Fast Facts

Join the Commit Partnership as a Managing Director to lead policy and advocacy efforts aimed at improving educational outcomes and economic mobility for Texas students. This role offers a chance to collaborate with various stakeholders and drive impactful change in educational policies across the state.

Responsibilities: Lead strategic policy development and advocacy initiatives, manage a high-impact team, and foster collaborations with policymakers and stakeholders to enhance educational opportunities.

Skills: Strong analytical and communication skills, ability to influence policy outcomes, experience in coalition building, and a commitment to educational equity.

Qualifications: Minimum of 10 years in public policy or advocacy roles, with at least 5 years in a leadership position, along with a proven track record in managing complex initiatives that yield measurable results.

Location: Dallas or Austin, TX

Compensation: $150000 - $182000 / Annually

Position Overview

The Commit Partnership (“Commit”) seeks an outcomes-driven, experienced, and solutions-oriented leader to serve as the Managing Director of our Policy and State Coalitions (PSC) team. This role reports directly to Commit’s Chief State Impact Officer and serves as a member of the organization’s executive leadership team.  

Commit is the nation’s largest collective impact organization, dedicated to increasing both educational attainment and access to living-wage careers in Dallas County and across Texas. Through policy development, advocacy, and implementation, Commit works to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed. 

The Policy and State Coalitions team has successfully advanced student-centered, data-driven policies at the Texas Legislature that serve students statewide, while prioritizing our North Star goal: increasing the percentage of young adults in Dallas County earning a living wage to 50% by 2040. Our 2025 Legislative Agenda can be viewed here as an example of the bold, strategy-driven policies we champion.  

The Managing Director will lead ahigh-impact team responsible for research, policy development, coalition building, and state-level advocacy. This leader will collaborate closely with Commit’s senior leadership, influential stakeholders, state agency staff, and elected officials to advance policy decisions that expand opportunity and improve outcomes for Texas students from early childhood to postsecondary completion. 

At Commit, we set bold goals for impact—and we equip our leaders with the tools to match. The PSC Managing Director will be a key player in our integrated advocacy strategy that includes the Policy and State Coalition team, the Commit to Students 501(c)(4), and the Texas Impact Network policy implementation arm. In addition to the PSC team members, the Managing Director will have access to contracted lobbyists, an experienced communications team, dedicated data analysts, and a robust fundraising team that support the organization’s efforts.

Salary Range: $150,000-$182,000 + a bonus of up to 20%

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Department Leadership: Develop and execute a multi-year, comprehensive policy and advocacy strategy aligned with The Commit Partnership’s mission and long-term goals 
• Collaborative Organization Leadership: Shape the organization’s strategic vision and talent strategy to advance progress toward the North Star goal as a member of Commit’s Executive Team
• Policy Development: Lead the team in identifying, analyzing, and promoting evidence-based policy solutions that advance student achievement and economic mobility 
• Advocacy & Influence: Build and maintain trusted relationships with policymakers, education leaders, and key partners to inform and influence decision-making 
• Coalition Building: Convene stakeholders, including school districts, institutes of higher education, nonprofit organizations, business leaders, and advocacy partners, to drive collective action on shared priorities
• Team Management: Manage and develop a team of policy, research, and advocacy professionals, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and impact 
• External Representation: Serve as a visible spokesperson and thought leader for The Commit Partnership on education policy issues in Dallas County and beyond
• Measurement & Impact: Establish and monitor metrics to track progress, ensure accountability, and communicate outcomes to funders and stakeholders

Ideal Candidate Profile

The Managing Director, Policy and State Coalitions is an outcomes-driven, collaborative leader who believes in the power of policy to create scalable, systemic solutions to complex challenges. The Managing Director adapts and pivots with agility while keeping goals in clear focus, harness the strengths of team members and coalition partners, and build trusted relationships across lines of difference. 

Qualifications and Skills Required

• Track record of influencing policy outcomes at the state level 
• Ability to translate complex policy issues into clear and compelling messages 
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to use data to drive decision-making and continuous improvement
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships, collaborate across departments, and work with senior leadership and external partners
• Exceptional communication skills to both humbly and effectively influence executive leaders, investors, and policymakers
• A strong commitment to providing equal student access to opportunity and an understanding of the barriers faced by first-generation and low-income students  

Education and/or Experience Required

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in public policy, advocacy, government affairs, or related fields, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role
• Proven success in managing complex initiatives that engage multiple stakeholders and achieve measurable results
• Direct management experience and a defined management style that includes fostering professional growth, driving accountability, and cultivating a collaborative workplace

Preferred: 

• Deep understanding of education and/or workforce policy, preferable in Texas or similar contexts. 

