2nd Grade Teacher, Alpha - $120,000/year USD

About the Role

At Alpha, academic work is completed in just two hours each day through adaptive learning technology. This structure allows Guides to concentrate on what truly transforms lives: developing confidence, resilience, communication skills, and the drive to embrace difficult challenges. Your days won't involve presenting lessons at the front of a room. Instead, you'll coach students through obstacles, recognize their achievements, and demonstrate what rigorous standards look like when supported by authentic encouragement.

You'll oversee one K-3 cohort band—either Kindergarten-1st grade or 2nd-3rd grade. Half of your time is dedicated to facilitating dynamic, one-hour workshops focused on life skills such as public speaking, concentration, and receiving feedback. The remaining time is spent providing individual and small-group coaching, leveraging learning analytics to ensure every child progresses toward ambitious weekly targets. Each interaction carries weight. Students should emerge from your workshops more skilled than when they entered and finish coaching sessions with greater belief in their own potential.

This position is a full-time, on-site role at one of Alpha's campuses. Current openings are available in Palo Alto, Los Angeles (South Bay), Malibu, Orange County (Lake Forest), San Francisco, and Santa Monica, CA; Greenwich, CT; Boca Raton and Miami, FL; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; New York City, NY; and Seattle (Kirkland), WA.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate dynamic life-skills workshops that guide K-3 students toward mastery of communication, concentration, feedback, and other essential skills through active engagement rather than traditional lectures.
• Provide one-on-one and small-group coaching, utilizing Coachbot analytics, established motivation systems, and meaningful relationships to ensure every child stays on course for ambitious weekly learning targets.
• Evaluate life-skill proficiency through Alpha's Test2Pass framework, coaching students until they show genuine understanding—not merely attendance.
• Adjust your coaching approach to match the developmental stage of your cohort, whether that involves songs, movement, and narratives for younger children or increased independence and responsibility for older students.
• Cultivate the types of relationships where students feel secure enough to push beyond what they believed they could accomplish.
• Develop a cohort of K-3 students who are enthusiastic about attending school, reliably reach ambitious learning targets, and acquire the life skills that equip them to flourish well beyond elementary school.

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Standing at a whiteboard teaching academic lessons. Students learn academics through adaptive software.
• Creating curriculum from the ground up. You'll refine and customize proven playbooks rather than designing lessons from scratch.
• Observing students work quietly on computers. Your role centers on active coaching, motivation, and meaningful connection.
• Reducing expectations when students encounter difficulty. Success results from supporting students to meet the standard, not adjusting the standard downward.
• Managing homework, grading papers, or handling routine parent communication.

Requirements

• Willing to work on-site at one of Alpha's campuses. Relocation assistance is available.
• Bachelor's degree in any subject.
• At least 3 years of experience working directly with children ages 4-9 through teaching, coaching, tutoring, camps, youth programs, or similar environments.
• Experience leading group activities for young children, with a concrete example of the structure or routine you used and how you kept the group engaged.
• A track record of motivating young children to achieve challenging goals, with specific examples of your impact.
• A concrete example of changing your approach based on feedback and the result.
• Comfort using AI-powered learning while focusing your own energy on coaching, motivation, and life-skill development.
• The ability to balance warmth with unwavering expectations.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without visa sponsorship.

Nice-to-have Requirements

• Experience in youth sports, children's theater, camp leadership, Montessori, progressive education, or high-engagement after-school programs.
• Personal experience achieving ambitious goals in academics, athletics, or your career.
• Outstanding storytelling or performance skills that naturally capture the attention of young children.
• Evidence of helping reluctant or shy children become confident, engaged participants.

About Alpha

Join the team building school around student growth. Alpha reimagines the school day around faster learning, stronger mentorship, and more time for students to build real-world skills. Roles with real student impact: Alpha hires teachers (guides), operators, admissions experts, school & curriculum leaders, and remote team members. Education work that pays like it matters: Alpha offers six-figure roles for people ready to help build a radically better school experience. A culture built for builders: Alpha is fast-moving, ambitious, and student focused. It’s for people who want to improve the system, not maintain it. Alpha is where you can do the most meaningful work of your career.

Benefits

This is a full-time, W2 employee position with immediate access to benefits. All roles are year-long positions.

Pay

The compensation level for this role is $120,000 USD/year, with weekly payments.