Literacy Specialist, Alpha - $100,000/year USD

About the role

Alpha is reimagining the school day around faster learning, stronger mentorship, and more time for students to build real‑world skills. As a Literacy Specialist (Guide), you will work directly with K‑3 students, diagnosing phonics/decoding gaps, running short structured‑literacy workshops, coaching students through app‑based core learning, and leading life‑skills workshops while staying with the same students from morning launch to closing.

Responsibilities

• Run short structured‑literacy workshops with two to four students — diagnose a phonics or decoding gap from running records and fluency probes, teach a sequence you designed for it, and check that it transferred.
• Coach students through app‑based core learning: see who has stalled, ask the question that unsticks them, hold the daily goal.
• Lead morning launch, life‑skills workshops, and check‑chart activities that keep six‑year‑olds moving.
• Drive students to their weekly app goals with school currency, leaderboards, and gamification pitched at their age.
• Stay with your students through lunch, recess, and closing, meeting refusal and frustration with a plan built for that particular child.

Requirements

• Willing to work on‑site at one of the Alpha campuses (AZ – Phoenix and Scottsdale; TX – Dallas, Fort Worth (Keller), Plano, and The Woodlands; UT – Park City (Salt Lake City)) with relocation support.
• At least 3 years working directly with children ages 4‑9 in teaching, coaching, tutoring, camps, youth programs, children's theater, or similar settings where kids showed up because of you.
• At least 2 years of that experience teaching reading in grades K‑3 within the last 5 years.
• Completed structured‑literacy training: LETRS, IMSE, Orton‑Gillingham, Wilson Reading System, Fundations, UFLI, CERI, Neuhaus, SIPPS, Really Great Reading, or similar; or a master's in reading or literacy.
• Bachelor's degree in any subject (teaching certificate not required).
• Comfortable spending about 90% of your day guiding students through app‑based learning, workshops, and campus routines, and 10% on reading sessions.
• Willing to work with all K‑3 students, not only struggling readers.
• Legally authorized to work in the US without visa sponsorship.

Qualifications (Nice‑to‑have)

• Ability to keep a room of six‑year‑olds engaged with nothing but your energy and a good activity.
• Experience where tired children kept coming back to your after‑school or summer program.
• Experience with reading platforms (Amira, Lexia, i‑Ready) or diagnostic assessments (DRA, DIBELS, AIMSweb).
• Ability to name a specific child whose decoding you fixed and explain how you did it.
• Experience working in a non‑traditional school model: charter, micro‑school, Montessori, or hybrid.

Benefits

• Day‑one health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Relocation support.
• Immediate access to benefits as a full‑time W2 employee.
• Year‑long positions.

Pay

$100,000 USD per year, salaried, paid weekly.

Schedule

40 hours per week, five days per week, on‑site at an Alpha campus.