Jobs at GreatSchools

Parents voted GreatSchools the Best Parenting/Family Site in the 2007 People's Voice Webby Awards. Our site was visited by more than 30 million people last year, and our school information can be also be found on the Web's top sites, including Yahoo!, MSN, Family.com, LATimes.com and SFGate.com.

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:

Managing Editor

Java Software Engineer

Director of Marketing

Managing Editor

Leading a team of writers, video producers and editors, the managing editor at GreatSchools will define the strategy for creating content that inspires parents to be effectively involved in their children's education. This person is responsible for managing the day-to-day design and production of all content on the GreatSchools.net Web site.

The successful candidate will possess strong content development, writing and management skills, as well as an understanding of parents and K-12 education. The candidate will also have experience in social marketing -using marketing techniques to garner widespread attention and influence people's behavior for social good.

This position is a key member of GreatSchools' executive management team and reports to the chief operating officer.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership for the development of content on the GreatSchools Web site and its email newsletters; take responsibility for developing content that is accurate, interesting, trustworthy, and that moves parents to action.
• Write and edit materials for target audiences integrating compelling and creative text, still images, audio and video-file components, and links to relevant Internet resources into an appealing and thoughtful online package.
• Work with the CEO/COO to determine editorial strategy and the position of GreatSchools on education issues.
• Develop an editorial calendar; assign, edit and produce relevant, credible content for newsletters and Web site, including text and video.
• Collaborate with the product management team to identify user needs and interests, and ensure content is optimized for search.
• Work with the business development team to plan, negotiate and execute content-licensing deals to bring new content to the Web site and email newsletters.
• Manage a team of in-house and free-lance editors and writers; hire additional and/or replacement staff as needed.
• Develop the editorial talents of the editorial staff and guide its efforts to learn more about education issues.
• Initiate and manage SEO, PR and link-building for all network content pages, responding to and taking action based on traffic metrics.
• Read and respond to content-related user feedback.

Job Requirements:

• 5+ years of writing and editing experience, including a minimum of 3 years of editorial experience in an online content-driven environment.
• Experience developing content for social marketing purposes.
• Knowledge about K-12 education issues. The ideal candidate is well-informed about topics such as parent involvement, school choice, No Child Left Behind, standardized testing, education funding, and the challenges of recruiting and retaining high quality teachers.
• A familiarity with and interest in education data and its value to parents for choosing, evaluating and improving schools.
• Impeccable writing and editing skills; demonstrated ability to write for a broad audience, including synthesizing complex issues so that non-experts can understand them.
• Editorial planning; experience discerning customer needs and guiding editorial development for a consumer-oriented media organization.
• Editorial management; an effective advocate for the editorial team who is also a demonstrated leader with experience recruiting, managing and developing in-house editors and free-lance writers
• Knowledge and success at managing large amounts of content on the Web to facilitate an excellent user experience.
• Comfortable with blogging platforms, social media and the Internet in general.
• A track record of implementing strategies that result in high usage and frequent return visits.
• A strong knowledge of SEO practices and Web metrics, and an understanding of how to apply them toward improving a user's Web site experience.
• A good understanding of HTML and related Web authoring tools and software.
• Entrepreneurial passion, creativity, initiative and a high level of enthusiasm for the GreatSchools mission.
• Demonstrated ability to excel as a self-starter and a team player.
• Demonstrated success working in a cross-functional environment.
• Experience negotiating and implementing content-licensing agreements with partners is a big plus.
• Experience shooting and editing video clips is a plus.
• Experience choosing and/or implementing a content management system is a plus.

How To Apply:

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

Java Software Engineer

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.

Director of Marketing

We are seeking an energetic, results-oriented and experienced Director of Marketing to drive the GreatSchools.net customer acquisition and retention strategies. In this newly created position, you will help to define the overall marketing strategies and own their successful execution. You will report to the COO for GreatSchools and will partner closely with the product management, business analytics, editorial, sales and business development teams.

This highly visible and newly created role will be responsible for:

• Defining, executing and communicating the strategic marketing plan.
• Development and execution of customer acquisition efforts to maximize reach, including determining appropriate distribution channels and mix of marketing methods: email, online marketing, PR, etc.
• Understanding the customer lifecycle and creating and executing programs to ensure new and repeat traffic to the site.
• Defining and monitoring success metrics and communicating them and their impact on strategy to executive management.
• Leading marketing roll-out of new offerings.
• Developing and refreshing product positioning as-needed based upon deep knowledge of the marketing and competitor base. Ensure internal and external consistency with respect to product positioning.
• Working with product management and others to provide input into new product offerings.
• Developing necessary marketing collateral for sales and fundraising efforts.
• Providing necessary marketing support for "on the ground" pilot programs' effort to reach and impact more parents.
• Developing, overseeing and actively managing the marketing budget.

• Results-oriented mindset, with a proven track record of creating and executing online customer acquisition and repeat visit programs, especially at an advertising sponsored media website.
• Obsessed with measuring campaign results and impact; has analytical skills to model impact of potential marketing promotions, test programs, track results and evaluate marketing campaigns for success.
• Brings a wide range of consumer marketing experiences: online and offline acquisition, email marketing, community building, etc. and strong experience with web marketing technologies.
• Experienced with public relations and social media to engage our users and develop our brand.
• Excellent presentation skills with the ability to distill information into key findings and action items.
• Excellent track record of performance against goals.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to multi-task and manage competing priorities.
• Highly resourceful; not dependent on large corporate staffs and resources.
• Experience and passion for K-12 education a plus.
• 7+ years marketing experience.
• Bachelor's Degree, MBA preferred.

How To Apply:

Please email a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to jobs+mktgdir@greatschools.net, with "Director of Marketing" in the subject line. Applications without cover letters will not be considered. No calls please.