Associate Director of Admissions, Alpha - $250,000/year USD
About the role
Alpha School students, on average, experience 2.4 to 2.6 times the academic growth of traditional school students. Alpha is a K‑12 private school built on the claim that students complete core academics in two hours a day, learn faster than national benchmarks, and spend afternoons on real skills rather than busywork. In the Bay Area, the strongest admissions people don’t sell; they manage a waitlist, staff a committee, and protect a reputation. This role is the reverse: you generate demand in a market where almost no family has heard of Alpha yet. You will be the founding local face of a campus with a fledgling brand, working on‑site five days a week at either the Palo Alto or San Rafael campus, visible at drop‑off, pick‑up, and evening events. As the campus fills, you shift from chasing first conversations to becoming the leader parents ask for by name, with a team under you and a playbook other campuses copy.
Responsibilities
- Generate your own qualified family demand through preschool and feeder‑school relationships, community partnerships, referrals, and local events.
- Own every stage yourself: first inquiry, needs‑assessment conversation, campus tour, student shadow day, enrollment decision, and onboarding.
- Lead tours, open houses, and information sessions where you defend an AI‑powered learning model to analytical, skeptical parents.
- Hold 7 or more active family relationships at different stages, each with a tracked status and next action in HubSpot and the SIS.
- Report weekly on pipeline health and conversion quality, and rewrite the local admissions playbook, FAQs, and SOPs as you learn what works in your market.
Requirements
- 3+ years in premium client‑facing roles where an individual or family was the buyer at $25K+ per client or $2K+ per month; you must be able to name the employer and price point (B2B or enterprise sales alone do not qualify).
- Personal ownership of an end‑to‑end client, admissions, or enrollment journey: application, needs assessment, offer, decision, and onboarding — what you did, not what your team did.
- A measurable growth or customer‑acquisition number you owned, including how you generated leads and built local partnerships to hit it.
- Experience managing 7 or more concurrent client or family relationships at different stages, tracked in a named CRM or database.
- A concrete example of recommending against your own product because it was not the right fit.
- Hands‑on use of AI tools in a client‑facing workflow (meeting preparation, personalized outreach, conversation summaries, follow‑up, etc.).
- Experience personally leading in‑person tours, presentations, meetings, or hosted experiences for high‑net‑worth clients, senior executives, or similarly demanding audiences.
- Strong written and verbal communication with executive presence: uncover needs, explain complex concepts simply, handle objections, lead high‑stakes decision conversations.
- Experience managing thoughtful, multi‑touch client relationships over several weeks, staying engaged with prospects who do not immediately commit.
- Live in or will relocate within 60 days to Palo Alto, CA, or San Rafael, CA (Marin County). This role is fully on‑site, not hybrid.
- Authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship.
Qualifications
- Existing network among Peninsula or Marin families, with relationships at local private preschools or feeder schools.
- Admissions or enrollment experience at a selective independent K‑12 school, or a program with more applicants than seats.
- Background in luxury hospitality, private client services, concierge medicine, private wealth, membership clubs, or high‑end residential real estate.
Benefits
Immediate access to benefits as a full‑time W2 employee; all roles are year‑long positions.
Pay
The compensation level for this role is $250,000 USD per year, paid weekly.
Schedule
Work on‑site at one campus (Palo Alto or San Rafael) five days a week, visible at drop‑off, pick‑up, and evening events.