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

Software Engineer

Advertising Operations Specialist

Business Development Manager

Account Manager

Copy Editor

Release Manager

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.

We're looking for an all around web application developer to work on our Java and Perl based site. If you have a good grasp of UI development using HTML, JSP, and CSS, are well grounded in Object Oriented Analysis and Design, and have a passion for Test Driven Development, we are looking for you.

At GreatSchools you will:

• Create new and refine existing functionality on our website
• Find solutions for Usability Issues and Search Engine Optimization
• Refactor on an ongoing basis to keep our codebase as clean as possible
• Opportunistically port functionality from Perl scripts to Java and JSP
• Provide feedback on and make suggestions to improve our processes
• Participate in architecture discussions and code reviews

The ideal candidate will have a B.S. in Computer Science or equivalent degree and excellent problem-solving skills. Work experience must include:

• Several years experience designing and developing robust, scalable web applications
• Technical depth in OOD methodology, Java, XML, MVC, ORM, and relational databases
• Agile software development experience
• Must possess high level of enthusiasm and be a strong team player
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience with PostgreSQL or MySQL
• Experience with JSP and Perl -- PHP is a plus

How To Apply:

Take the next step and send us an e-mail telling us why you think you would be a great candidate for this opportunity to jobs-software.gs@greatschools.net. Be sure to include your resume, and use "Software Engineer" in the subject line.

Advertisting Operations Specialist

The Advertising Operations Specialist is primarily responsible for administering the daily operations for GreatSchools' online advertising business. This position involves working closely with the Ad Sales team to implement online advertising campaigns and to manage available ad inventory.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Work with ad sales team to deliver flawless campaign management, including the execution and full delivery of all contracted ad campaigns.
• Manage and check available inventory based on client proposals.
• Ensure timely posting and successful upload and delivery of online advertising campaigns.
• Track the status of all insertion orders from time of receipt to campaign launch.
• Proactively monitor, analyze and optimize performance in the delivery of ad campaigns, including the selection and delivery of ad networks for excess inventory, so as to maximize overall revenues.
• Forecast inventory based on traffic and ad position run rates.
• Provide the ad sales team with detailed weekly reports, including performance summary and optimization recommendations.
• Address and resolve discrepancies with clients in order to ensure a high level of client satisfaction.
• Collaborate with other departments, including product management and marketing to coordinate new ad packages, status reports, and updates.
• Work closely with the finance department to ensure proper revenue recognition and billing on a monthly basis.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree with a minimum of 2 -3 years online advertising operations and campaign trafficking experience.
• 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 models (CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL), media types (e.g., banners, skyscrapers, box ads, email newsletters) and technologies.
• Experience working with rich media, animated graphics, 3rd party advertising tags and HTML ad creative.
• Experience with Google Ad Manager desired.
• Proven experience with developing, implementing and maintaining essential business reports.
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, highly organized and flexible.
• Superior verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills.
• Self-starter with the ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency with MS Excel, MS Word and HTML.

How To Apply:

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

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.

Copy Editor

Join our talented editorial team and use your copyediting and proofreading skills to help polish well-crafted products that give parents the information they need to guide their children's education and improve schools in their communities.

The successful candidate will possess strong editorial skills, as well as an understanding of our parent audience and preK-12 education. Journalism background and Web-editing experience desirable.

This position reports to the Managing Editor.

Responsibilities:

• Copyedit and proofread copy for a variety of purposes - for articles in draft form as well as in Web format; for Web pages and newsletter text; for organizational presentations, marketing collateral and grant proposals.
• Ensure all materials for publication conform to house style.
• Make certain all materials for publication uphold high editorial standards and the overall tone of the GreatSchools brand.

Experience/Education/Skills Required:

• Three years minimum experience as a copyeditor in print and online.
• Bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, English or similar subject.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills.
• Excellent copyediting and proofreading skills.
• Familiarity with AP and Chicago Style.
• Proficient in MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Basic familiarity with HTML and content management tools a plus.

Essential Qualities:

• A keen eye for detail.
• Pride in seeing copy in its finished form that is error free.
• Excellent attention to detail, highly organized and flexible.
• A self-starter with the ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• A team-player.
• Strong interest in PreK-12 education and the parents' role a plus.
• A strong commitment to the mission of GreatSchools.

How To Apply:

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

Release Manager

This newly created role will be a critical member of the GreatSchools web product development team and will be highly involved in successfully implementing ongoing improvements to the Web site, redesigns and new functionality. This is a fabulous opportunity for somebody who has experience with project management and wants to participate more in strategic product release planning. This position will report into the Director of Product Management.

Responsibilities:

• Act as the liaison between varying business units to guarantee smooth and timely delivery of software products or updates.
• Work with product managers to understand product goals, timelines and dependencies.
• Coordinate and plan details of medium-term development timeline and work with product managers, designers and engineers to ensure requirements and assets are developed accordingly and in line with the product roadmap.
• Schedule projects for each product release to maximize the use of available resources and meet implementation deadlines while managing complex dependencies.
• Frame trade-offs and prioritization decisions to ensure goals are met across various products.
• Communicate with product stakeholders and staff about new product releases, upcoming priorities and progress towards short and medium term goals.
• Take projects from stakeholder signoff to release to live by managing the implementation process in partnership with product management and engineering, utilizing agile development methodologies.
• Continually monitor, evaluate and communicate project risks, issues, scope, and timeline and provide guidance accordingly to team members. Ensure roadmap implementation occurs successfully. Regularly communicate if changes to schedule or scope are needed.
• As needed, work with external HTML or Flash coders to translate graphic design into HTML or Flash.
• Perform initial review against product user stories, UI and visual designs. Ensure that products will delight our users and are built to the design. Support QA in completing full review.
• Coordinate issue resolution with project owners during project implementation phase, as needed.
• Work with the broader teams to be continually improving process.

Qualifications:

• 4-6 years in a web project management capacity.
• Combination of technical competence and business skills to help develop business requirements and coordinate implementation.
• Knowledge of web standards, design and usability.
• Experience working with basic agile development principles such as XP or Scrum.
• Strong detail-oriented project management skills or demonstrated aptitude.
• Self-starter with ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Enthusiastic team player with ability to exercise good judgment.
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communications skills.
• Great problem solver.
• Undergraduate degree preferred.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+releasemgr.gs@greatschools.net, with "Web Release Manager" in the subject line. Resumes without cover letters will not be considered. No contract offers and no phone calls please.