What does a principal associate do?
Principal associates work within the education system, having responsibility over students, teachers, counselors, and other staff members. This particular career choice also requires excellent skills in project management, communication, leadership, critical thinking, and decision-making, and those who aspire to this career will be needed to develop business opportunities, securing funding and other resources for the school.
Principal associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real principal associate resumes:
- Develop business opportunities and manage client engagements across multiple industries with a focus on healthcare clients.
- Manage enterprise email / CRM marketing platform and strategy to enable data-driven, personalize acquisition and engagement programs.
- Facilitate professional development for curriculum and instruction in the math department.
- Organize after school tutors for groups of at-risk students.
- Create an ELA website for teachers as a professional development tool.
- assist in the supervision of all teachers, Pre-K through 7th grade.
- Coordinate school events such as kindergarten graduations, field trips and fundraisers.
- Improve math scores after identifying retention loss by students between kindergarten and 3rd grade.
- Raise funds from alumni and the community to redo the football facilities and dedicate football facilities.
- Assist and work with team leaders, RSP, and intervention teachers to refine the RTI program.
- Crow will be focuse on growing the healthcare and research design, planning and consulting services in Houston.
- Administer to the performance of 260 students and 40 staff members in a Pre-K through sixth grade elementary school.
- Develop valuation for a non core business and work with human resources, treasury and legal to develop and implement dissolution plan
- Compile and submit, either in paper or electronically, submissions that are prepare according to FDA regulations and GSK standards.
- Implement a school-wide intervention/enrichment block focuse on literacy and math.
Principal associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Principal Associates are proficient in Healthcare, Project Management, and Business Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Decision-making skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Principal Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Healthcare, 17%
Developed business opportunities and managed client engagements across multiple industries with a focus on healthcare clients.
- Project Management, 15%
Focused solution activities on delivery of dashboard charting tools, SharePoint integration, data delivery and onshore project management.
- Business Development, 9%
Provided business development leadership for engineering clients and projects, while supporting strategic objectives of architectural practice groups.
- Data Analysis, 8%
Provided grantees with technical assistance in research design, sampling strategies, random assignment, and data analysis.
- Java, 6%
Designed and developed automation framework as Maven dependency using eCuke + Java + Selenium + maven + Jenkins + Sikuli.
- Professional Development, 4%
Completed DPAS requirements for selected staff, overseeing professional development recommendations, conducted/facilitated professional development and coordinated new teacher orientation.
Common skills that a principal associate uses to do their job include "healthcare," "project management," and "business development." You can find details on the most important principal associate responsibilities below.
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a principal associate to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "principals must communicate effectively with students, teachers, and parents." Additionally, a principal associate resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "provided excellent communication in a team oriented atmosphere consistently provided outstanding customer service to each customer and employee"
Decision-making skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling principal associate duties is decision-making skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "because principals are responsible for students, staff, and the overall operation of the school, they consider many factors when making decisions." According to a principal associate resume, here's how principal associates can utilize decision-making skills in their job responsibilities: "lead and support site assessment analyses including due diligence, site boundaries, and national priorities list (npl) decisions. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of principal associates is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday principal associate duties, as "principals work with teachers, parents, and superintendents and must develop positive working relationships with them." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "utilized human resources experience to create unique food events partnered with interpersonal skill building workshops to business offices. "
Leadership skills. principal associate responsibilities often require "leadership skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "principals set educational goals and establish policies and procedures for the school." This resume example shows what principal associates do with leadership skills on a typical day: "guided other administrators on policies, process and issues in hr procedures thereby increasing efficiency in upper management leadership. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for principal associate responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of principal associates all the time, as "teachers, students, and other staff report problems to the principal." An excerpt from a real principal associate resume shows how this skill is central to what a principal associate does: "developed valuation for a non core business and worked with human resources, treasury and legal to develop and implement dissolution plan"
The three companies that hire the most principal associates are:
Compare different principal associates
Principal associate vs. School director
A school director oversees educational programs, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. They typically gather and analyze data, review reports, monitor faculty staff's performance and the progress of all teaching methods, and resolve issues should any arise. They usually work together with the teaching staff to research and develop educational curricula and programs, participate in hiring educators, and supervise staff. Moreover, a school director leads and encourages the workforce to reach goals while implementing the school's policies and regulations, developing new ones when necessary.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, principal associate responsibilities require skills like "healthcare," "project management," "emerging technologies," and "business development." Meanwhile a typical school director has skills in areas such as "social work," "kids," "math," and "public schools." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
School directors tend to reach lower levels of education than principal associates. In fact, school directors are 5.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Principal associate vs. After school program coordinator
An after school program coordinator is primarily in charge of coordinating after-school learning and recreational activities designed for children to enhance their potentials and skills. Their job entails performing research and assessments, collaborating with fellow educators and experts, developing and implementing curricula, and monitoring the students' progress, communicating with parents as necessary. Additionally, as an after-school program coordinator, it is essential to empower the students and create strategies to keep a productive and healthy environment for them.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, principal associate responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "healthcare," "project management," "emerging technologies," and "business development." Meanwhile, an after school program coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "cpr," "child care," "incident reports," and "kids." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
After school program coordinators earn lower levels of education than principal associates in general. They're 12.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Principal associate vs. School superintendent
A school superintendent leads and oversees a school district, working with school leaders to ensure that operations run smoothly and efficiently according to standards and regulations. They are primarily in charge of establishing short and long-term goals, developing strategies to meet them. They are also responsible for supervising the employment procedures, selecting the ideal resources to support the students' and schools' needs, monitoring operations, and solving issues and concerns when any arise. Moreover, a school superintendent has the authority to make significant decisions while adhering to the district's vision and mission.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, principal associates are more likely to have skills like "healthcare," "project management," "emerging technologies," and "business development." But a school superintendent is more likely to have skills like "public schools," "elementary schools," "pre-k," and "school administration."
Most school superintendents achieve a similar degree level compared to principal associates. For example, they're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 4.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Principal associate vs. Curriculum director
Types of principal associate
Updated January 8, 2025
