VP of School Development $200,000 USD/year Pay is set based on global value, not the local market.
Most roles = hourly rate x 40 hrs x 50 weeks
Not accepting applications on crossover.com at this time.
Description
Most operators can open a school. Few can do it repeatedly, predictably, and faster every time.
Alpha is building a national network of schools designed to compress a full day of learning into two focused hours using AI. That model only works if expansion is just as precise as the product itself. This role exists to make that happen. You will own the full lifecycle of new school locations—from raw site to fully operational campus—while building the systems that make each subsequent opening faster, cleaner, and more predictable.
This is not a traditional development role. You are not here to just manage projects. You are here to eliminate friction from expansion. That means making hard calls on site viability, stepping into permitting and construction issues, negotiating with vendors, and driving timelines with urgency. At the same time, you will break every part of this process into structured, AI-driven workflows that reduce manual effort and improve forecast accuracy over time.
If you have led real-world builds and are frustrated by slow timelines, fragmented ownership, and repeated mistakes, this is where you fix it—at scale.
What you will be doing
- Make high-stakes site decisions by validating zoning, permitting, cost, and timeline feasibility using structured and AI-assisted analysis
- Own multiple school builds simultaneously, guiding construction managers, resolving blockers, and ensuring on-time, on-budget openings
- Develop clear, decision-ready capital project proposals that align stakeholders on scope, cost, and execution strategy
- Lead vendor selection, RFPs, and contract negotiations with a focus on speed, quality, and cost control
- Decompose expansion workflows into defined work units and build AI-driven systems that compress timelines and improve predictability
What you will NOT be doing
- Acting as a passive project tracker waiting on updates from contractors or partners
- Specializing in only one phase (e.g., just site selection or just construction) without owning the full outcome
- Relying on manual, ad hoc processes that reset with every new location
- Escalating problems without stepping in to resolve permitting, design, or construction blockers directly
- Spending months aligning stakeholders without driving a clear decision
Key responsibilities
Own the end-to-end expansion of new school locations by delivering fully operational campuses on predictable timelines while continuously reducing time, cost, and risk through AI-driven systems.
Candidate requirements
- Proven experience leading at least one real estate development or construction project from site selection through opening with full ownership
- Experience managing multiple concurrent builds or capital projects with direct responsibility for timelines, coordination, and issue resolution
- Strong fluency in zoning, permitting, construction, and vendor coordination, with the ability to engage directly with GCs, architects, and regulators
- Demonstrated ability to make tradeoff decisions across cost, timeline, and feasibility with clear, measurable outcomes
- Experience improving or structuring complex operational workflows (e.g., permitting, design coordination, construction execution)
- Demonstrated ability to break complex workflows into structured, repeatable systems and improve them over time
- Evidence of using tools (AI or otherwise) to reduce manual work, accelerate decision-making, or improve execution speed
- High ownership mindset with the ability to operate in ambiguity and drive real-world outcomes
- Willingness and ability to travel up to 60% to active school sites across the US and be on-site during critical phases of development and opening
- Currently located in the US and eligible to work without visa sponsorship
Nice to have
Background in scaling multi-site development or expansion programs
Track record of improving forecast accuracy and reducing delivery timelines across projects
You will be working for
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Applying for a role? Here’s what to expect.
Crossover's skill assessment process combines innovative AI power with decades of human research, to take the guesswork, human bias, and pointless filters out of recruiting high-performing teams.
Chat-style screening interview.
Cognitive aptitude test.
Prove real-world job skills.
Interview with the hiring manager.
Pass proctored test.
Accept job offer.
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