Principal
Davis Chicago · Chicago · $151,424–$197,303 (stated in the posting)
Full-Time Founding Leadership Position · Reports to the Head of School · Master’s degree in Educational Leadership, Educational Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, or a related field required, Ed.D. or Ph.D. preferred · Illinois Principal Endorsement preferred · 5+ years of educational leadership (e.g. department chair, assistant principal, principal) experience required · College-preparatory, independent, Jewish day or faith-based school experience is a plus. Being Jewish is not a requirement for this role. Fewer years but exceptional craft? We hire for mastery, not seat time.
Are you an entrepreneurial educational leader with deep instructional expertise and an appreciation for the power of faith-based schools to instill a sense of purpose in students? Do you want to build a brand-new Jewish college-preparatory high school from the ground up: its culture, its academics, its traditions? Are you happiest in classrooms and hallways, not behind a desk? Do you lead from a deep well of humility, reflection, and purpose? If so, Davis Chicago wants to hear from you.
The Dream Team
Davis School Chicago is a proudly Jewish, college-preparatory high school opening in fall 2027 in downtown Chicago, in a state-of-the-art building at the heart of a great city for learning. Every adult at Davis Chicago is an educator and a culture-builder. We hold two expectations at the same time: deep human warmth and uncompromising intellectual excellence. High health and high results, never one at the cost of the other. This is a summary of the characteristics that describe our dream team. Please read the full Profile of the Ideal Davis Chicago Educator and more information about our opportunities before you apply.
To thrive here you are:
Warm and intellectually formidable. Genuinely kind and seriously bright. We hire for intellectual horsepower; only sharp minds grow students to their full potential.
You bring the room to life. Passion people feel, loud or quiet, with the range to teach, support, and lead.
A builder who owns it. Startup grit, a real growth mindset, open about mistakes, gives the gift of feedback, and the drive to create what doesn’t exist yet.
Teach how to think, not what to think. Rigor, evidence, and a love of hard questions, including the controversial ones. Students reach their own conclusions.
Rooted in tradition, built for what’s next. Ancient wisdom and modern tools, AI included, aimed at today's problems.
Unapologetically Jewish. Israel has a right to exist; that is not up for debate. Everything else is fair game, including spirited debate about Israel’s actions. You’re excited to help build a proudly Jewish, pro-Israel school.
What Davis Chicago Needs
Opening a school from scratch, Davis Chicago first needs a builder-leader: someone who can take a bold founding vision and turn it into a living school, then run that school at a level of excellence every student, parent, and teacher can feel. The role stands on three domains of equal weight: the public leader, the instructional leader, and the manager of students, parents, and faculty, powered by a reflective inner life that keeps ego small and judgment sharp.
Who Thrives in This Role
Warm, Relational, and High-Performing – Kind, emotionally intelligent, intellectually rigorous, and committed to excellence.
An Inspiring Public Leader – Executive presence, credibility, and warmth that make people genuinely willing to be led.
An Entrepreneurial Builder – Thrives in ambiguity, solves problems, and creates programs, systems, and traditions from the ground up.
A Curious and Courageous Thinker – Embraces learning, evidence, critical thinking, and meaningful debate.
Humble and Spiritually Grounded – A genuine reflective or spiritual life, in whatever form (candidates for this role are not required to be Jewish), that regulates ego, cultivates humility, and grounds visible leadership.
A Discerning Judge of Hard Calls – When the good of a student and the good of the institution pull apart, analyzes with sophistication and lands on the better of imperfect options.
Rooted and Forward-Looking – Honors tradition while embracing innovation, technology, and AI.
Committed to Jewish Life and Community – Values Jewish identity, the diversity of Jewish thought, and meaningful engagement in Jewish life.
A Collaborative Culture-Builder – Balances accountability, care, and results while elevating everyone around them.
The Role
The Principal is the day-to-day leader of the school: its people, its culture, its classrooms, and its results. The role is built on three domains of equal weight, held together by a fourth: the leader’s own inner life.
1. Public Leader and Culture Guardian
Be the school’s primary public leader for students, families, and faculty, with the executive presence and credibility that make people proud to follow.
Be the voice of the school’s daily life: assemblies, celebrations, milestones. At public events, you run the program.
Build a warm, safe, high-expectations culture where every student is known, valued, challenged, and supported.
