St. Louis Charter School CEO Job: Lead Kairos Academies Into Its Next Chapter
Kairos Academies is searching for a Chief Executive Officer who believes every student deserves to be known deeply, challenged academically, and trusted with ownership of their future.
About Kairos Academies
Founded in 2019, Kairos Academies is a public charter school serving around 400 middle and high school students in St. Louis, Missouri. Kairos was founded on the belief that students thrive when they are known deeply, challenged academically, and given increasing ownership of their learning and futures.
This belief is lived through a model that combines rigorous academics with strong relationships and student agency. Every student has a dedicated mentor who serves as a consistent advocate and bridge between school and home. Through Next Prep, a core Kairos program focused on self-discovery, career exploration, and professional skill-building, students develop a clear plan for life after graduation and build the skills to pursue their education, income, and life goals. Students also connect their learning to the real world through job site visits, networking, professional skills practice, paid internships, and other college and career experiences.
In 2026, Kairos celebrated one of its most significant milestones to date: graduating its first senior class. This achievement marks an important moment in Kairos’s continued growth and reflects its commitment to preparing students to thrive in the lives they choose after graduation.
As Kairos moves beyond its founding years, the organization enters its next chapter with meaningful momentum and a clearer understanding of where it must continue to grow. Strong school-based leadership and a renewed focus on instructional excellence are creating greater classroom consistency, supported by strengthened coaching and feedback systems that continue to reinforce a culture of continuous improvement. Kairos also enters this transition with financial stability, providing a strong foundation for the work ahead.
At the same time, Kairos is at an important inflection point. While students have demonstrated meaningful academic growth, increasing proficiency remains a critical priority. Enrollment has also fallen short of the organization’s goals, creating an opportunity to strengthen the student and family experience, rebuild enrollment, and align the organization’s structure and resources with the students it serves. As Kairos looks ahead, its focus is clear: strengthen the core academic program, deepen its connection with students and families, and build the organizational foundation needed for sustainable long-term impact.
The Opportunity: A CEO for Kairos Academies
Kairos Academies seeks a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the organization through an important next phase of its development. Reporting to the Board of Directors, the CEO will build on the momentum already underway while bringing the focus, judgment, and disciplined execution needed to translate that progress into stronger, more sustainable outcomes for students.
The next CEO will inherit meaningful organizational capacity, including a deeply committed team, strong school-based leadership, an increasingly consistent culture of instructional coaching and feedback, and a stable financial foundation. The opportunity now is to build from those strengths: accelerating academic achievement, strengthening enrollment and student persistence, stabilizing the organization’s systems and ways of working, and aligning its structure and resources to create the conditions for sustainable impact over time.
This is an opportunity for a leader who can identify the organization’s most important priorities and thoughtfully sequence the work, make sound decisions about people and resources, and keep Kairos focused on delivering an exceptional experience for students. This role calls for a grounded, hands-on leader who believes deeply in Kairos’s mission and combines high expectations with humility. The next CEO will lead by building trust across the organization and digging into the work alongside the team while maintaining a clear view of where Kairos is headed.
Key Priorities for the Kairos CEO
Accelerate academic progress: Build on the instructional momentum underway, set a clear bar for academic excellence, and ensure strong student growth translates into increased proficiency over time
Strengthen enrollment and student persistence: Develop a comprehensive strategy for attracting and retaining families, improve communication and the consistency of the student and family experience, address practical barriers to enrollment and persistence, and strengthen Kairos’s presence and reputation in St. Louis.
Stabilize and align the organization for sustainable impact: Clarify priorities, roles, decision rights, and accountability; align Kairos’s people, resources, systems, and organizational structure with its current needs; and build a strong foundation for the future.
Build and sustain a strong leadership team and culture: Develop and retain strong leaders, establish clear expectations and accountability, and continue building a culture in which people can do their best work.
Preserve and strengthen Kairos’s distinctive model: Protect the organization’s commitment to mentoring, belonging, student agency, strong relationships, innovation, and individualized student support while building the systems necessary to deliver that model consistently.
Lead Kairos as a credible external partner: Build strong relationships with the Board, families, authorizer, funders, and the broader St. Louis community while representing Kairos with judgment, transparency, and credibility.
Qualifications
The ideal Chief Executive Officer candidate will bring the following experiences, skills, and mindsets/values:
Required Experience:
Significant leadership experience in K–12 education, including meaningful experience working with or leading schools, educators, and instructional teams.
A verifiable record of improving student outcomes and organizational performance while building and managing high-performing leadership teams in a school or school network.
Proven ability to develop and execute strategic plans with clear metrics for success.
Track record of serving as a public-facing leader and building strong external partnerships.
Strong background in financial oversight, HR administration, and compliance.
Knowledge of charter school governance, education law, and compliance, with experience in Missouri or the ability to quickly develop a deep understanding of the St. Louis and Missouri education landscape.
Skills
Ability to set and communicate strategic priorities that align daily work to long-term vision.
Strong execution discipline, ensuring high standards, accountability, and timely delivery of results.
Financial and HR acumen.
Ability to build trust and alignment with the Board through transparent and timely communication.
Ability to lead through change, balancing innovation with disciplined execution.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to inspire diverse groups of stakeholders.
Mindsets/Values
Centers equity in all decisions and practices.
Embodies Kairos’ values of love, excellence, agency, and diversity.
Serves as a strong culture carrier, fostering an inclusive, mission-driven environment.
Demonstrates transparency, trust, and alignment in working with the Board and leadership team.
Compensation and Application Details
The base salary is up to $200,000, with potential for a performance-based bonus. The initial application deadline is November 20, 2026.
