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Director of Programs

Job Title: Director of Programs

ABOUT US

Camp Eagle started in 1999. We are located in a truly wild and beautiful place in the hill country of Texas. Camp is blessed to steward 1,400 acres along the headwaters of the spring-fed Nueces River and filled with limestone cliffs, woods, trails, and wildlife.

We are all about our Mission.
We exist to: Inspire Christ-like change through, Outdoor Adventure, Authentic Relationships, and Biblical Truth.

Our Playbook and everything we do is built around this. It is woven into the daily fabric of our work here.

We operate year-round with multiple summer and retreat-season programs at our 1,000-bed facility.

WHO WE ARE

Our remote location deepens our community. With roughly 100 people living on-site, co-workers become neighbors, and neighbors become friends. This is a missional community and togetherness is very important to us. Our community is special and it is a big part of why many of our staff serve here.

This also strengthens our culture which is evident throughout this ministry and our community. A few things about our culture stand out.
We highly value a vibrant relationship with Christ and serving people out of the strength of that relationship. We’re not just a ministry; we love Jesus.
We know who we are and we do our best to talk about that often to stay on the same page with the big picture.

Dreaming is in our DNA. We don’t pretend to know everything, so we often spend time dreaming up new solutions and opportunities. This is often true in individual jobs as well. If you love the freedom to find solutions and create opportunities, you’ll love that part of your job.

We tend to value mindset over skill set. If you enjoy collaborating and problem-solving together, you’ll fit right in.

Adventure gets us excited. Many of our staff always have the next adventure in the works or are ready to join one. Whether that’s camping, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, hiking, exploring caves, fishing, traveling, or trying a new board game - most staff are down to join an adventure you’re cooking up.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WORK HERE
ON OUR BEST DAYS
We brainstorm. We’re coming up with new ideas, solving problems, and planning together. We serve alongside each other. Often, we are dropping our normal job to do something different: pitching in to help each other. Those are the breaks between our normal work that bring us together.
We play together. We’re sharing a good meal, playing board games in the evenings, celebrating something, playing at the river, or camping at Big Bend.
We reconnect to why we are here. Whether we are jumping in on a summer staff training or helping with some programming we have that touchstone to why we do this. We solve problems through the lens of our mission statement and playbook. We enjoy hearing about a ministry moment for how someone was inspired towards Christ-like change through camp.

ON OUR NOT-SO-BEST DAYS
We get caught up in the “tyranny of the urgent”, especially during busy seasons. We self-inflict this by our desire to dream up new things to serve our guests. Sometimes this affects some staff more than others which can be frustrating.
We can become siloed during a busy season.
We struggle for reconciliation. There’s a lot of beauty in a community that lives and works in close proximity but it magnifies the need for healthy reconciliation.


JOB POSTING
We are looking for someone with a strong work ethic and a desire to live and work in a close community to serve in the role of Director of Programs. We are passionate about our mission statement and are looking for a like-minded person who is willing to serve alongside us. Please thoughtfully consider each part of our mission statement, job description, and description of our ministry and community before applying.

JOB DESCRIPTION
CAMP EAGLE
Title: Director of Programs
Department: Program
Reports To: Matt Reed, Camp Eagle Executive Director
Manages: Program Directors (Retreats, Wilderness, Group Camp, Individual Camps), Recruiter, Marketer (Approx. 6 Direct Reports)

Job Purpose: To fulfill our mission by overseeing the development and growth of all programs, and supporting the efforts of program directors

This position also usually means membership on our executive leadership team for Camp Eagle. This team works to lead the organization, create clarity and alignment, find and implement new opportunities, remove obstacles, and fix issues along the way. This membership requires leading by example in the area of Camp Eagle’s mission, vision, and values, as well as the code of conduct and camp policy and procedures. It is assumed that executive leadership members will do whatever it takes to fulfill the duties of their role within the organization, and creative problem-solving will be expected regularly.

JOB DUTIES
*This job duties list is longer than usual. We developed this list to this length to help us more fully understand this newer role. We understand the unique skills and experiences of individuals would cause more focus on some of the job duties and less on others.

