Head Coach (Founding Team)

Date posted: May 27, 2026

Pay: $55,000.00 - $75,000.00 per year

Job description: Founding Head Coach — ZONE (Opening Summer 2026)

Location: Mill Valley, CA

Job Type: Full-time, W-2 employee

Pay: $55,000–$70,000 base PT revenue share Free membership

Start Date: Summer 2026. You start four weeks before doors open.

Read this if you're tired of coaching someone else's program.

ZONE is a new strength and functional training studio opening in Mill Valley this summer. Loud music. High energy. Coaches who actually coach. Four stations, full rotation, a packed room moving as one. Built for adults who want to train like athletes and leave the studio feeling like they did something real.

Not a franchise. Not a template. Not another fluorescent-lit warehouse where the coach yells over a Spotify playlist.

We're looking for one person to build the coaching engine. The founding Head Coach. The senior voice on the floor, the architect of the programming, and the hire who shapes every coach who comes after.

If you're a head coach somewhere right now and you're running someone else's playbook, reading someone else's workouts off a tablet, and watching your members get the same global circuit as 80,000 other people in 60 countries — this is the role you've been waiting for.

What you'll actually do

Run the floor. You'll coach a minimum of 15 classes per week. Your members will know your name. The other coaches will know you set the bar. This isn't a back-office gig — your presence on the floor is the job.

Own the programming. The framework is built (4-week periodized cycles, station-based, muscle-group splits, mixed AMRAP/REP/PARTNER modes). What you'll own is the exercises, the loading, the iteration. You'll write next month's program. You'll run the weekly debrief. You'll argue about why Friday's lower-body session needs more posterior chain work, and you'll be right.

Build the team. You'll hire alongside the founder for the rest of the opening crew. After that, hiring is yours. So is firing when it comes to it. You'll observe classes, give real feedback, and develop coaches the way the best head coaches you've worked under developed you.

Set the energy. The music, the room, the way coaches show up at 5am on a Monday. You'll set the standard for what a ZONE class feels like and you'll defend it.

Run the studio. Equipment, schedules, member experience, the operational stuff that makes the room run.

The non-negotiables

• Active nationally recognized PT certification (NASM, NSCA-CPT, NSCA-CSCS, ACE, ACSM)
• Current CPR/AED certification
• 5 years coaching experience in group fitness, boutique, or strength and conditioning
• 2 years in a senior/head coach role — programming, developing coaches, holding a standard
• You've trained, mentored, and given hard feedback to other coaches. References will get checked.
• Real working knowledge of periodization. You can explain why a program works, not just what's in it.
• Reliable transport to Mill Valley. Eligible to work in the US. Pass a background check.

Things that make you stand out

• Coaching out of an F45, Barry's, Solidcore, BFT, CrossFit, Equinox, or serious independent — and ready to do something better
• 7 years coaching with a real book of PT clients you could bring with you
• You've opened a new studio or led the head coach role through a studio's first year
• Advanced certs (NSCA-CSCS, USAW, FRC, FMS, RKC, SFG, Precision Nutrition)
• Strength and conditioning background at the collegiate or pro level
• Plugged into the Marin or Bay Area fitness scene
• You make decent content for socials, or you're willing to learn

Who we actually hire

This goes to the coach who can do four things:

Pull a room into the work. Real energy. Loud when it needs to be loud, focused when it needs to be focused, never theatrical. The kind of presence that makes people want to come back tomorrow.

Coach by name. Knows who's in the room, where they're starting from, what they're working toward. The cue you give the new member is different from the cue you give the regular who's chasing a PR, and you know why.

Lead other coaches. You've already managed a coaching standard somewhere. You've delivered the hard message. You know what it costs to hold a line.

Treat this like your studio. Not literally — but in how you show up. You feel what works and what doesn't. You fix what you can. You bring the rest to the founder. You celebrate what's working as if you designed it, because you did.

What you get

• $55K–$70K base, based on experience and certifications
• PT revenue share — real upside for a coach with a following. We expect this to be a meaningful part of total comp.
• Free membership for you and one immediate family member
• W-2 employment with full California protections
• Continuing education budget — significant, ongoing, you direct it
• A seat at every table. Programming. Hiring. Brand. Schedule. Music. Member experience. You'll be in the room when the calls get made, and we'll listen when you push back.

ZONE is an equal opportunity employer.