Director, Summer Programs Management

About BEAM

The mission of BEAM is to create pathways for students from low-income and underserved communities to become scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists. Led by staff with these same technical backgrounds, BEAM believes that pathways to STEM careers are created through community, individual support, and access to advanced work that typically lies outside most school curricula. We work to directly support students and to transition them to other supportive enrichment programs that enable their future success.

BEAM's model provides continuous support from middle school through college graduation, including intense academic summer programs for middle school students (after 6th and 7th grade), weekend classes and mentoring, and STEM-focused support through college. Our program includes not just access to learning advanced math but also support finding and applying to other opportunities, including support with college admissions and financial aid. In addition to our academic content, bringing students into community is a key part of our mission and all of our work is designed to support that goal.

BEAM has grown from a small summer program serving 17 students in the summer of 2011 to a year-round, national program, serving 420+ students at six summer program sites and 600+ students in year-round programming in New York City and Los Angeles this school year. In addition, our BEAM National pilot program now reaches over 500 elementary-aged students in seven different states, working to create a new nationwide pathway modeled on our local work.

With our strategic plan, our team has committed to transforming the organization from a successful startup to a more mature and scalable organization that can drive change across the country.

DESCRIPTION OF THE POSITION

The Director, Summer Programs Management will oversee the overall planning and management of 6 summer math camp sites serving 500+ middle school students in Los Angeles and New York, which includes our day camp, BEAM Discovery, and our residential camp, BEAM Summer Away. As head of the central program office Summer Programs Management Team, the Director will work closely with our business ops team, finance, and local program teams to ensure we have the students, staffing, training, and learning experiences to run exceptional math enrichment programs. The Summer Program Management team will also collaborate with the Central Program Services team to identify, design, and implement areas for improvements to summer program design. 

The ideal candidate is a highly skilled project manager who is organized, detailed oriented, and effective at cross functional collaboration. You are the PMO (project management office), i.e. central nervous system, for making sure all summer camps launch successfully. You believe deeply in BEAM’s mission, hold students and staff experience at the center of your decision making, and are constantly finding ways to make the annual planning and implementation process more efficient and scalable to produce the best summer camp experience possible.  

BEAM students often describe their summer with BEAM as a life-changing experience. It is the catalyst for developing self-confidence in math, and inspiring students to pursue a career in a quant-based STEM field long term. As the Director, you will have the opportunity to impact students at the very beginning of their journey with BEAM and set them on a long term path for success. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Team Leadership and Staff Management (25%)

• Lead a high-performing team by setting clear goals and strategies, leading ongoing reflection and program improvement cycles, and fostering a positive work environment
• Assign staff roles and responsibilities and supervise the execution of projects to ensure alignment with program goals
• Partner with local program directors and local summer program staff to set summer enrollment goals and staffing requirements, delineate clear division of labor, assign task ownership and responsibilities
• Provide the coaching, feedback and professional development staff need to excel in their roles

Project Management and Implementation (60%)

• Set the KPIs, systems and structures for project managing the planning and launch of BEAM’s summer programs
• Determine annual staffing needs across six summer sites based-on full student enrollment, pre-determined staff: student ratios, and returning staff commitments  
• Develop and maintain summer camp management guides, camp policy documentation and implementation resources
• Propose and design changes to the camp model, curriculum, operations, and schedule based on org improvement priorities each year in collaboration with the central program services