TEAM MANAGEMENT
Oversight of the leaders of the program departments of camp, including seasonal staff recruiting and marketing
Frequently invest in your department heads
Encourage your department heads to invest in their teams
Be a conversation starter between departments, creating space for: dreaming big, planning, vision casting, debate, and problem solving
Regularly coach your staff and set expectations by conducting “walkarounds” with your staff, having eyes for dreaming, serving guests, solving problems, and setting expectations for the way things could or should be
Lead weekly program director team meetings, establishing agendas, keeping meetings on-track, and expecting cascading communication from that meeting - to their employees as needed
Regular one-on-one meetings (twice per month is pretty typical) with each of your staff, focusing on: personal check-in, setting expectations, reinforcing education of our “playbook”, work feedback, asking great questions, listening to needs, problem solving, and the staff members professional development
Ensure each of your staff create a Knowledge List (a list they make of the tasks that are required to do all parts of their job and their comfort level with the knowledge to complete those tasks effectively) for their job, to drive a greater understanding of their job and potentially provide a development roadmap for the staff member
Conduct hiring/firing for your department heads as needed according to the HR guidelines of camp
Ensure your department heads are hiring/firing their staff according to the HR guidelines of camp
Have an in-depth understanding of what your department heads need and are up against
Look for areas of need in your department heads and assist in creative problem solving, finding resources for those needs
Provide direction for each of your department heads, making sure they are moving forward on regular tasks and high-level projects
Ensure department heads are creating and tracking important metrics for their department
Create and track metrics of your own for each department - watching for areas that need support or change
Occasionally monitor program department heads speaking (to groups) and provide constructive feedback for their growth
Regularly inspect various things, to: support the setting of expectations, being personally knowledgeable about the happenings within programs and their facilities, and to hold your staff accountable - sharing your findings with your staff (examples: inspecting Salesforce opportunities, preparedness before a group arrives, room cleanliness before a group arrives, food quality, communication timeliness, staff hospitality and friendliness at retail and food lines, etc)
Ensure cross-department communication is planned and happens during busy programming seasons, so we can be on the same page

TRAINING
Ensure our program staff receive quality regular group development training and in-services and maintain necessary records of the in-service trainings
Ensure our program staff have a vision for the power and art of group development
Ensure our program staff receive quality regular hospitality training and in-services and maintain necessary records of the in-service trainings
Ensure our program staff have a vision for the power of the gospel and Biblical calling for hospitality and service
Ensure our program staff have an inspired understanding of the theological basis for the pieces of our mission statement (example: a theology supporting outdoor adventure)
Move our program staff into a greater understanding of how to bring about our mission, vision, and values within our programming
Drive a vision for hospitality and service in our programming; how can we go above and beyond in our service
Drive a vision for outdoor adventure in our programming
Occasionally arrange for short group development games for all-staff meetings

CURRICULUM AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Strive to “keep camp camp” and have your staff desire the same (for example: fight urbanization of our campuses, we desire an outdoor camp-like environment, conducive to being successful in our mission)
Strive for programming that is centered around building authentic relationships
Strive for programming that is experiential
Strive for programming that is focused on the gospel and Biblically based, keeping Jesus the main thing
Oversee a collaborative and organized process for the development of program curriculum, likely in partnership with other staff in similar roles as yours at our other family of camps and their staff. Curriculum includes: Bible studies, speaking, curriculum based experiences and is often and usually connected to most other programming elements in our programs
Ensure our program teams are valuable and regular contributors in the curriculum development process
Thorough curriculum review process by a variety of people, such as: trusted pastors, parents, students, other staff
Often attend Camp Eagle programming, looking for ways to support and improve
Occasionally attend programming at other camps to learn and gain new ideas
Occasionally meet with programming professionals to learn and gain new ideas
Educate yourself toward a greater understanding of trends in the camping industry
Educate yourself toward an understanding of how camp programming can meet needs of our guests according to our mission, vision, values
Ensure our programming lines up with our mission, vision, values and teaching guidelines
Assist as needed, in hands-on program support to bring about a program related project (example: the design and building of a new low element)
Ensure that safety is considered with each new program project, activity, program experience, or event
Ensure program design considers the bigger picture, such as, how: food, activities, sleeping, “free time”, and staff interactions can be a valuable part of the experience, and consider how it might reinforce the mission
Look for ways new technologies can support our programming or behind-the-scenes support of our programming
Encourage good communication between program and operations and administrative departments (example: See that program teams are communicating with the challenge course manager in a timely manner to be ready to serve guests)
Be a strong advocate for putting guests first
Ensure that each program has a “Beautiful Vision”

