Director of Creative Youth Development & Arts in Education

Youth Speaks; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Youth Speaks is seeking a Director of Creative Youth Development and Arts-in-Education to lead strategy, program quality, staff and partnerships. This senior role will shape program direction, cultivate collaborations with schools and funders, and ensure measurable impact across CYD and AIE initiatives.

The Director reports to the Executive Director and manages a diverse team, including full-time, part-time, and contractors.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years in youth development or arts education with leadership experience.
• 3+ years directing a team of multiple staff.
• Proven ability to engage boards as partners.
• Strong strategic thinking and organizational skills.
• Emotional intelligence and cross-cultural competency.
• Bay Area youth programs experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead CYDAIE strategy, quality, and impact measurement.
• Oversee program budget and staffing.
• Develop partnerships with schools, funders, and community partners.
• Collaborate with cross-functional Senior Leadership Team and donors.
• Foster an inclusive, equitable workplace culture.

Skills

Youth development

Strategic planning

Staff leadership

Board engagement

Tools

Google Workspace

Asana

Slack

Airtable

Microsoft Office

Job description

Youth Speaks is a BIPOC-led nonprofit that harnesses the creativity, insight, and passion of young people to change the world. Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, we are a national leader in spoken word performance, literary arts education, positive youth development and narrative change. We produce youth poetry slams, festivals, and reading series, and provide free arts education programs during the school day, after school, on weekends, and in the evenings We also offer workforce development and event production. Each year, Youth Speaks engages more than 3,000 teens in the Bay Area and thousands more nationwide. As we celebrate 30 years of impact, we remain rooted in the belief that youth voice drives cultural and civic change

This senior leadership role oversees Youth Speaks’ Creative Youth Development (CYD) and Arts-in-Education programs (AIE). The Director is responsible for strategy, program quality, staff leadership, partnerships, funding alignment, and impact measurement—using arts education as a tool for youth empowerment and social change. The Director of CYDAIE manages a team of FTE, PTE, temporary employees, and contractors and sits as a collaborating member of the Senior Leadership Team. The Director of CYDAIE reports directly to and is supervised directly by the Executive Director.

Mission Driven Strategic Leadership

• Engage at the direction of the Executive Director, collaborate with Senior Leadership Team to develop an organizational strategy that aligns with current, new and emerging programs
• Collaborate with Senior Leadership Team to plan, facilitate, report on organizational strategic and workplanning retreats
• Collaborate with Executive Director in reporting and engaging with Youth Speaks’ Board of Directors to ensure participation and engagement across programs and activities
• Engage at the direction of Executive Director and collaborate with the Director of People & Operations on the organizational participatory annual budgeting and auditing process
• Collaborate with the Director of Narrative Change & Communications to develop and advance departmental communications strategies, initiatives, and priorities.
• Collaborate with the Director of Advancement to support in developing and implementing fundraising strategies
• Perform additional duties as assigned by the Executive Director to support Youth Speaks’ mission, vision, and guiding principles

Strategic Partnerships

• Build and manage relationships with schools, artists, funders, and community partners in service to the mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities of the organization
• Represent Youth Speaks publicly as a thought leader and advocate in various strategic partnerships and public events
• Actively identify new partnerships to explore opportunities for programming and funding
• Play a key role in building and maintaining relationships within the Brave New Voice Network
• Develop and implement a multi-year comprehensive programmatic plan with key performance indicators and accompanying strategies, strengthening departmental infrastructure and processes to ensure timely and effective engagement with donors and prospects.
• Ensure programmatic, pedagogical, and artistic excellence creating and maintaining clear systems, processes, practices, and guides to ensure rigorous standard of accountability and evaluation for the team
• Develop comprehensive outreach strategies, plans, and trackers to increase youth participation in programming as well as with community partners to strengthen in-school residencies, events, and activities.
• Develop budget projections to inform the annual budget and monitor contributed revenue and giving trends to recalibrate programmatic strategies as needed.
• Contribute to compelling and accurate marketing materials (online and printed)
• Design, implement, and evaluate in-school, after-school, and performance-based programs as well as workforce development and programs for educators
• Stay abreast to youth development, arts & culture education and performance, youth workforce development, and movement building trends to inform programmatic decisions.

Program Team Management

• Supervise, train, develop, and motivate the program team; assign projects and responsibilities, support staff and contractors in meeting goals, and provide coaching and professional development as needed.
• Oversee project management across the team to ensure work is prioritized effectively, deadlines are met, and team objectives are achieved.
• Manage program budget (at least $100K), timelines, and resources and ensure team is adhering to organizational financial reporting and protocols
• Design and implement program evaluation and reporting for leadership, funders, and board
• Collaborate on grant proposals and reporting for annual grant reports and impact reports as well as participate in meetings with funders and donors
• Manage a team of employees (composed of FTE, part-time and contractors) - whose size fluctuates accordingly

Organizational Leadership & Culture

• Foster a compassionate, positive, and inclusive work environment that communicates clear expectations, values diversity, collaboration, and creativity in service to the mission and vision of the organization.
• Uphold the organizational code of conduct, financial and HR protocols, and other legal employment protocols as set by the Executive Director and the Board of Directors.
• Establish, support, and help manage board committees and special initiatives, including pipeline projects to recruit and engage new board members and volunteers.
• Foster a culture of philanthropy, collaboration, and shared purpose among staff, board members, and volunteers.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

• Minimum of 8–10 years of experience in youth development, art & culture, movement building or a related field; at least 3 years as director of a team of multiple staff.
• Proven ability to manage a variety of team structures with rigor, compassion, and accountability.
• Demonstrated experience developing and successfully implementing youth programming with high impact
• Experience engaging boards of directors as partners in organizational programming.
• Strong strategic thinking, organizational skills, and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
• Possess high emotional intelligence, cultural competency, and the ability to build authentic, productive relationships across diverse identities.
• Actively curious and receptive to an environment high in feedback, self-critique, and evaluation.
• Strong verbal and written communicator with intent listening skills; able to interface effectively and professionally with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Experience working as part of multidisciplinary teams and collaborating effectively with volunteers and community partnerships.
• Knowledge of event production, youth development, arts & culture education, and movement building best practices.
• Familiarity with Google Workspace (Docs, Gmail, Calendar), Asana, Slack, Airtable and Microsoft Office Suite; ability to learn and adapt to new technology systems.
• Passion for Youth Speaks’ mission and dedication to promoting its strategic priorities.
• Flexible schedule, including availability for some evenings, weekends, and participation in after-hours on-call rotation with other Directors.
• Experience with youth development, arts & culture and/or education fields in the Bay Area is preferred.

Youth Speaks is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, bilingual and bicultural individuals, LGBTQ+ community members, and people with disabilities.

In accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.