Language Skills

• Ability to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate.
• Ability to communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.
• Ability to describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to read and write in Standard English.
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with others.
• Ability to interact with persons of various social, cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds.
• Ability to listen perceptively and convey awareness.
• Ability to interact diplomatically with the public in a continuous public contact setting.
• Ability to work as part of a team and in a team environment.
• Ability to maintain level-headedness in the face of resistance and contrary opinions.

Work Environment

The Managing Director generally works in an office environment but may occasionally be required to perform job duties outside of the typical office setting. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate. The employee is not exposed to any adverse environmental conditions.

About The Commit Partnership:

Our Mission

We believe that through our collective actions, Dallas County—which educates 10% of Texas and 1% of the nation—can become an inclusive and prosperous region where economic opportunity is shared fairly. That’s why our True North Goal is that by 2040, at least half of all Dallas County residents ages 25–34, irrespective of race, will have the opportunity to earn a living wage.

To increase living wage attainment, we must equitably increase educational success aligned with high-demand, well-paying jobs—maximizing the cumulative impact from early education through college, career, and military readiness to strong postsecondary completion. Our team aligns community stakeholders around this shared roadmap for the future, using data to surface strategic initiatives that improve policies, practices, and funding. Together, we work to address the systemic root causes that hinder progress and strengthen our community’s capacity to serve every student effectively.

Our Story

Founded in 2012, the Commit Partnership has grown into the nation’s largest educational collective impact organization, uniting more than 70 backbone team members and over 200 partners across Dallas County and Texas—all working together to address the systemic education challenges facing our region and state. Our team brings community stakeholders together around a shared roadmap for the future, using data and practitioner insights to inform effective policy solutions that accelerate progress toward our goals and strengthen our collective capacity to serve every student well.

Together, we advocate for an excellent public education that ensures all students—regardless of race, place, or socioeconomic status—can shape their own futures, earn a living wage, and share in the prosperity of the world’s eighth-largest economy. We pursue this mission through several key initiatives, including Early Matters Dallas, Dallas County Promise, the Texas Urban Council, and the Texas Impact Network.

True North Traits

Our True North Traits creates a mission-driven environment and champions us to do our best work each day.

Systemic Impact: You understand the barriers and lived experiences that our students face and are skilled at delivering systemic solutions at scale that address these needs. You achieve significant, sustainable results that increase equitable outcomes through your work (including the reallocation or improvement in public funding), and you recognize the difference between activity and impact.

Judgment: You exhibit a relentless “students first” focus by thinking strategically about what data must be collected, analyzed, visualized, and activated (and what steps must be taken, in what order) to cause resources to be reallocated and actions to be taken to systemically overcome the root causes hindering achievement of the Partnership's mission.

Communication: By listening to understand before seeking to be understood, you’re able to build trust and facilitate collaboration across lines of difference, recognizing that both are essential to our success. You are also able to find common ground with diverse stakeholders and can tailor the organization's message to different audiences as needed to influence meaningful change.

Innovation: You can create or meaningfully contribute to the design and execution of a systemic and transformational strategic plan to solve complex problems, often at scale, that improves organizational effectiveness and/or closes equity gaps for our students and families.

Equity and Inclusion: You intentionally create spaces where relevant stakeholders have a seat or voice at the table, ensuring that each person at the table's thoughts and perspectives are shared, valued by all others at the table, and reflected in our work. You're excited to help build and/or contribute to teams where everyone feels welcomed, respected, valued, and highly supported.

Joy: You recognize that people are central to our work, striking a balance between people and process, and you inspire others with your optimism and thirst for substantive change in service to the mission.

Integrity: You admit mistakes openly, share learnings widely, and elevate bad news quickly, also capable of making difficult decisions in all situations to ensure the success of the organization.

The Commit Partnership is an Equal Opportunity Employer that seeks to hire individuals with backgrounds similar to that of the stakeholders they serve. As an organization that embraces equity and inclusion, all employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Commit does not sponsor visas of any kind.