MARKETING
Drive a vision for marketing as ministry, focusing on relational marketing and telling stories of Christ-like change
Set marketing expectations and goals for our program staff in regards to days on the road for face-to-face marketing, events, conferences, lunches, church/school visits and ensure a system is in place to hold staff accountable to these goals
Review marketing plan each year and communicate as necessary
Stay up-to-date on the progress of the marketing plan
Collaborate occasionally with appropriate staff at our family of camps for the success of our marketing efforts
Help prioritize marketing/media design needs
Occasionally collaborate with staff from other camps for the success of our marketing efforts
Educate yourself on marketing trends, ideas, technologies
Employ the use of technology in our marketing efforts
Arrange for effective marketing training for camp staff (examples: evolution of a salesman, rockwall training, marketing as ministry, face-to-face trip logistics)
Ensure program teams are keeping up to date records in our customer relationship management system (CRM, Salesforce)
Ensure sales data for leads/customers is kept up to date in our CRM system and hold staff accountable to using our system as trained
Ensure your team receives CRM system training

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Have or develop an understanding for how the ideas of excellence and stewardship together play a key role in appraising where funds should be spent. (i.e. Understand the tension between the desire for excellence held in check by the desire for wise stewardship)
Support department heads in a bottom up budgeting process for their departments budget
Review budget often (typically monthly) with department heads
Hold department heads accountable to their budgets
Ensure budgets are used for our mission, vision, and values and smart decision making guidelines are used for spending - scrutiny should be especially applied with larger expenses and adding new things
Provide direction to program department heads in the area of offering discounts and scholarships; when they can offer discounts without approval, how much, and how often
Consider designing ways for department heads and their staff to raise scholarship funds
Help program department heads set and achieve growth goals each year for their program
Hold program department heads accountable to their plans on how to achieve their departments growth goals
Assist program department heads in setting dates and rates for their programs services and offerings
Consider employing a system for increasing pricing for program services and offerings, in conjunction with Executive Director (example: 3% base price increase per year)
Occasionally arrange for monitor pricing levels of similar programs and offerings at other camps
In partnership with the Administrative Manager, monitor registrations and collections
In partnership with the Administrative Manager, hold program departments accountable to collecting funds according to contracts
Approve expense reports for your direct reports, giving feedback often for purchases you don’t understand or are excessive
Sometimes make purchases for program departments as needed
Support your staff in educating them towards proper coding of their expenses (a coding aide is provided)

PROGRAM STAFFING
Set staffing goals yearly within budget for the number of staff needed to provide programming, looking for ways to best serve our guests while being creative with staffing to meet needs in a highly efficient way
Oversee a collaborative effort to design highly effective staff training and in-services, ensuring it’s effective in our mission, vision, values and staffing practices, policies, and procedures
Ensure there is an effective feedback loop in place for program staff to tell us how they think we are doing in a variety of areas, such as: programming, hiring, training, ministry effectiveness, healthy work conditions, and safety
Ensure program staffing recruitment efforts introduce and are in line with our mission, vision, values
Ensure program staffing recruitment and hiring efforts are in-line with our hiring practices as provided by our administrative department at Camp Eagle and the appropriate Shared Services staff
Ensure our recruiter/s are team players with recruiters at our family of camps
Ensure our recruiter/s is taking time to learn from professional recruiters from other well known camps

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Develop a personal understanding and vision for stewardship and taking care of God’s things.
Encourage healthy sharing of resources between program departments
Encourage a creative use of resources, instead of defaulting to a mindset of solving problems with money
Ensure program staff create a process for being good stewards of their resources when possible, such as creating processes for: proper storage, regular maintenance, using things properly, asset labeling, check-in/out systems, cleaning up after events or projects

