Senior Innovation Manager Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Innovation Manager - Summit 3.0 - SY27

The Innovation Manager leads the end-to-end coordination of Summit 3.0 pilots across schools. Reporting to the Senior Director of Innovation (and working day-to-day with Directors of School Design / RISE Teams), this role manages the operational backbone of the pilot portfolio: planning timelines, supporting site teams, tracking progress, and ensuring that every pilot generates actionable evidence. Beyond the pilots, the role supports redesign work at multiple focal schools and provides project-management support across other innovation priorities.

This is a hands-on, cross-functional role for an educator-operator who can translate vision into workable school-level pilots, keep complex initiatives on track, and drive a learn-fast culture without burning out schools.

Who We Are

Summit Public Schools is a network of public middle and high schools preparing students to be their best selves—ready for college, career, and life. Operating 12 schools in California and Washington, Summit is nationally recognized for reimagining what’s possible in education. Our graduates complete college at twice the national average, and we continue to evolve our models to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world.

What You’ll Do:

Portfolio Planning & Coordination

• Manage multi-year pilot roadmap aligned to Summit 3.0 priorities and the Future Ready School Model.

• Coordinate pilot selection, scoping, sequencing, and readiness across sites.

• Develop clear pilot charters, timelines, milestones, and resourcing plans.

• Maintain a shared calendar of pilot events, deliverables, and decision points.

Pilot Design Support

• Partner with Senior Director of Innovation, Directors of School Design, and school leaders to co-design pilots that are coherent, feasible, and tied to clear hypotheses.

• Ensure pilots include strong implementation plans, measurement strategies, and feedback loops.

• Vet pilot designs for alignment to student outcomes, Summit 3.0 vision, and operational reality.

Implementation Management

• Serve as the day-to-day project manager for pilots running across multiple schools.

• Provide “air-traffic control” during launches: troubleshooting barriers, ensuring materials and training are ready, and keeping stakeholders aligned.

• Monitor implementation fidelity through site check-ins, observation data, educator feedback, and usage signals.

• Escalate risks early and propose course corrections quickly.

Data, Learning, and Codification

• Partner with the Innovation team to define metrics, data-collection methods, and reporting routines for each pilot.

• Maintain the Innovation Data Infrastructure for pilots—tracking status, outcomes, and scaling indicators.

• Produce mid-cycle and end-of-cycle learning memos that summarize results, user experience, and recommended decisions.

• Work with Research & Operations to codify promising practices into tools, frameworks, and training assets.

School Partnership & Change Support

• Build strong working relationships with Executive Directors, site leadership teams, and pilot educators.

• Support adult learning and change management at the site level so pilots are understood and owned.

• Ensure pilot work respects school constraints and integrates into existing priorities.

Continuous Improvement of the Pilot System

• Improve the Studio’s pilot playbook and standard operating procedures over time.

• Share patterns across pilots to improve design quality and reduce friction for schools.

• Contribute to a culture of disciplined experimentation and honest reflection.

Focal School & Other Innovative Workstreams Support

• Provide coordination and project-management support to the Directors of School Design leading redesign at the focal schools.

• Pitch in on other innovation project management as priorities shift, such as materials preparation, working-session logistics, and cross-functional follow-through.

• Focus on coordination and operations; design and implementation decisions at the focal schools sit with the Directors of School Design.

Who You Are

Key Qualities & Skills

• Deep belief in Summit’s mission and in the need to evolve public schools for a future-ready world.

• Strong project and program management skills; you can run multiple complex workstreams without losing quality.

• Field-grounded educator mindset—you design with schools, not to schools.

• Comfortable flexing across workstreams and pitching in where the innovation team needs the most support.

• Data-informed and research-literate; able to define success metrics and interpret evidence.

• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and proactive.

• Excellent facilitator and relationship builder across school-site and home-office teams.

• Comfortable with ambiguity; moves fast, learns fast, and adjusts without drama.

• Clear writer who can produce sharp plans, briefs, and learning summaries.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in teaching, school leadership, instructional coaching, program design, and/or innovation/piloting work.

• Demonstrated success leading cross-site initiatives or complex school-based projects.

• Experience designing and/or implementing pilots, continuous improvement cycles, and new learning models.

• Experience coordinating or supporting embedded, site-based change work is a plus.

• Proficiency with Google Workspace; strong comfort with tools for project management and data tracking.

• Clear background check.

What You Get

In addition to joining a team that is collaborative, supportive, and engaging in meaningful work, you’ll have access to a comprehensive suite of benefits including a retirement plan, unlimited “take what you need” PTO policy, 11 paid holidays, and 3 weeks of organization-wide closures during the year. You and your dependents will have access to multiple health, dental, and vision plans at 25% cost (we cover the other 75%) and employee life and disability insurance at no cost. Our compensation policy strives to be equitable and transparent. The salary range for this position starts at $95,892 and goes up to $113,286 commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Summit is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are directly intertwined with education. We are all better when we are able to bring our whole selves to work and honor each other’s voices across identities, cultural backgrounds, and life experiences. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals who are members of historically marginalized communities.