Director of Communities

Director of Communities

Reports to: Managing Director

Position Summary

Founded in Baltimore in 2004, Thread is a proven, relationship-based model that re-engages the most academically underperforming, disconnected high school freshmen and equips them with the tools and resources needed to complete high school, pursue a post-high school pathway, achieve self-efficacy and experience upward economic mobility. Regardless of what challenges arise, Thread maintains a 10-year commitment to all young people enrolled and to date, 65% have completed high school - a rate 10 times that of their peers. Thread annually enrolls 40% of the lowest-performing freshmen at the lowest-performing schools in City Schools and engages over 1,500 young people and alumni with the support of more than 4,000 volunteers and collaborators (A Path Forward).

Thread is looking for a Director of Communities to serve as the executive leader of one of our school-based sites. Reporting to the Managing Director, the Director will lead a cross-functional site team, own community performance and outcomes, and strengthen the network of relationships, resources, and opportunities surrounding young people and volunteers.

This is a role for a people-first leader who brings it all together. Other teams own functions like volunteer recruitment, partnerships, and practice design; the Director of Communities makes sure it all works at the site, so young people, volunteers, and staff experience Thread as one connected community.

Key Responsibilities

Site Leadership & Strategy

• Serve as the executive leader of an assigned site, implementing Thread's mission, strategic plan, and relational model.
• Set annual, quarterly, and near-term site priorities aligned with organizational goals and local needs.
• Lead regular reflection and planning routines that use data and community insight to adjust strategy.
• Represent Thread as a senior leader within the school and surrounding community.

Community Outcomes

• Own young person and volunteer recruitment, engagement, retention, and progress toward Thread's outcomes, including high school completion, post-high school pathways, and employment.
• Monitor site performance data to identify trends, disparities, and areas requiring intervention.
• Identify barriers to engagement and deploy staff, relationships, and resources to address them.

Team Leadership & Coaching

• Supervise, coach, and develop Community Managers, the Program Manager, the Resources & Opportunities Manager, and other site staff.
• Build a high-performing team culture grounded in Thread's values, accountability, trust, and learning.
• Lead performance management, including goal setting, regular feedback, and annual reviews.
• Deploy people and resources toward the community's highest-priority needs as conditions evolve.

Relational Resource Hub & Partnerships

• Steward the site's Relational Resource Hub, ensuring volunteers, partners, resources, and opportunities are activated around young people's goals.
• Maintain key local relationships, including school leadership and neighborhood anchors.
• Identify gaps in the local ecosystem and communicate needs to Thread's centralized teams.

Data, Practice & Operations

• Build a site culture that uses data to ask questions, make decisions, and improve practice.
• Implement Thread's practice standards, playbooks, and operating routines consistently at the site.
• Ensure site operations meet policy, safety, and grant requirements, and escalate risks promptly.

Cross-Lane Collaboration

• Serve as the primary point of alignment between Thread's centralized teams and the site, including recruitment, pathways, practice, operations, data, development, communications, and HR.
• Ensure cross-lane work strengthens rather than fragments the experience of young people, volunteers, and staff.