Program and Operations Manager

Program and Operations Manager

Position Type: FTE

Start Date: July 1, 2026

Compensation: $60,000 - $70,000 depending on qualifications and experience

Benefits: see below

Hours Per Week: 40

Schedule: ability to work afternoons/evenings

Location: Hybrid. Expectation of 1 day per week in the office in Oakland, CA. Ability to travel to program sites in Oakland, Richmond/San Pablo, or San Francisco occasionally.

Reports to: Executive Director

About Aspire Education

Founded in 2005, Aspire Education Project (Aspire) is an Oakland-based nonprofit organization with more than 20 years of experience delivering high quality, affordable educational services for students throughout the Bay Area. https://aspireeducation.org/

Our flagship program is Community Reading Buddies (CRB), a program that trains Bay Area high school students to serve as mentors for younger students, supporting their literacy growth and fostering a joy for reading. More than 90% of the Youth Mentors who participate in CRB demonstrate growth as leaders and communicators according to an adapted Youth Leadership Life Skills Development assessment, while young readers typically double their rate of literacy progress over the course of the program. For more information about the history, mission, and impact of Community Reading Buddies, please visit the CRB website: https://communityreadingbuddies.org/.

About the Role

The Program and Operations Manager is the operational backbone of Aspire Education, ensuring smooth and efficient workflows across the organization's programs, finances, and people systems. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, this is an individual contributor role that plays a central part in Aspire's strategic priority to build a more replicable, sustainable, and predictable operational model.

This role is split between two areas: managing Aspire's organizational operations (systems, finance, HR, compliance, and communications) and directly running Aspire's virtual CRB program as a program coordinator. The person who will thrive in this role is someone who is genuinely excited about both: the satisfaction of building and maintaining clean systems and the meaning of directly supporting youth in Aspire's programs. We also believe that folks who deeply understand our programs are better able to build and maintain the infrastructure needed to support them.

Because many of our programs happen after school, this role often requires afternoon and evening work. A typical daily schedule when programs are running might look like ~10 a.m. to ~7 p.m. (with time for lunch and breaks, of course!) Monday through Thursday, with Friday being more flexible; we rarely have programming on Fridays.

Aspire is committed to supporting employees’ continued growth and development, and this role is intended to give early career professionals exposure to a range of career pathways, including operations, program management, HR, finance, and data analytics.

Responsibilities:

Organizational Operations (~60% of time)

• Manage day-to-day administrative operations, including office systems, vendor relationships, equipment, and supply procurement
• Maintain and improve organizational tools and systems, including Airtable and Gusto, ensuring accuracy and accessibility of information across the team
• Look for opportunities to drive efficiencies, including through the responsible integration of AI
• Manage execution of biweekly payroll through Gusto and support the ED in bookkeeping reconciliation and monthly financial close
• Support development and maintenance of organizational calendar
• Coordinate hiring logistics, including scheduling interviews, managing application files, and supporting onboarding of new staff and contractors
• Serve as the operational point of contact for HR administration, including managing records in Gusto

Virtual CRB Program Management (~30% of time)

• Manage ~6-8 program interns, including supporting hiring, onboarding, and regular performance management during program cycles.
• Serve as lead coordinator for all virtual CRB sessions during the academic year and the majority of summer sessions, managing scheduling, participant communications, tech setup, and session facilitation support
• Manage participant data entry, attendance tracking, and program reporting for virtual CRB, ensuring data accuracy and timeliness in Airtable and other program systems
• Troubleshoot technical issues during virtual sessions and serve as the first point of contact for participants (teen Youth Mentors and elementary Buddies) and their families
• Support onboarding and training of Youth Mentors for virtual programming, using curriculum and structures defined by the Learning & Development function
• Track program outcomes and produce reports supporting grant compliance and funder reporting for virtual CRB

Fundraising & Communications Support (~10% of time)

• Manage Aspire's donor CRM and support grant management workflows, including tracking deadlines and maintaining grant files
• Assist in preparation for potential audits and funder site visits, maintaining organized records and documentation
• Support the ED with grant reporting and funder communications, including pulling data from program systems and drafting report sections
• Support compliance with government grant requirements across all three regions, including documentation, reporting timelines, and funder deliverables; support the ED on grant management and reporting
• Track and maintain compliance requirements associated with City of Oakland and other government contracts (Living Wage Ordinance documentation, employee reporting, etc.)
• Maintain Aspire's website and support external communications as directed by the ED

Requirements:

We recognize that few individuals will meet 100% of the listed requirements. Don’t let that discourage you from applying! If you believe that your past experience has prepared you well for the skills required in this role, we encourage you to apply!

• Minimum 2 years of experience in an operations, administrative, or program coordination role
• Proven ability to build and maintain organizational systems and processes; highly organized with strong attention to detail
• Comfort with our technology suite (Google, Airtable, Canva) and virtual platforms (Zoom); willingness to learn new rolls, including AI, quickly
• Experience coordinating or facilitating virtual sessions/events, including troubleshooting live video conferences
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a small, fast-moving team
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to coordinate across a wide range of stakeholders including youth, families, school partners, and funders
• Willingness to experiment and learn
• Commitment to Aspire's mission of educational mentorship and youth development in Bay Area communities

Preferred:

• Experience in a youth-serving, education-focused, or community-based nonprofit
• We strongly encourage members of the communities we serve to apply, including former program participants and program staff (interns, coordinators)
• Fluency in another language, particularly Spanish, Arabic, or Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese)

Benefits:

• Hybrid work environment (1 day/week in-office program site visits)
• 15 days of PTO, 12 companywide holidays and a week-long end-of-year shutdown for the whole organization
• Sick leave
• Comprehensive Health, Dental, and Vision benefits Employer Contributions
• 401K 3% Employer Contribution after 1 year of service

Hiring Process & Anticipated Timeline

• Apply: Submit your CV and answer 3 short questions
• Phone Screen with Executive Director (30 min): We'll discuss the role, your goals, and relevant experience
• Short Technical Project (~1 hour): Prepare (asynchronously) a practical exercise reflecting the kind of work you'd do in the role
• Technical Interview with team (45 min): Review the project together and discuss fit, schedule, and next steps
• Reference Checks & Clearances (including Live Scan certification)
• Onboarding

We anticipate holding the first phone screens the week of May 25 and hope to have a candidate on board by July 1, 2026.