Youth Development Specialist, Alpha - $120,000/year USD

• $120,000 annual W2 compensation, distributed weekly; full health, dental, and vision coverage begins on your first day
• On-site placement at an Alpha K-8 school in Beverly Hills, CA; Piedmont, CA; Greenwich, CT; Boca Raton, FL; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Miami Beach, FL; Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Chicago, IL; Raleigh, NC; Portland, OR (relocation assistance available)
  
  

You are not here to teach. You are here to motivate.

The most meaningful thing you can do for a student who reached 99% of their target is refuse to accept it as complete. If that expectation unsettles you, this role is not for you. If it energizes you because maintaining high standards is how you demonstrate belief in a student's potential, continue reading.

At Alpha, academic learning happens through AI-driven applications. No lectures. No textbooks. Roughly 60% of your time is spent facilitating one-hour life-skills sessions on topics like public speaking, focus, and constructive feedback. Approximately 30% of your time involves meeting with students individually or in small groups, analyzing their progress via Coachbot analytics, and driving each one toward their weekly app targets. The remaining 10% is dedicated to data analysis that informs your coaching strategy for the week ahead. You will not be following a script; workshops provide a framework, and top performers in this role customize them and create new ones when needed.

A successful semester means that at least 90% of your cohort consistently meets their weekly app targets, demonstrates measurable improvement in life skills on Test2Pass, and rates their experience with you at 4 out of 5 or higher. Falling short on any of these three metrics means the role has not been fulfilled. As you demonstrate your ability to uphold these standards, advancement opportunities open to Lead Guide — mentoring newer Guides while continuing to lead a cohort — and eventually to Campus Lead, where you oversee an entire school and manage parent engagement.

If you prefer traditional teaching methods, expect a ready-made curriculum, or see warmth and rigor as incompatible, this position will not suit you. If your background includes athletic coaching, camp counseling, tutoring where you refused to let a student give up, or performing for groups of middle schoolers, the final stage before an offer is a full day on campus working directly with Alpha students. If that prospect excites you most, submit your application today.

What You Will Be Doing

• Facilitating one-hour life-skills sessions for K-8 cohorts covering public speaking, focus, feedback skills, and other foundational competencies, customizing the existing framework and creating new sessions when you identify a need
• Conducting daily individual and small-group coaching sessions that drive every student toward their weekly app targets, leveraging Coachbot analytics, Alpha's motivation systems (school currency, leaderboards), and your personal connection with each student to overcome resistance
• Delivering the Test2Pass (Alpha's mastery-based evaluation) for each life skill, and continuing to coach students who fall short until they achieve mastery
• Adjusting your approach across a broad age spectrum, from kindergarteners who thrive on high energy and physical activity to 8th graders who respond to directness and accountability
• Analyzing weekly cohort performance metrics in Coachbot, pinpointing students who are falling behind, and modifying your coaching tactics for the next week based on data insights
  
  

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Delivering traditional instruction at a whiteboard; academic content is embedded in the apps, not your responsibility
• Creating an entire curriculum from scratch; you begin with an established playbook and infuse it with your own presence and narrative style
• Passively monitoring students on computers; motivation in this role is hands-on, individualized, and persistent
• Working through institutional approval processes to secure support for students in need; if a student requires additional coaching, you decide and implement immediately
• Grading assignments, preparing for standardized tests, or handling parent outreach; Campus Leads manage parent communication, and the other tasks do not exist in this model
  
  

Youth Development Specialist Key Responsibilities

Ensure every student in your K-8 cohort achieves their weekly learning targets, demonstrates mastery of each life skill, and finishes the year saying they loved working with you.

Basic Requirements

• Available to work on-site at an Alpha campus in Beverly Hills, CA; Piedmont, CA; Greenwich, CT; Boca Raton, FL; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Miami Beach, FL; Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Chicago, IL; Raleigh, NC; Portland, OR (relocation assistance provided)
• Bachelor's degree in any field
• Minimum of 3 years of direct experience working with K-8 students (teaching, coaching, tutoring, camp counseling, or youth program leadership)
• A concrete example you can articulate of motivating a K-8 student toward a challenging goal: the objective, your actions, and the result
• Comfortable allowing AI to manage academic instruction while you concentrate on motivation and life-skills development
• Authorized to work in the United States without requiring visa sponsorship
  
  

Nice-to-have Requirements

• Background in youth sports coaching, debate, camp leadership, theater, or after-school programs where you held direct responsibility for motivating children toward measurable outcomes
• Demonstrated personal achievement (academic, athletic, or professional) that reflects a consistent commitment to high standards, not just a stance
• Communication and presentation skills capable of engaging a room of 12-year-olds for an hour without needing to raise your voice
• Proven ability to transform disengaged or reluctant students into motivated contributors
  
  

About Alpha

Join the team building school around student growth

Alpha reimagines the school day around faster learning, stronger mentorship, and more time for students to build real-world skills.

Roles with real student impact: Alpha hires teachers (guides), operators, admissions experts, school & curriculum leaders, and remote team members.

Education work that pays like it matters: Alpha offers six-figure roles for people ready to help build a radically better school experience.

A culture built for builders: Alpha is fast-moving, ambitious, and student focused. It’s for people who want to improve the system, not maintain it.

Alpha is where you can do the most meaningful work of your career.

There is so much to cover for this exciting role, and space here is limited. Hit the Apply button if you found this interesting and want to learn more. We look forward to meeting you!

Working with us

This is a full-time (40 hours per week), long-term position. The position is immediately available and requires entering into an independent contractor agreement with Crossover as a Contractor of Record. The compensation level for this role is $60 USD/hour, which equates to $120,000 USD/year assuming 40 hours per week and 50 weeks per year. The payment period is weekly. Consult www.crossover.com/help-and-faqs for more details on this topic.

Crossover Job Code: LJ-5607-US-Boston-YouthDevelopme