New York City Urban Debate League

📢We’re Hiring: Senior Programming Manager

Senior Programming Manager

To apply: Please submit a letter of interest, a resume, and three references to jobs@debate.nyc

NYCUDL Description

The New York City Urban Debate League (NYCUDL) is a nonprofit that exists to support the growth and development of competitive debate programs in the greater New York City area, with priority emphasis given to schools with a large percentage of students of color and economically disadvantaged students.

To support debate in the greater New York City area, the NYCUDL provides instructional support for students and coaches, operates more than 35 debate tournaments, runs at least 4 weeks of summer debate camp and provides daily instructional development to coaches and educational leaders.

Currently, the League has more than 220 member schools and supports close to 3,000 students in tournaments each year. Since early 2020, the NYCUDL has brought debate to more than 80 additional economically disadvantaged schools and plans to add at least 50 more similarly situated schools by June 2023.

NYCUDL Mission

We create equitable access to academic debate opportunities with a focus on students of color and students from other historically underserved communities in New York City to empower the next generation of diverse, informed, and courageous leaders.

Job Responsibilities

• Direct, manage and support a team of at least five full-time Program Managers and 20+ part-time workers who have different levels of experience with academic debate to develop programming (instructional materials and coach instruction) and tournaments. This includes a review of their work, provision of constructive feedback and overall management on a day to day basis. There is a special emphasis on producing materials and scaffolds that are usable for brand new debate coaches, young students and students who read below grade level.
• Work with the Executive Directors to help develop processes and procedures found in larger organizations.
• Work with individual schools and specific districts and programs within the NYC Department of Education to develop Public Forum debate programs. Each of the programs serve 200-500 students and 10-30 schools. This includes in-person/virtual site visits to meet with teachers and community coaches to provide onboarding and training.
• Communicate with school leadership, including Principals and Assistant Principals to build support, provide updates and to manage coaches.
• Work with the Executive Directors to hire additional staff as needed and as resources permit.
• Train and supervise staff to act in the role of Tournament Director and Tab Director, including pre-tournament preparation and on-site tournament event management (average 2 weekends a month from October– May). Provide support at many league tournaments.
• Direct or coach staff to direct at least 2 two-week summer debate institutes.
• Work with staff to gather data in a responsible manner and assist in tracking and reporting.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Week

Employees are expected to work 5 days a week, including Saturdays when needed (approximately 2 per month). The expected work week is 45-50 hours. Comp time is offered for a full day of weekend work, with some stipulations.

Compensation

• $90,000-150,000 annually depending on experience. A higher salary may be considered for an exceptionally qualified candidate.
• Full health benefits, including eye and dental, with no employee contribution
• During this time, you are also provided with 12 annual vacation days, 5 annual sick days, 3 annual personal days and two days to use annually as personally significant holidays.

Qualifications

• B.A./B.S. required, M.A. or advanced degree preferred
• 5+ years of experience working with middle and high school students in an educational setting, preferably with underserved students. Significant experience supervising staff required
• Demonstrated success with administering a sizable program required
• Experience with working in a non-profit environment preferred
• Experience with competitive academic debate preferred
• Experience running and tabulating debate tournaments preferred
• Certificate or degree in curriculum design or related education field preferred

Qualities

• Commitment to adapting debate to students and coaches served by the NYCUDL in order to make it accessible
• Empathy, humility, flexibility and willingness to serve and lead teachers, students, volunteers, and full time and contract staff in an often-challenging and fast-changing urban education setting.
• Positive, solution-oriented approach in a team working toward common goals.
• Strong cultural competency in serving a diverse population of teachers and learners with a variety of needs and challenges and communication styles.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
• A strong leader, self-starter, creative, forward thinker.
• Team player who enjoys collaborating with others.
• Self aware, teachable, and eager to learn.
• Strong work and financial ethics.
• Must have the utmost integrity and an ability to process, protect and exercise discretion in handling confidential information and materials.
• Professional and ethical commitment to student protection and student privacy.

Skills

Candidates with the following skills are preferred

• Demonstrated ability to teach and train a variety of learners, including students of all ages and adult learners like teachers and volunteers with little debate experience.
• Basic Google tools, including Google Classroom and Google Docs
• Zoom and Microsoft teams
• Microsoft suite applications (Word, Power Point, Excel)

Other Requirements

• Passion for our mission
• Legal clearance to work with minors. Must pass a background check.
• Strong ethics, maturity, and appropriate boundaries for adult interactions with minors, including compliance with all NYCDOE and reporting requirements.
• Must be available to work nights and weekends during the school year.
• Physical demands include working at the computer but also carrying supplies (boxes up to 50 pounds, paper, printers, computer, t-shirts, food, etc.) for tournaments and teams from a car to a variety of school and event locations.
• Willingness to complete all NYCUDL vaccination requirements.

Live/Online

While some work will be remote, employees should anticipate working in the office the majority of days. The start date is October 1. The office is at 25 Broadway, New York, NY 10004.

Hiring Process

Hiring decisions will be made on a rolling basis

To apply, please submit a letter of interest, a resume and three references to jobs@debate.nyc  All inquiries are confidential.

The NYCUDL is an Equal Opportunity employer.  Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.