Director of Residential Life

San Domenico; San Anselmo (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

On-campus housing

Health/dental/vision insurance

Meals on campus

Job summary

San Domenico School in Marin County, California, seeks a Director of Residential Life to provide strategic and operational leadership for our boarding program. This twelve-month, full-time role requires on-campus residence and active dorm duty.

Reporting to the Director of Upper School, you will lead twelve residential staff, foster a safe, inclusive living environment, and collaborate with campus services to support students’ academic, social, and intercultural growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in education, student development, counseling, or related field.
• Experience in residential life or student life with supervisory responsibilities.
• Strong understanding of adolescent development and high-school support.
• Ability to reside on campus and meet on-call duties.
• Valid California driver’s license and clearance to operate school vehicles.
• CPR and First Aid certification or ability to obtain by start.

Responsibilities

• Lead the residential life program and staff.
• Develop policies, schedules, and budgets.
• Ensure safe, inclusive on-campus housing and student wellbeing.
• Collaborate with Upper School leadership and campus services.
• Coordinate housing and security, emergency procedures.

Skills

Staff leadership

Crisis response

Communication

Conflict resolution

Organization

Cross-cultural sensitivity

Decision making

On-campus housing supervision

Safety awareness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in education or related field

Master’s degree

Job description

Lead a globally diverse residential community where students are known, supported, challenged, and connected.

Full-time, twelve-month leadership position | Start date: July 1, 2027

About San Domenico

San Domenico School is an independent K-12 day and boarding school in Marin County, California, approximately 30 minutes north of San Francisco. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest independent school in California. The School serves approximately 680 students on a picturesque 515-acre campus, including about 140 boarding students from the Bay Area, elsewhere in the United States, and around the world, together representing more than 20 countries.

San Domenico provides a distinctive boarding experience rooted in rigorous academics, meaningful relationships, intercultural understanding, personal growth, and connection to the cultural and educational resources of the Bay Area.

The Opportunity

San Domenico seeks a highly capable, compassionate, and experienced Director of Residential Life to provide strategic and operational leadership for our boarding program. Reporting to the Director of Upper School, the Director leads approximately twelve residential staff members and is responsible for the quality, safety, consistency, and ongoing development of the residential student experience. The new Director will join a stable, well-enrolled program with strong established programming and the opportunity to build on this foundation as the needs of our students and community continue to evolve.

Residential Life is an extension of the School’s educational mission. The program helps students develop intellectual curiosity, personal accountability, independence, self-awareness, integrity, respect for self and others, intercultural understanding, and a commitment to community involvement and service.

The Director will be a visible, relationship-centered leader who understands that strong boarding communities are built through consistency, presence, trust, clear expectations, and everyday interactions. The ideal candidate will be energized by the pace and complexity of residential life, able to respond calmly in challenging moments, and committed to helping adolescents grow in confidence, responsibility, belonging, and purpose.

This is a full-time, twelve-month, exempt position that requires residence in school-provided housing on campus. The role includes active dorm duty and afternoon, evening, weekend, school-break, holiday, and on-call responsibilities when students are present.

Primary Responsibilities

Lead the Program

• Set the vision, goals, and improvement priorities for Residential Life in alignment with the mission of San Domenico and the educational priorities of the Upper School.
• Develop and maintain clear policies, procedures, handbooks, schedules, records, and operational systems.
• Oversee the residential budget and advocate for the resources needed to support students, staff, and facilities.
• Develop community traditions, student leadership opportunities, activities, and educational programming that support students’ intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and intercultural growth.
• Develop a purposeful off-campus learning and enrichment program that draws on Marin County and the Bay Area’s cultural, educational, service, professional, recreational, and outdoor opportunities.

Develop and Support Staff

• Recruit, hire, onboard, supervise, evaluate, coach, and retain a strong team of residential staff.
• Ensure that residential staff understand students’ goals and help them develop the habits, discipline, and follow-through that can help them experience success.
• Create staff schedules, duty assignments, coverage plans, and accountability structures while coordinating with staff members’ other school responsibilities.
• Lead orientation, August training, regular staff meetings, ongoing professional learning, and formal performance-review cycles.
• Build a team culture grounded in collaboration, reliability, professional boundaries, consistent practice, and shared responsibility for student well-being.

Support Students and Families

• Maintain a visible and engaged presence in the residential community and ensure that students experience a safe, inclusive, supportive, and developmentally appropriate living environment.
• Support students in pursuing and achieving goals across academics, the arts, athletics, service, leadership, and other areas of interest.
• Coordinate responses to student concerns and crises, including supervision, communication, documentation, referral, and follow-up.
• Partner with the Dean of Students on residential expectations, discipline, restorative responses, and student accountability.
• Communicate proactively and sensitively with families across cultures and time zones.
• Supervise the staff member responsible for training and supporting student prefects and other residential student leaders.

Coordinate Across the School

• Serve as an active member of the Upper School leadership team and collaborate closely with Counseling, Health Services, Admissions, Auxiliary Programs, Campus Security, Athletics, Facilities, Food Services, and Upper School faculty and staff.
• Build strong relationships with day students and create meaningful opportunities for day and boarding students to participate together in community.
• Partner with emergency preparedness and operations leaders to implement safety procedures and coordinate effective responses to emergencies.
• Monitor residential facilities, communicate needs, and ensure appropriate follow-up with Facilities and Maintenance.
• Represent the residential program at Admissions and enrollment events.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in education, student development, counseling, social work, or a related field.
• Progressively responsible experience in residential life, student life, education, youth development, or a related setting, including meaningful supervisory experience.
• Strong understanding of adolescent development and experience supporting high-school students.
• Demonstrated skill in staff leadership, conflict resolution, crisis response, organization, communication, and sound decision-making.
• Ability to build trusting relationships across cultures while maintaining clear expectations, confidentiality, and professional boundaries.
• Willingness and ability to reside on campus and fulfill the active-duty, variable-schedule, and on-call responsibilities of the position.
• Valid California driver’s license and ability to receive and maintain clearance to operate school vehicles through the School’s insurance provider.
• Current CPR and First Aid certification, or ability to obtain certification by the start of employment.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in a related field.
• Leadership experience in a boarding school or residential program, preferably within an internationally diverse school community.
• Demonstrated experience in staff development, restorative practices, trauma-informed care, budget management, and residential programming.
• Substantial experience supporting international students and families through the transition to boarding school in the United States, including communicating effectively across languages, cultures, and time zones.
• A record of fostering a vibrant, inclusive residential community in which international students and students from the United States form meaningful relationships and learn from one another.
• Proficiency in a language other than English, particularly one spoken by families in our boarding community.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $120,000-$165,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications. School-provided on-campus housing is included as a condition of the role. This position offers a competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage, a matching 403(b) retirement plan, and meals whenever the campus dining hall is open.

Housing consists of an attractive two- or three-bedroom apartment within the residential community, depending on the needs of the Director and their family.

San Domenico School is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, age, disability, medical condition, religion, veteran status, marital status, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws.