Director of Client Relations, Alpha - $200,000/year USD

Crossover; Oxnard (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Vision and dental

401(k)

Paid time off

Job summary

Alpha School seeks a Director of Client Relations to lead campus family engagement and retention. You will greet families, align with guides, and host community events while upholding Alpha's standards and AI-powered learning model.

Based in California, you will manage difficult conversations, build trust with affluent families, and partner with educators to protect instructional boundaries. This is a full-time, on-site leadership role with significant ownership and accountability.

Qualifications

• 5+ years owning high-trust relationships with families or community stakeholders.
• Proven ability to handle difficult conversations while preserving trust.
• Independent ownership from diagnosis to follow-through on outcomes.
• Clear, concise communication with affluent or sophisticated families.
• Hands-on use of AI tools and ability to explain capabilities and limits.

Responsibilities

• Create a trusted campus community where families and guides stay aligned.
• Lead difficult parent conversations and uphold firm decisions.
• Partner with educators on sensitive family and student situations.
• Build parent networks, campus traditions, partnerships, and events.
• Adapt ownership as the campus grows from launch to mature phase.

Skills

Relationship management

Clear communication

High-trust leadership

Problem solving

AI tool literacy

Tools

AI tools

Job description

\"Alpha School students, on average, experience 2.4 to 2.6 times the academic growth of traditional school students\"

— Forbes

Alpha is hiring.

• On-site: Lake Forest or Los Angeles/Malibu, California


• $200,000/yr


• Full-time W-2 employee


• Benefits: health, vision, dental, 401(k), PTO, and more

The hardest client conversations are not solved by saying yes. They are solved by listening closely, making a sound decision, and keeping trust intact after you deliver an answer a family may not want to hear.

You will be the visible parent-and-guide leader of an Alpha campus. On a typical day, you may greet families at morning drop-off, align with guides on a sensitive student situation, lead a difficult parent conversation, and host an evening community event. Families should feel known and supported, while guides should feel backed by clear boundaries and consistent decisions.

Alpha students complete core academics in two hours a day using AI-powered learning, then spend the rest of the day building real-world skills. You will explain and defend that model with conviction, use AI tools in your own work, and help sophisticated families understand both the power and the limits of an AI-powered school.

Your ownership will change as the campus grows. At a launch or under-enrolled campus, you may help develop local demand and follow prospective families through enrollment. At a mature campus with dedicated admissions support, you will focus more deeply on family retention, guide alignment, referrals, and community trust. If you want a fixed playbook or a role built around keeping everyone happy, this is not it. If you want accountable, high-trust leadership at the center of a school community.

What You Will Be Doing

• Own ongoing relationships with campus families through visible daily presence, thoughtful follow-through, and clear communication


• Lead difficult parent conversations, uphold firm decisions, and resolve concerns without weakening Alpha's educational standards


• Partner with guides on sensitive family and student situations, make sound real-time judgments, and use the correct escalation path for high-risk issues


• Build parent networks, campus traditions, local partnerships, and events that strengthen retention, referrals, advocacy, and community credibility


• Adapt your growth ownership to the campus phase, from local demand and enrollment follow-through at newer campuses to retention and community depth at mature campuses

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Running a client-satisfaction desk or changing the school model to avoid difficult conversations


• Owning the same admissions quota at every campus, regardless of the campus phase or available admissions support


• Passing every ambiguous decision upward or relying on a script when accountable judgment is required


• Managing routine school administration such as attendance, scheduling, newsletters, or parent-teacher conferences


• Planning social events without a clear retention, advocacy, referral, community, or growth outcome

Director Of Client Relations Key Responsibilities

Create a trusted campus community where families and guides stay aligned, difficult decisions preserve confidence, and retention, advocacy, and growth strengthen.

Basic Requirements

• Currently live within commuting distance of Lake Forest or Los Angeles/Malibu, California, or be ready to relocate within 60 days if offered the job


• 5+ years personally owning ongoing, high-trust relationships with families, clients, donors, members, or community stakeholders


• A concrete record of handling difficult stakeholder decisions, adapting when new information emerges, and preserving trust through resolution


• Independent ownership of an ambiguous relationship, community, program, retention, referral, enrollment, or growth outcome from diagnosis through follow-through


• Clear, concise communication and the judgment to earn confidence with affluent or otherwise sophisticated, high-expectation families


• Ability to partner with educators, protect instructional boundaries, and make accountable decisions in real-time student and family situations


• Practical hands‑on use of AI tools, including checking output quality and explaining the capabilities and limits of AI-powered learning


• Willingness to work on-site full-time and attend early-morning, late-afternoon, evening, and occasional weekend activities


• Legal authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship

Nice-to-have Requirements

• Experience in an independent or private school, luxury hospitality, philanthropy, family services, membership organization, or another high-trust service environment


• Existing relationships within the Lake Forest, Los Angeles, Malibu, or nearby affluent community


• Evidence of personally improving family retention, referrals, advocacy, enrollment, or community participation


• Experience building systems and operating effectively while the playbook, team, or campus needs were still changing

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.

Working with us

This is a full-time, W2 employee position with immediate access to benefits (https://support.crossover.com/article/7581-w2-benefits-u-s-paychex-paid-only). All roles are year-long positions. The compensation level for this role is $200,000 USD/year. The payment period is weekly. Consult www.crossover.com/help-and-faqs for more details on this topic.

Crossover Job Code: LJ-5798-US-Oxnard-DirectorofClie