Associate Director of Rikers Island Programs

About Us

The Petey Greene Program supports the academic goals of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people through high-quality volunteer tutoring programs, while educating volunteers on the injustice manifest in our carceral system.

We envision a world in which all incarcerated people have access to high-quality academic programs and we strive to inspire our alumni - both students and tutors - to become advocates, and to take on leadership roles that reimagine the criminal legal system.

The PGP operates the largest multi-state volunteer tutoring program for currently and formerly incarcerated people. Since our founding in 2008, we’ve served over 21,000 students across more than 140 programming sites—including correctional and reentry programs—placed over 9,000 volunteers, and partnered with 40+ universities in seven states and Washington, D.C.

The PGP is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, but the majority of our 40 employees are based across the Northeast in regions where the PGP holds programming.

The Role

The Associate Director of Rikers Island Programs will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of the PGP’s educational programming at Rikers Island.

The Associate Director will guide the creation of new on-site PGP programming at Rikers Island, including classes and tutoring support for students pursuing their high school equivalency, college preparation and college courses, as well as other programming to meet student needs. In collaboration with the New York City Department of Corrections, the Associate Director will be responsible for strategizing around and adjusting the program model as needed to meet the needs of students incarcerated at the facility and ensure the ongoing provision of high-quality PGP services. This will also include supporting hiring and staffing for the project, as well as leading a staff of PGP program managers and instructors working on-site at Rikers Island.

This Associate Director of Rikers Island will directly supervise up to 7 program managers, who are responsible for leading PGP’s on-site instructor teams. The Associate Director will report to the New York Program Director.

Candidates will reside in the greater New York City area. The role is primarily on-site at Rikers Island, with the expectation that the Associate Director will be in-person at Rikers three days per week, along with one in-office day at our coworking space, and one work-from-home day

This position is grant-funded through December 2028, with the possibility of renewal dependent on renewal of funding. We are aiming for the position to start in May 2026. The offer and start date are conditional on PGP’s receipt of the committed funding.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Regional Programming Responsibilities
  • Collaborates with New York Program Director and PGP national program staff to develop and implement new educational programming at Rikers Island
  • Adjust and adapt the program model as needed to ensure ongoing alignment with partner and student needs
  • Leads and supports the PGP Rikers team in overseeing the week-to-week operations in all of PGP’s educational programs at Rikers island, including monitoring high-level trends and troubleshooting challenges
  • Regularly monitors Rikers Island program data to ensure consistent implementation of processes and accurate data across programs, as well as collection, reporting, and sharing of data between the PGP and NYCDOC
  • Support in hiring, onboarding, and staffing the Rikers Island Program, in in collaboration with New York Program Director and PGP national team members
  • Ensure the operational success of the Rikers program, including leading and managing budgeting and monitoring income and expenditures for the NYCDOC grant
  • Lead subcontractor selection to integrate with the PGP program model
  • Directly supervises 7 staff members and directs a team of 9 total staff members, conducting weekly team meetings with New York staff, as well as individual check-ins with direct reports
  • Supports professional development of team members, including development of their own management skills and practice as well as navigating daily work inside a carceral space
• National Organizational Responsibilities
  • Builds and maintains relationships with NYCDOC stakeholders, including programs and education teams
  • Cultivate relationships with other service providers at Rikers Island, generating opportunities for holistic student support
  • Collaborate with PGP’s development and finance department to manage grant deliverables as well as invoicing and grant reporting
  • Ensure the sustainability of Rikers Island programming, collaborating with the New York Program Director and national program staff on phased program development
  • Cultivate relationships with key officials to continue to position PGP as a resource on effective education for currently and formerly incarcerated youth and adults

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of related experience in carceral education and program development
• At least 4 years of previous managerial experience (experience managing early-career professionals preferred)
• Experience developing, launching, and/or managing a large-scale educational program
• Exceptional facility, and proven track record, with interpreting programmatic data and implementing metrics-driven approaches to program management
• Experience leading educational programming in carceral environments
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with a diverse group of partners
• Ability to adjust communication style for various stakeholders (correctional facility administrators, university or community volunteers, campus-based student organizations, etc.)
• Ability to simultaneously hold the long-term vision of the project in mind, while also focusing on the day-to-day details that make a program successful
• Extremely organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to monitor and support staff in their responsibilities as well as track and complete your own
• Ability to problem solve
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Proficiency in Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Calendar
• Awareness of issues related to mass incarceration and broader social justice concerns.
• Must be able to be cleared to enter NYCDOC facilities (if you have concerns about this requirement, we encourage you to still submit an application or reach out to us so we can discuss further)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with and knowledge of tutor-centric educational programs and/or volunteer programs
• Experience with grant management and budgeting
• Experience collaborating with higher education institutions
• An understanding of the US criminal legal system and local policies.

The Petey Greene Program is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its personnel decisions based on race, ancestry, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/domestic partner status, religion, age, disability status, veteran status, or former incarceration status.

We are committed to ongoing learning and reflection and we are continuously working to ensure that the Petey Greene Program is welcoming and supportive of staff members of all identities, including system-impacted people, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people. We also believe that this work should be led by system-impacted people, whose perspectives and direct knowledge of the problems are necessary to achieving freedom and educational justice.

Compensation

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $73,000-$80,000

Benefits

The Petey Greene Program’s staff make our work possible and we are committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package to support employee’s well-being and professional growth. These benefits include:

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits with the PGP covering 60% (dental and vision) to 82% (medical) of premiums
• 100% employer-paid life insurance and short- and long-term disability benefits
• 401k retirement plan with 1% employer contribution
• Voluntary benefits offered including Pet Insurance and FSA Commuter and Transit Benefits
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Paid winter break between Christmas and New Year’s day, in addition to 10 paid holidays throughout the year
• Full-time employees accrue 20 days of vacation time, 1 floating holiday, and 12 days of sick time per year
• PGP closes at 1 PM on Fridays from June through August
• Dedicated funds for employees to use towards professional development each year
• Monthly technology reimbursement
• Access to a local coworking space

Start date

May 2026

Application deadline

March 27, 2026