Director of Coaching Education

Job Description

Job Description

Job Description: Director of Coaching Education

Summary

The Director of Coaching Education leads the full lifecycle of CRI's coaching staff from onboarding through ongoing development, evaluation, mentorship, and retention. Reporting to the Executive Director, this role ensures every coach, whether seasonal, part-time, or full-time, has the tools, feedback, mentorship, and professional growth pathways needed to deliver a world-class experience to CRI's athletes.

Distinct from any individual coaching role, this is an organization-wide function. The Director serves as CRI's internal expert on adult and youth learning, program evaluation, and coaching pedagogy; sets coaching standards that apply across every program and season; and owns signature educational initiatives that generate visibility for CRI.

Goals of the Role

• Standardize onboarding and certification so every coach is compliant, culturally integrated, and water-ready before their first session or in their first season.
• Drive data-informed feedback by managing program surveys and translating findings into actionable improvements for coaches and curriculum.
• Foster mentorship and peer learning through formal pairing of senior and developing coaches, peer observation, and shared coaching vocabulary.
• Build a coherent professional development pathway connecting onboarding, ongoing professional development, a resource library, online curriculum, USRowing education, and the What Works summit.
• Generate visibility and growth opportunities for our coaching staff through the reactivated What Works summit and a community-facing professional development opportunities.

Areas of Responsibility

Onboarding & Certification Management

• Lead execution of onboarding for all new coaching hires into CRI's operational and pedagogical systems.
• Ensure all new coaches are promptly onboarded, obtain their USRowing Level 1 certification, and complete all other certification and safety requirements to coach at CRI.
• Enforce certification compliance with existing staff (USRowing, CPR/First Aid, SafeSport, etc.).
• Maintain the CRI Coach Handbook and onboarding materials to reflect current safety policies, professional standards, and workplace expectations.

Measurement, Evaluation & Customer Feedback

• Own the lifecycle of program and coaching surveys: design, collection, organization, analysis, and distribution.
• Build a structured customer feedback loop connecting participant experience to coach development.
• Collaborate with Directors, Managers and Head Coaches to identify trends in coaching effectiveness and program experience, including the Let's Row program.
• Apply established evaluation frameworks to assess training impact across reaction, learning, behavior, and results.
• Engage coaches in dialogue regarding evaluations to maximize retention and professional satisfaction.

Coach Mentoring & Professional Development

• Develop and oversee a formal mentoring program pairing Senior Coaches with developing staff for on-water quality control.
• Meet regularly with coaches to provide support, address decision-making challenges, and ensure coaching education objectives are met.
• Design and deliver year-round professional development programming across all programs and seasons.
• Build and maintain a centralized library of coaching resources, such as drills, lesson plans, video, safety references, athlete development materials, accessible across programs as well as training in sports based youth development.
• Update and steward CRI's online coaching education curriculum in Moodle, keeping content current, pedagogically sound, and aligned with on-water practice.
• Organize peer observation opportunities to foster shared knowledge and consistent coaching vocabulary in both on-water programs and in the Let’s Row program.
• Track individual coach progress and development goals over time for full time staff and contribute to the professional development of long time part time coaches.

Safety & Compliance

• Serve as a point of contact for coach compliance with the rules of the Charles River.
• Use survey feedback and mentor reports to identify and address potential safety issues promptly.
• Support in the maintaining of compliance with USRowing and CRI safety policies.

External Partnerships & Coaching Education

• Serve as CRI's primary liaison to USRowing's coach education programs, creating a clear certification pathway for CRI coaches.
• Build and maintain relationships with USRowing and other governing bodies, fostering CRI's national visibility in coaching education.
• Represent CRI in coaching-education conversations across the rowing community and the Boston community at large.

Signature Programs

• What Works Coaching Summit: Lead the revival of CRI's annual coaching conference (content, speakers, logistics, and registration) restoring it as a revenue-generating signature event for the rowing community.
• Recreational youth and adult programs: Support standards of coaching quality and curriculum for CRI's recreational programming by strengthening the coaching pedagogy to ensure consistency of coaching standards from the Let’s Row Middle School Indoor program to all CRI on-water programs.
• Oversee survey/program evaluation infrastructure and coach development support tailored to all programs.
• Coaching Professional Development Series (evolved from the CRI Institute for Rowing Leadership (IRL)): Reshape the IRL’s strongest elements into an ongoing professional development series for all working coaches, complementing USRowing's certification pathways. Open select sessions to the broader rowing or youth coaching community, while positioning CRI as a regional hub for coach development.

Reports To

Executive Director

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to lift 30 lbs in the form of rowing machines, gas tanks and other required equipment
• Ability to step on uneven surfaces to safely move between all water vessels and docks
• Ability to project your voice with assistance from a power megaphone
• Ability to stand for extended periods in adverse weather conditions on water and on land

POSITION POSTING NOTICE: Community Rowing Inc. (CRI) is a nonprofit organization in Brighton, MA dedicated to the belief that the sport of rowing provides a powerful tool to promote personal and community growth. Community Rowing Inc. was founded by U.S. Olympic and National Team rowers with the goal of growing and diversifying the rowing community and securing public access for the sport on the Charles River. Today CRI is one of the largest and most active community rowing organizations in the United States.

CRI provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. CRI complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. Additionally, Community Rowing Inc. expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.