Senior College Counseling Manager (Player-Coach)

About the role

ESM Prep | College MatchPoint is a group of passionate educators dedicated to creating supportive and dynamic learning environments that foster growth and success for our students. We are seeking a Counselor Manager to join our team in a hybrid leadership role that is equal parts subject matter expert and people leader.

Responsibilities

• Ensure Guidewell Education counselors are best-in-class and provide all students with the most up-to-date advice possible, reflecting all current trends in admissions and meeting all standards of quality for the student experience within Guidewell Education.
• Manage counselors to quarterly and annual performance outcomes, including counselor capacity thresholds, counseling sales targets, counseling milestone achievement, and all other counselor scorecard expectations as designed by counseling department leadership.
• Establish and maintain a cadence of regular one-on-one sessions with all counselors to discuss student progress, capacity, new student goals, and professional development.
• Review college lists, essays, summer plans, academic courses, extracurricular activities, and other important planning aspects of working with students with the counselors you oversee, ensuring quality control of all counseling student work.
• Conduct performance reviews, set team-wide and individual goals for counselors, and communicate counselor performance outcomes to counseling department and Guidewell Education leadership.
• Collaborate with other Counselor Managers on all aspects of counselor development and oversight, to ensure a consistent experience for all counselors.
• Collaborate closely with the counseling sales team to communicate counselor availability and maintain a sales/service matrix that details counselor availability across graduation year and student type.
• Lead and facilitate regular counseling team calls, prepare strategic agenda items, share best practices, and conduct Q&As to ensure that the team is up-to-date on counseling industry trends and developments.
• Join the recruiting and evaluation process for new college coaches, then onboard them to the team when they are hired; answer their questions during the onboarding process and welcome them to the team.
• Lead the training and shadowing process for all new counselors; integrate them into your weekly management schedule, guide them through team resources, and ensure they have ample shadowing opportunities with yourself and the rest of the team.
• Collaborate closely with the counseling sales team to communicate counselor availability and maintain a sales/service matrix that details counselor availability across graduation year and student type.
• Lead webinars and events alongside other counselors and Guidewell Education employees to build your presence as a leader in the college counseling industry and offer excellent advice and resources to clients.
• Perform other responsibilities as required by the counseling department and Guidewell Education leadership, as long as they fall within the reasonable scope of this job description.

Requirements

• Counseling Experience: 5+ years of experience in college counseling with a proven track record of student success and a deep understanding of current admissions trends.
• Leadership & Management: 3+ years of experience in a leadership or mentorship capacity, with a proven ability to manage team performance toward defined quarterly and annual goals. You are proficient in building team culture and fostering "psychological safety" in a distributed or hybrid work environment, ensuring remote coaches feel as connected and supported as those in a physical office.
• Operational Skills: Proficiency in managing employee capacity and sales/service matrices; comfortable with data-driven decision-making and performance reviews.
• Advanced Project Management Tools: Preferred experience beyond simple CRMs, such as using tools like Asana, AirTable, or Notion to track workflows.
• Communication: Exceptional presence for public-facing webinars and presentations, combined with the ability to provide high-level strategic feedback on student work.
• Resource Curation: The ability to turn knowledge or skills into templates, webinars, or guides that the entire team can use.
• Professional affiliations: Preference for active membership or prior experience in organizations such as NACAC, IECA, or HECA.
• Growth Mindset in M&A: Preference for prior professional experience in a high-growth organizational structure.