Youth Engagement Specialist

Organization:   buildOn

Engagement Specialist 

Type: Full Time, In-Person, Nonexempt  

Location: Boston, MA (within assigned BPS High School) 

Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday during academic year; Monday-Friday outside of the academic year  

Work Hours: Hours vary depending on school assignment  

Start time: 7:30 am - 9 am; End time: 4 pm - 5:30 pm  

Pay: $24/hour - $25.96/hour.  

A staff member who works 40 hours a week will earn between $50,000 and $54,000 annually. Benefits: Medical, dental & vision insurance. 403b (retirement) match  

Time off: 39 paid days off!!! 

10 days of vacation + 2 company shut down weeks (10 days) + 7 personal days + 5 sick days + 7 holidays (including Juneteenth) 

About the Role 

buildOn seeks someone who is experienced, passionate, and committed to working with youth and giving back to their community through service and education. 

Core Job Responsibilities 

DAY TO DAY  

● Program Representation - Represent buildOn as the sole buildOn staff at one designated partner high school. 

● Student Recruitment - Recruit students to serve with buildOn in their communities. 

● Lunchtime Recruitment - Table, provide service-centered activity, and/or flyer share during student lunchtime. 

● Student Fair Tabling - Set up a buildOn table at school-wide student fairs. 

● Classroom Presentation - Introduce buildOn to students through “ in-class presentations”. 

● Transitional Recruitment - Connect with students and recruit them to join buildOn in-between classes. 

● Trek Recruitment - Recruit students to build a school in one of our partner countries. 

● Afterschool & Weekend Service - Plan, organize, and lead students in meaningful service learning projects with community organizations with a strong focus on people to people Direct Service . Schedule: 2-3 Afterschool Service Opportunities each week + a Saturday service project each week  

● In-Class Service Learning - Collaborate with teachers to facilitate up to 6 In-class service learning lessons per month.

● Weekly Program Meetings - Host program meetings to build relationships with students and provide space for students to voice interests, ideas, and concerns as it pertains to their community. Schedule: 1 Per Week. 

● Student Leadership Team - Establish a student leadership team to support, grow and enhance the programmatic experience at your designated buildOn school. 

ADMINISTRATIVE  

● Weekly Salesforce Data Input - Use Salesforce platform to enter student engagement each week. 

● Monthly Engagement Report - Write monthly engagement logs and use monitoring reports to innovate and pivot to improve programs and meet goals. 

● Monthly Regional Service Planner - Forward-plan your service projects/activities for the month ahead 

● Weekly Social Media Post- Help to build awareness of buildOn in Boston area. 

EACH SEMESTER  

Service Kickoff - A service kickoff is a large scale service opportunity for you to introduce and engage your school community in buildOn service. This kickoff should take place within the first two months of your school year to ensure early success. 

Fall and Spring City-Wide Service - Large-scale service events bringing together students from all schools within a region to create a deep collective impact. Goal: 2 per semester 

Celebrate buildOn - End of school year award ceremony for students 

ONGOING  

Relationship Building  

● Build authentic relationships with students in order to create interest and incorporate student voice into the program 

● Establish, develop, and maintain strategic partnerships with school advisors and counselors, administrators, faculty, support staff, parents, and local community partners. 

● Provide outreach to parents/guardians and gain their support for engaging their child/children in service learning. 

● Establish relationships with partner organizations to connect students to needed services

that are outside of buildOn’s scope. 

One buildOn (Cross-Departmental Collaboration) 

Support collaboration with other departments, such as Development, Marketing, Global, Finance, and HR to meet organizational goals, such as fund development and elevating student voice, to work as ONE buildOn.

What You Bring 

A successful Engagement Specialist brings the following qualities and skills to the role and team: 

Core Attributes  

● A passion for service 

● Energy & Enthusiasm 

● Solution-oriented 

● Highly Collaborative Team Player 

● Self-Motivated 

Additional Essential Skills 

• An understanding of the power of Boston youth to transform their own lives and the community through SERVICE
• Commitment to creating programs for youth that are empowering and antiracist
• Ambition…a willingness to meet ambitious goals each month because you understand that when youth SERVE, they GROW
• Willingness to take initiative in co-developing and implementing new service-learning
• 2+ years of engaging youth in the classroom or extra-curricular programming
• Demonstrated skills as a teacher/facilitator or experience working side-by-side with teachers/facilitators, particularly implementing service-learning projects
• Knowledge of the systemic issues that inhibit the growth of communities and a strong desire to use service to develop youth
• Functional knowledge of regional school district(s) and educational and nonprofit landscape.
• Experience using Google Suite, Canva, Salesforce or other data platforms preferred
• Relevant educational background (Associate's degree or above)
• Bilingual preferred (English/Spanish)

What We Offer 

The buildOn Staff Experience:  

At buildOn our goal is to ensure that our staff members are able to enjoy a fulfilling, impactful, and fun-filled work/life experience when they join our movement. Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of our unique offerings:  

Creative Freedom to cultivate your own unique program at a partner school from design to inception. 

Serviced Based International Travel is an opportunity to go on Trek to a buildOn partner country where you will work in solidarity with community members to build a school! Countries Include: Guatemala, Nepal, Nicaragua, Senegal, Malawi, Burkina Faso 

Program Schedule Autonomy allows for an opportunity to design your program schedule within the regularly scheduled hours of your 8:30 am - 5 pm workday

Leadership & Collaboration Opportunities allow for you to work in solidarity with educators, community leaders and school administration to expand your programmatic impact across the community at large. 

Culture-focused activities are a time for our teams to relax and unwind with their peers while engaging in fun activities such as Karaoke, picnics, ice-skating, escape rooms, museums, arcades, community social gatherings and many more!

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

buildOn is committed to building and maintaining an inclusive environment that drives innovation, strengthens ONE buildOn and bolsters a culture where people truly feel valued, heard and respected. buildOn provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, amnesty, or veteran status.

To learn more about buildOn, please visit our website at