriculum, student pathways, mentorship programs, internships, competitions, or industry-connected learning experiences.

• Experience with student recruitment, admissions, family engagement, and student-support processes.

• Experience with funders, corporate partners, sponsorships, grant-funded programs, and impact reporting.

• Teaching credential, administrative credential, or significant classroom/school leadership experience is desirable.

• Master’s degree preferred.

SVEF is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status.