Director of enrollment and community engagement

Department: Operations

Supervisor: Director of Operations

Type: Full-Time, 12-Month, Salary

Position

Explore! Community School is seeking a strategic, relationship-centered leader to direct student enrollment, recruitment, marketing, and community engagement. The Director will build and execute a school-based recruitment strategy that meets or exceeds enrollment and retention goals; strengthen the school’s visibility with prospective families; and serve as a trusted, public-facing representative of Explore! across Nashville. This role will lead staff, manage complex projects, improve systems for efficiency and follow-through, and develop long-term partnerships with families, schools, childcare providers, and community organizations. The Director will also oversee family engagement and attendance initiatives that help students thrive and sustain a strong school community.

About Explore! Community School

At Explore!, we always begin with our mission: to foster the independence, critical thinking, and creativity of a diverse community of learners so they are fully prepared to become confident, conscientious leaders who change the world. To achieve our mission we emphasize interactive, hands-on, project-based learning to build upon our rigorous, standards-based curriculum and ensure learning is authentic, meaningful, and fun. We focus on the whole child, nurturing the social and emotional development of Explorers while fostering their academic excellence.

Currently serving 550 students in K-8, we anticipate growing to at least 700 students over the next several years. Explore! occupies a beautiful new facility in Nashville; a 90,000 square foot building constructed in 2019 in partnership with the city of Nashville as a key component in the new Envision Cayce development. Explore! Community School is an educational outreach of the Martha O’Bryan Center, Nashville’s oldest anti-poverty nonprofit that has been serving the city and Davidson County for over 100 years.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Enrollment, Student Recruitment, and Marketing

• Develop and execute a multi-year enrollment and school-based student recruitment strategy that meets or exceeds annual targets across all grade levels.
• Build a reliable pipeline of prospective students through partnerships with Pre-K programs, Head Start providers, daycares, schools, neighborhood organizations, and other community-based partners.
• Own the prospective-family journey from initial awareness and inquiry through application, enrollment, onboarding, and retention, ensuring responsive and welcoming communication at every stage.
• Represent Explore! at community events, school fairs, school-choice fairs, information sessions, tours, and other recruitment opportunities; serve as a compelling and credible face of the school.
• Lead recruitment marketing and communications, including campaign planning, collateral, digital advertising, social media, website content, and coordination with external consultants or vendors.
• Apply relevant sales and relationship-management practices—such as pipeline development, lead follow-up, conversion tracking, and audience segmentation—to strengthen enrollment outcomes.
• Use enrollment, inquiry, conversion, and retention data to identify opportunities, forecast progress, evaluate return on effort, and adjust strategy.
• Coordinate annual intent-to-return efforts and targeted family follow-up to improve student retention.

Community Engagement and Partnerships

• Develop and sustain long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with families, neighborhood leaders, community organizations, businesses, universities, and service providers.
• Build positive relationships with current families through regular communication, listening opportunities, events, and collaboration with school staff and leadership.
• Serve as the school’s primary liaison to external partners that support the academic program, student experience, family needs, and broader school community.
• Oversee attendance engagement strategies, including monitoring chronic absenteeism and truancy trends and coordinating timely intervention plans with the Culture Team and families.
• Ensure compliance with local and state attendance reporting requirements and serve as the school’s Title I Facilitator with MNPS, meeting deadlines and maintaining complete documentation.

Leadership, Project Planning, and Systems

• Manage, coach, and develop team members responsible for enrollment, registration, recruitment, and related family-facing work; establish clear goals, roles, and accountability.
• Lead cross-functional project planning for recruitment campaigns, enrollment events, family engagement initiatives, and community partnerships, including timelines, budgets, responsibilities, and success measures.
• Design, document, and continuously improve systems and workflows to make enrollment, recruitment, communications, and reporting more efficient, accurate, and family-friendly.
• Partner closely with the Executive Principal, Director of Operations, instructional leaders, and other staff to align enrollment and engagement priorities with the school’s strategic goals.

Preferred Skills, Experience, and Characteristics

• Commitment to Explore! Community School’s mission, values, educational model, and diverse community.
• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in student recruitment, enrollment, community engagement, marketing, sales, school operations, or a related field; school-based student recruitment experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success developing recruitment pipelines, engaging prospective families, and meeting enrollment or comparable growth targets.
• Experience managing and developing staff, leading cross-functional work, and holding teams accountable for results.
• Strong project-planning skills, with the ability to translate strategy into clear work plans, manage multiple deadlines, and deliver high-quality work.
• Proven ability to streamline systems, document processes, use data effectively, and improve operational efficiency.
• Excellent public speaking, written communication, and interpersonal skills; able to represent the school with warmth, professionalism, and credibility.
• Track record of building trust and durable partnerships with families, colleagues, prospective parents, and community stakeholders.
• Strong judgment, initiative, attention to detail, follow-through, humility, and a genuine love for students and families.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience preferred; multilingual ability is a plus.

Compensation

The salary range for this position is $60,000-$70,000, depending on level of experience. We also offer a competitive benefits package including healthcare, retirement, most holidays, and generous paid time off.

As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.