Hillbrook School, a longstanding JK-8, will be opening a high school in the Fall of 2023 and has begun building a team of founding faculty and school leaders. One of the key first hires will be the founding Athletic Director for the new upper division. The Athletic Director begins work on July 1, 2023, though preferably they would begin as early as January 1, 2023. As a member of a small expanding upper school team, the Athletic Director will play a critical role in shaping the athletic culture and program. Opening with 60 ninth graders in the 2023-2024 school year, and adding a grade level each subsequent year, the founding Athletic Director will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build and shape a healthy, joyful, and competitive athletic program within a mission-driven school right in the heart of San Jose.

Building on our strong Middle School athletic program, we are committed to developing a competitive High School athletic program with a full range of offerings. Our program places a high priority on commitment, dedication, and participation, as well as an emphasis on competing at the highest levels; we expect a number of our graduates to eventually head off to play at the collegiate level. Our athletic program will offer serious athletes an opportunity to grow and develop, while also creating a space for all students to participate and develop lifelong habits of health and wellness.

VISION
Inspire students to achieve their dreams and reach beyond themselves to make a difference in the world.

MISSION
Hillbrook provides an extraordinary educational experience that fosters a love of learning in our students and helps them develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to achieve their highest individual potential in school and in life. At Hillbrook, students are known, respected and valued as individuals and every day is a journey of self-discovery, imaginative thinking, creative problem solving, laughter and friendship.

CORE VALUES
Be kind. Be curious. Take risks. Be your best.

OVERVIEW: Who are we
For more than 85 years, Hillbrook School has been a junior kindergarten-8th grade independent school located on 14 acres of oak woodland in Los Gatos, CA. Founded in 1935, the school remains deeply connected to its historical roots as a place where children are known, learning is authentic and active, and success is measured one child at a time. During the past 85 years, we have grown and evolved from a small boarding school serving wards of the state to one of the leading independent schools in the Bay Area, and yet our vision remains the same—to inspire children to achieve their dreams and reach beyond themselves to make a difference in the world.

We are now embarking on one of the school’s most ambitious strategic initiatives ever - the expansion to a JK-12 with the addition of a new high school campus in Downtown San Jose. We are driven by a foundational belief - that our graduates and other students deserve to have an extraordinary educational experience in high school that builds upon the exceptional foundation we provide for our JK-8 students. The core differentiators for our current program - the placement of choice and engagement at the center of the learning experience, integrated, real world education that challenges students to reach beyond and make a difference in the world, and a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion - will translate seamlessly into a 9-12 environment, allowing us to extend our innovative approach to education into a market in need of a new model of secondary school education.

Who are you:
Do our Core Values – Be kind. Be curious. Take risks. Be your best. – align with how you show up as an educator? Are you committed to building and bridging inclusive communities? Are you entrepreneurial? Are you someone who sees athletics as an integral way to build healthy living and embed key transferable skills? Do you enjoy building and sustaining excellent programs? Is equity and impact always at the forefront of what you do? Do you thrive in small collaborative environments, and are you at the same time a self starter? The Founding Athletic Director will emphatically say yes to each of these questions.

The Position
The founding Athletic Director will be someone who loves visionary thinking as well as tactical execution, a leader with an entrepreneurial spirit and a grounding in systems thinking. In the first year, the AD will shift thinking between developing equitable hiring practices to choosing uniforms; from developing a growth and development system for coaches to identifying a long-term field for our soccer teams; and, from managing buses and finding referees to developing a 3-, 5- and 10- year vision for the athletic program. While not exactly a blank canvas - this is an expansion of an already excellent JK-8 athletic program - this is a truly unique opportunity to shape and nurture a program from its infancy.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

• Create a vision for the upper school athletic program
• Grow the athletic offerings each year through innovative and future focused strategic thinking
• Hiring and shaping a well-rounded staff using equitable hiring practices
• Manage and provide mentorship for athletics staff and coaches
• Identify and steward partnerships to secure the facilities needed to support our teams
• Oversee the athletics budget
• Manage athletics-related logistics
• Steward relationships and communicate effectively with all stakeholders
• Promote and nurture Hillbrook’s core values
• Member of Hillbrook Upper School Leadership Team

Qualifications

• Experience leading and managing adults
• Interest in being a central leader in a start-up environment
• Entrepreneurial experience, or experience building new programs
• Coaching and supervisory experience in an educational setting
• Exceptional interpersonal, organizational, leadership, problem-solving and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to be creative and flexible

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
As noted in our Statement of Inclusivity, we strive to reflect the extraordinary diversity of Silicon Valley, believing that educational excellence and equity depend on the creation of a diverse and inclusive community where all students, families and employees feel a full sense of membership. To live up to our DEI Teaching Philosophy Statement, all employees contribute to developing culturally competent students and building an educational institution committed to social justice and reaching beyond. We offer a wide range of opportunities for all employees to engage in work that
furthers these goals, from personal dialogues that help us understand different perspectives, to pedagogical training designed to support equitable instructional practices and build habits to disrupt bias whenever we see it. Ultimately, we hope that this work helps all of our constituents—employees, students, and families—be more aware, empathetic, globally-minded, and justice-oriented.

A highly collaborative community, we use the following norms to guide our communication with each other:

• Assume good will
• Come from your own experience
• Be more curious than certain
• Hold yourself and others capable

Our commitment to these norms makes it possible for us to partner meaningfully, disagree productively, and lean into conversations that are both challenging and generative.

Location
Hillbrook is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, 35 minutes south of Stanford University, 30 minutes north of Santa Cruz, and 1 hour south of San Francisco. The Bay Area is home to world-class universities, museums and restaurants, farmers markets and wineries, and outstanding outdoor opportunities for biking, hiking, surfing and more.

Salaries are competitive. Benefits include: full medical, dental, and vision coverage; ample retirement planning with TIAA-CREF; a generous holiday schedule; religious holidays following each employee’s faith; access to the latest state-of-the-art educational technology; and a strong commitment to engaging and personalized professional development. Hillbrook School is an equal opportunity employer. Opportunities are open to all individuals without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or handicap.

TO APPLY
Please send resume/CV, letter of intent, and a list of five references with contact information (references will not be contacted until the candidate is notified to Rice Bryan (rbryan@carneysandoe.com) and Namita Bhattacharya (namita@carneysandoe.com). Please do not contact the school directly.