Guard a high-trust, high-candor adult culture: concerns come to leadership in good faith, colleagues argue well and then row together, and gossip and undermining talk find no home here.
2. Instructional Leader and Academic Standard-Bearer
Own the instructional core: be highly present in classrooms, coach teachers through observation and feedback, and run data-informed cycles of continuous improvement.
Make faculty meetings and professional development about the art and craft of teaching, not logistics.
Lead curriculum design, interdisciplinary innovation, assessment systems, and accreditation work; monitor achievement and college placement outcomes.
Signal through your time, communication, and priorities that high-quality teaching and learning sit at the center of the school.
Champion modern tools, AI included, in service of great teaching.
3. Manager and Developer of People
Manage three very different constituencies with real skill: adolescents and their developmental needs, deeply invested parents, and experienced, opinionated professionals.
Recruit, develop, coach, evaluate, and retain exceptional educators; build the professional community that makes excellent teachers stay.
Adapt communication to each audience; navigate conflict with a steady, fair, non-reactive hand; make and uphold decisions that will not please everyone while preserving trust.
Build the systems, routines, traditions, and student-support structures of a new school; lead day-to-day operations in the educational realm, including scheduling, communications, student life, and family engagement.
4. Spiritual and Reflective Leader
Lead from a genuine spiritual or reflective life, in whatever form it takes: the kind that cultivates humility rather than ego and keeps a visible leader grounded.
Pursue excellence as a moral commitment, not a performance metric: fierce resolve in service of students and mission.
Practice discernment: pause, reflect, and choose what is best for both the individual and the community, especially when what is best for a student and what is best for the institution pull in different directions.
Model the school’s Jewish values in daily leadership: welcome argument for the sake of heaven, honor the diversity of Jewish thought, and keep the community’s spiritual life visible in how the school gathers, celebrates, and decides.
Apply self-knowledge to how you lead others: reflection that turns into action, for one student and for the whole community.
A deliberate division of labor. The support structure at Davis Chicago allows the principal to focus deeply on academics: a senior financial leader owns finance and business operations, and the Head of School owns fundraising, major donors, and the board, so an instructional leader can do the work they love. You hold the helm of the school day; the Head of School builds the school’s future.
Qualifications
Education: Master’s degree in Educational Leadership, Educational Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, or a related field required; Ed.D. or Ph.D. preferred.
Licensure: Illinois Principal Endorsement preferred.
Experience: 5+ years of progressive educational leadership; college-preparatory, independent, Jewish day or faith-based school settings preferred.
Leadership: Evidence of leading adults, improving instruction, and building culture.
Core Competencies
Organizational Leadership: visionary, mission-driven decision making; strategic planning; entrepreneurial with startup grit.
Instructional Core: instructional leadership; curriculum and assessment; data-informed improvement; deep focus on ensuring students get into colleges of their choice.
Climate & Culture: belonging and wellness; family and community engagement; culture guardianship.
Talent: coaching and evaluation; distributed leadership; professional community.
Compensation and Benefits
The anticipated annual salary range for this position is $151,424–$197,303, based on the school’s established Principal Salary Schedule. Placement within the salary range is determined by a combination of relevant leadership experience and educational attainment, including Bachelor's, Master's, Master's + additional graduate credits, Education Specialist (Ed.S.), and Doctoral (Ed.D./Ph.D.) degrees, in accordance with the school’s step-and-lane compensation structure. Final compensation will be determined consistent with the school’s compensation philosophy, internal equity, and established salary schedule. In addition to base salary, the position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package that includes paid time off, holiday pay, medical insurance, and a 401(k) plan with employer match.
How We Hire
Our process is thorough and we believe that hiring is a dual decision-making process; you are vetting us as much as we are vetting you. Our process includes focused conversations with the people you would work with, a battery of assessments we use for your development as much as for selection, and interview rounds both in-person and virtually. We use artificial intelligence tools in our recruitment and hiring process to help review and organize applications and interviews; every hiring decision is made by a person. Davis School Chicago is an equal employment opportunity employer.
Is this you?
This isn’t for everyone. If it’s you, it may be the best work of your life. Read the full Profile of the Ideal Davis Chicago Educator, then apply.
More jobs at Davis Chicago · Education & Training jobs in Chicago