School Strategy Specialist - Chicago

About Epic

Epic is a digital reading platform for kids 12 and under, with a library of high-quality children’s books, audiobooks, and read-to-me titles. Epic is free for educators, and teachers and librarians across the U.S. use it every day to get kids reading more, with more joy. Many of our biggest champions are school librarians and ELA teachers who brought Epic into their buildings on their own.

About the role

As a Strategic Partnerships Specialist, you’ll be Epic’s local, in-person presence in your community, based in Chicago. Your mission: help more educators discover Epic, bring it into their classrooms and libraries, and make reading with Epic part of their everyday routine.

You’ll work with schools and districts in your area, building relationships with teachers, librarians, and school communities. You’ll help educators who already love Epic share it with their colleagues, support teachers as they get started, and introduce Epic to schools that haven’t discovered it yet. This is a grassroots, educator-to-educator role. Epic is free for educators, so this isn’t about selling. It’s about being a trusted local voice who shows teachers how Epic fits into their day.

Along the way, you’ll share what you learn in the field and help shape the school partnership playbook that guides this work as it expands to new markets.

What you’ll do
Lead Chicago literacy and education technology initiatives

• Lead Epic’s school partnership work in the Chicago: build work plans, set milestones, and coordinate with Epic’s partnerships, product and marketing teams
• Launch and lead an Epic Educator Advisory Group of principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, librarians and teachers. Turn its input into clear recommendations for Epic’s leadership.
• Help school and district leaders connect Epic to their literacy goals, such as foundational reading, independent reading time, English learner support and summer reading
• Represent Epic as a practitioner voice at conferences, county office of education events, district convenings and literacy partner events

Design and facilitate educator training

• Plan and lead in-person and virtual professional learning on reading engagement, classroom technology use and family literacy
• Facilitate sessions at staff meetings, PD days, literacy and family nights, and library events, spending 2–3 days a week at schools
• Give follow-up coaching after trainings so teachers move from first use to regular classroom routines
• Lead family sessions in English and your second language, with a focus on schools that serve multilingual learners

Build strategic school and district partnerships

• Own relationships with leaders across a portfolio of 10–15 priority Chicago districts and their elementary and K–8 schools
• Move schools from individual teacher use to school-wide adoption by working with principals, librarians and teacher champions
• Help districts add Epic to approved app lists, and connect them with Epic’s team on data privacy agreements
• Build partnerships with public libraries, literacy nonprofits and community organizations that support young readers

Create resources and support instruction

• Develop and maintain training materials, school toolkits, family resources and Epic’s school partnership playbook
• Adapt resources for multilingual families and different school contexts
• Find and lift up standout educators for recognition and case studies

Run program operations and share what you learn

• Track school visits, training attendance, adoption and reading activity, and use that data to decide where to focus next
• Gather feedback from trainings and evaluate what’s working
• Share regular, specific insight on school priorities, literacy needs and product gaps with Epic’s team

What you bring
Required

• 5+ years in K–8 education, including at least 2 years as an assistant principal, principal, dean, district strategist, instructional coach lead or in a similar leadership role
• 2+ years leading major projects or school-wide initiatives, such as a literacy program, technology rollout or PD series
• Bilingual in English and at least one language widely spoken in Chicago schools, such as Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Arabic. You can present to and coach families and educators in that language.
• Experience designing and facilitating adult learning, both in person and virtually
• Active relationships with Chicago school and district leaders
• Strong public speaking skills and comfort facilitating groups of senior educators
• Organized and self-directed, able to manage competing priorities; comfortable with Google Workspace, spreadsheets and basic data tracking
• Reliable transportation and willingness to travel regularly to schools across the Chicago.

How we’ll measure success

• New teacher and librarian sign-ups in your portfolio
• Activated teachers: classes created, students added, and kids reading
• Growth in active teachers and daily student reading across your schools
• Schools moving up tiers, from a single user toward school-wide adoption
• School visits, educator meetings, and presentations delivered
• Quality of field insights contributed to the playbook

What we provide

• Onboarding and training on Epic, plus ongoing support from the Educator Engagement team
• Usage data and a prioritized school list for your portfolio
• Presentation decks, one-pagers, printed materials, and Epic swag
• Coverage of approved travel, meals, and materials

Compensation and terms

• Compensation: $50 per hour and quarterly bonus of up to $5K based on target achievement.
• Time commitment: 25 - 30 hours per week, with 2 to 3 days in schools.
• Start date: November 2, 2026 (flexible)
• Commute: Mileage reimbursed based on actuals as per IRS standards ($72.5 cents per mile)