Program Manager

Title: Program Manager
Reports to: Executive Director
Type: Full Time/ Exempt
Location: Detroit, MI
Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday; Monday-Friday outside the academic year
Benefits: Medical, dental & vision insurance. 403b (retirement) match
Time off: 39 paid days off!!!
10 days of vacation + 2 company shut down weeks (10 days) + 7 personal days + 5 sick days + 7 holidays (including Juneteenth)
Salary: $58,000 - 60,000 Annually
Positions Open: Two

Who We Are

buildOn is a not-for-profit organization committed to ending the poverty and illiteracy crises worldwide. We’re not a charity––we’re a movement.

buildOn unites people to build a more equitable world through service and education, and our programs provide the ignition for communities to build economic opportunity, increase civic engagement, and help individuals gain the skills and confidence needed to shape their own lives.

In the U.S., our Service Learning Programs provide students from under-resourced high schools the tools they need to transform their communities through service. Globally, we partner with people in countries with high rates of poverty and illiteracy to build schools, enroll previously out-of-school children, and support adult learners through our Adult Literacy Program. To date, our U.S. students have contributed more than 2.4 million hours of service to their communities, and we’ve built more than 3,000 schools in eight countries––breaking ground on a new school every 36 hours.

If you’re passionate about educational justice like we are, we welcome you to apply!

Who We Want

buildOn seeks an experienced and committed Program Manager (PM) to manage and directly lead activities of buildOn’s Service Learning Program at assigned partner high schools. The goal is to achieve the buildOn mission of breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education. This is measured by KPI targets which ensure we are driving student outcomes. In doing so, the PM directly supervises Engagement Specialists and works very closely with team members and students to implement the buildOn program at a partner a high school. This role is a combination of directly engaging students in programming and supervising multiple staff members. Program activities are conducted in partnership with students and not for students in order to foster the development of constructive leaders. Constructive Leadership inspires solidarity and unleashes inner our courage, grit, empathy and passion for the possible and it can only be ignited through service!

Reporting to the Executive Director of the region, the Program Manager will be a key leader of the U.S. program team. S/he must be a strategic and mission-driven leader with the ability to effectively balance a strong vision and commitment to methodology. The PM partners closely with school administrators and faculty, as well as community partners to develop excellent service opportunities with students. The Program Manager works closely with colleagues to plan and execute regional program events. Additionally, the PM oversees and leads recruitment and support of students for Immersions (Trek, 36 Hours, and Partnership program) as well as special events, and fund development opportunities in collaboration with other departments.

This is a great opportunity for a mission-driven leader who enjoys working with people and overseeing programs. If you have a history of leading successful teams with measurable results, then join buildOn as we continue to grow and change the world!

What You’ll Do

Lead a team of Engagement Specialists to engage students in buildOn’s service-learning program. This is not a remote position. Instead, it requires full time activity in schools and in the community coaching your team and serving alongside students and partners.

Leadership and Coaching of Engagement Specialists

• Lead a team of Engagement Specialists to meet their student recruitment and service hours completion goals through in-class and out-of-school service-learning programs.
• Conduct regular check-ins with Engagement Specialists to answer questions and ensure adherence to buildOn methodology.
• Coach and train Engagement Specialists to ensure program quality. This includes, but is not limited to on site observations using a rubric for guidance.
• Support members on the ground, as they implement universal service learning in various engagement settings – holding them accountable to maintaining the integrity of the methodology.
• Recruit and lead students in structured service-learning engagements with corporate partners and other donors in collaboration with the community partnerships team.
• Use of the Salesforce platform to analyze the success of your team. Train your team to enter engagement data in a timely fashion and use tools and analytics to drive tactics for expanding the reach and engaging more students in service.
• Manage the school budgets in your portfolio using provided resources for maximum impact and fiscal excellence.

Relationship Building & Cross-departmental Collaboration

• Maintain relationships with school partners in your portfolio (teaching advisors, principals, and administration) to ensure strong partnerships.
• Meet and communicate regularly with school partners to highlight the success of the program and also troubleshoot any issues that arise in a timely manner.
• Work with the Executive Director, the Community Partnerships Director and Engagement Specialists to cultivate partnerships with local community-based organizations to increase meaningful opportunities for students to serve.
• Work across departments to ensure the success of our programs. Examples include:
  • Marketing: Ensure student stories and program highlights are shared in a timely, impactful manner.
  • Events: Ensure student recruitment for all buildOn events while giving students an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to service.
  • Development: Provide information for grants and grant reporting.
  • MERL: Ensure regular and timely submission of monthly engagement reports, surveys, and other requests.

What You Bring

• Personal commitment to buildOn's mission — the power of service to change lives, communities, and the world. A demonstrated commitment to service in your own life.
• Extensive experience living and/or working in underserved communities.
• Commitment to creating programs for youth which are empowering and antiracist.
• Demonstrated ability to use student engagement data (Key Performance Indicators) to increase engagement.
• Flexible and able to manage the ambiguity and multiple priorities inherent in an entrepreneurial environment.
• 3+ years engaging youth in service learning.
• 1+ years managing high performing teams (preferred).
• Experience mentoring and/coaching a team.
• Invested in continual growth and learning through ongoing discovery, planning and execution, and reflection.
• Strong communicator with a track record of mentoring and coaching others to achieve results.
• Relevant education background.

What We Offer

When you join us in this movement, you’ll enjoy a rewarding career that provides you with the benefits and flexibility you need; while ensuring that you have the opportunity to learn and grow through annual performance reviews, opportunities for advancement and professional development opportunities.

Our Benefits

• Opportunity to connect and network with leaders of Fortune 500 organizations
• A generous time off policy that includes paid vacation (10), personal and sick(12) days along with a summer and end-of-year shutdown week (10 days).
• 100% insurance premium paid for medical, dental and vision along with subsidized deductibles.
• Opportunities for advancement.
• Opportunity to go on Trek - a service immersion to work and live in solidarity with rural community members from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Malawi, Senegal, or Nepal to build a school.
• Annual performance reviews with merit increases .
• 403 (b) retirement plan.
• Pre-tax benefits (Commuter, FSA).
• Professional development opportunities.

#LM1

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

buildOn is committed to building and maintaining an inclusive environment that drives innovation, strengthens ONE buildOn and bolsters a culture where people truly feel valued, heard and respected. buildOn provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, amnesty, or veteran status.

To learn more about buildOn, please visit our website at