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Frequently engage with customers in one-on-one conversations (on-site, off-site, and over the phone), about how we are doing in all aspects of the guests experience
Ensure a high quality guest survey system is employed to evaluate most aspects of the guests experience
Hold staff accountable to using such a survey system regularly
Consider employing other feedback loops between guests and our staff
Monitor guest feedback and surveys and personally respond to guests frequently, especially in regards to a negative experience, with the intention to win them over
Occasionally evaluate the ways program staff communicate with guests and how timely it is, ensuring our communication is consistent with our mission, vision, values, brand standards, and strong understanding of hospitality and quality professional communication
Ensure training and in-services happen for ways that program staff can perceive and meet needs for guests over the phone, helping them design the best program for their needs, and maintain necessary records of the in-service trainings
Ensure program staff understand what a good Needs Assessment is and that one is conducted for every group that attends our programming, written down for reference, and that we understand why guests have the needs they relate to us
Ensure a broader survey is conducted every few years to assess the needs and desires of our customers or people that could likely be customers in the future so we can learn if we are offering needs based programming in the future
Occasionally monitor our program websites to ensure both website and registration system are current and ready for customer use at all times

OTHER
Regularly attend Leadership Team Meetings
Chair the Program Safety Committee
Cross department communication advocate: regularly meet with other department heads and staff to assess how to better partner with them
Organize the P&P read through for full-time staff before summer programming starts
Ensure a thorough summer debrief is conducted in a timely manner after summer
Keep a timeline for conversations that need to happen in leading up to the start of a programming season, ensuring we are prepared for its success (vehicle plans, radio plan, when to meet with the grounds department to discuss timing for when fields can best be mowed during the season, etc)
Attend weekly all-staff meetings and chair the portion of the meeting for program heads sharing news and information

Other Duties of ALL Camp Eagle Staff:
Camp Eagle operates year-round. We have guests on the premises almost every day of the year. Serving guests is our number one priority, and therefore ALL staff must participate in guest service in some capacity. Tasks may include cooking, cleaning, facilitating group activities, running retail locations, general maintenance of camp property, and work projects as needed. There are often groups here on weekends, and all staff members will be required to work certain weekends as needed.

Education, Abilities, Skills, Experience:
The “ideal” candidate will have:
Educational equivalent of bachelor’s degree and 7 years experience in management in the camping industry
Years of experience in designing and implementing camp programming
Familiar with the Bible and applying it to your life
Some experience in theology and/or Biblical teaching
Ability to start and conduct broad conversations with various stakeholders towards a mutually arrived conclusion/solution that drive stakeholders towards commitment towards the conclusion
Ability to manage a variety of projects and people simultaneously
Ability to look out for the health of your employees
Ability to lead and solve problems creatively
Willingness to perform routine tasks regularly and on time, with deadlines weekly and monthly for most tasks
Ability to brainstorm on a team, changing topics often
Ability to inspire your department heads towards our mission, vision, and values
Strong sense of emotional maturity
Strong sense of professional conduct
Some experience in marketing or running a business

Work Context: This job will be performed primarily on location at Camp Eagle

Travel: Some travel as needed for job-related duties, trainings, conferences, marketing support

Physical Demands:
Ability to sit and focus on a singular task for several hours at a time, often typing at a computer
Ability to walk/hike for long distances across varying terrain
Some lifting of heavy objects will be required from time to time
Ability to move around our property for hours at a time, often on your feet
Ability to take your staff on outdoor adventures occasionally
Ability to drive an ATV around the property
Ability to drive a road vehicle to locations across Texas to support your department heads in transportation of guests, equipment for logistics or marketing efforts, etc
Able to work on small construction projects for programming needs

Work Environment: Program needs determine the amount of time spent indoors or outdoors. Must be comfortable with working outside in both high heat and very cold temperatures in varying weather conditions for hours at a time

Compensation: Salary, on-site housing, medical plan, 401(k) retirement package after one-year vestment, paid vacation time, basic utilities, laptop & radio, room credits for personal guests, and meals provided at camp when offered

Disclaimer: This Job Description is not entirely comprehensive of all tasks required by this position

To Apply for this position: https://campeagle.org/work-with-us/

Time:  Full-Time Year Round
Salary:  Paid
Category:  Camp Director

Updated: 6/11/2024 6:31:26 PM