New York City Urban Debate League

Hiring: Senior Programming Manager

Join our Team!

The Senior Programming Manager reports directly to the Executive Director and the goal is to grow into Program Director.

To apply: Please submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@debate.nyc or fill out this form Finalists will be asked to submit 3 references. 

 

New York City Urban Debate League (NYCUDL)
The New York City Urban Debate League (NYCUDL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to competitive debate across New York City, with a focus on teaching underserved students.

To advance this mission, the NYCUDL provides comprehensive support for students, educators, and schools—including year-round instructional coaching for educators, student workshops, over 35 annual debate tournaments, four weeks of summer debate camps, and the development of original curriculum, including more than 100 lesson plans for educators each year.

The League has experienced significant growth in recent years. Since the 2018–2019 school year, student participation has grown by nearly 80%, from 2,260 to just over 4,000 students annually. The number of participating schools increased by 60%, from 160 to 250, and the number of Title I schools served nearly doubled. 

With active partnerships in all five boroughs, the NYCUDL is proud to be the largest urban debate league in the country and remains deeply committed to teaching debate, fostering student voice, and supporting academic confidence and civic leadership across New York City.

NYCUDL Mission

We unlock the transformative power of debate for New York City public school students to develop the next generation of informed, compassionate, and courageous leaders.

 

The Senior Programming Manager is responsible for the following key areas of work:

• Directing, managing, and supporting a team of five full-time Program Managers/Associates/Coordinators and some part-time staff with varying levels of experience in academic debate. Developing instructional programming, including the creation of relevant curriculum and lesson plans, coach training materials and student-facing resources. Particular emphasis is placed on producing accessible materials and scaffolds tailored for new debate coaches, young learners, and often students reading below grade level. Additional responsibilities include regular review of staff work, delivery of constructive feedback, and day-to-day team management. 
• Partnering with individual schools, districts, and specialized programs within the NYC Department of Education to establish and expand Public Forum and Parliamentary debate programs. Responsibilities include conducting in-person and virtual site visits to onboard and train teachers and community coaches, ensuring effective program implementation and sustained support.
• Communicating with school leadership, including Principals and Assistant Principals to build support, provide updates and to manage coaches.
• Training and supervising staff to serve as Tournament Directors and Tab Directors, overseeing all aspects of pre-tournament planning and on-site event management for approximately 35 league tournaments held from October through May. Providing direct support at tournaments to ensure smooth operations and high-quality experiences for students, coaches, and volunteers.
• Directing or coaching staff to direct at least 2 two-week summer debate institutes.
• Collaborating with staff to collect data ethically and accurately, and supporting the tracking, analysis, and reporting of key program metrics.
• Collaborating with the Director of Finance and the Grants Manager to assist in drafting grants.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Week

Employees are expected to work in-person, 5 days a week (a majority of Mondays & Fridays are remote in practice), including Saturdays when needed (not more than 2 per month throughout the school year). The expected work week is 40-50 hours. Comp time is offered for a full day of weekend work, with some stipulations.

Compensation

$100,000-$130,000 annually, depending on experience.

Comprehensive health coverage, including medical, dental, and vision benefits, with no employee contribution required for individual (non-dependent) plans

During this time, you are also provided with 10 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
• Minimum of 6+ years of experience working with middle and high school students in educational settings, preferably serving underserved communities. 
• Demonstrated experience managing staff is required; extensive management experience is strongly preferred.
• 6+ years of experience drafting and/or implementing academic curriculum.
• Demonstrated success with administering a sizable program is required.
• Experience working in a non-profit environment is preferred.
• Experience with academic debate is required.
• Certificate or degree in curriculum design or a related education field is 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.
• Willingness to roll up your sleeves.
• Focused with strong attention to detail.
• 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, problem solver, 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

The following skills are required: 

• Demonstrated ability to teach and train a variety of learners, including students of all ages and adult learners such as teachers and volunteers with little debate experience.
• Very strong organizational and communication skills. 
• Basic Google tools, including Google Classroom and Google Docs.
• Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
• Microsoft suite applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel).
• Canva preferred.

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 for tournaments and teams from a car to a variety of school and event locations.
• Willingness to complete all NYCUDL vaccination requirements.

Hiring Process

Hiring decisions will be made on a rolling basis. The Senior Programming Manager will ideally be hired and onboarded no later than September 15th.

Apply:

Please submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@debate.nyc or fill out this form.