Fractional Program Director

FRACTIONAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Part-Time / Fractional | 25 Hours/Week

Reports to: Executive Director / CEO

Location: Brooklyn, NY | Regular on-site presence required

ABOUT PISTE

The Prescod Institute for Sport, Teamwork, and Education (PISTE) uses the transformative power of fencing to inspire excellence, teach life skills, improve academic outcomes, and create pathways to economic mobility for young people. Founded by Brooklyn native and Olympian Nzingha Prescod, PISTE provides accessible fencing, educational enrichment, and youth-development opportunities, with a particular focus on Black and historically overlooked youth in New York City.

THE ROLE

PISTE is seeking a highly autonomous, organized, and relationship-oriented Fractional Program Director to lead the day-to-day delivery, quality, staffing, communication, and performance of our core programs.

The Program Director oversees the full participant experience across PISTE Fencing Academy, Fencing for Brooklyn, School Fencing Programs, and Educational Enrichment. This is a senior program leadership role—not an administrative coordinator position. The successful candidate will make decisions independently within established guidelines, manage people effectively, improve existing systems, and create structure when circumstances are ambiguous.

The Program Director will help ensure that PISTE’s programs operate predictably and that the Executive Director can focus on organizational strategy, fundraising, external relationships, and long-term growth.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Leadership & Delivery

Own the day-to-day delivery, quality, coordination, and continuous improvement of PISTE’s core programs.

• Ensure programs are delivered consistently, safely, and in alignment with PISTE’s mission and established standards.
• Manage program schedules, staffing, participation, communication, and day-to-day execution.
• Monitor program performance and identify problems and opportunities before they escalate.
• Maintain and improve established systems rather than unnecessarily rebuilding them.
• Ensure fencing, educational enrichment, and youth-development activities function as a cohesive participant experience.
• Maintain strong relationships with students, families, coaches, educators, schools, volunteers, and community partners.

PISTE Fencing Academy

Own the day-to-day management and performance of the Academy, including:

• Student group assignments: Manage placements based on skill, development, attendance, effort, competition goals, and established guidelines.
• Scheduling: Develop and maintain group class and private lesson schedules; coordinate coach availability and manage routine adjustments.
• Attendance & engagement: Monitor attendance, follow up with families, support retention, and promote consistent, on-time participation.
• Competition readiness: Own the system from training schedules and attendance through competition calendar, registration notifications, coach assignments, equipment readiness, family communication, participation, and follow-up.
• Coach management: Assign coaches within established guidelines and manage day-to-day coaching schedules, communication, expectations, and performance.
• Family communication: Ensure families receive clear, timely information regarding schedules, competitions, expectations, and program changes.
• Equipment: Coordinate with the Equipment Manager to ensure student and competition equipment needs are identified and addressed.

Educational Enrichment

Manage the delivery and coordination of PISTE’s educational enrichment programming.

• Oversee enrichment schedules, instructors, educators, volunteers, and day-to-day delivery.
• Coordinate enrichment with Academy and other program schedules.
• Ensure programming responds to student interests, developmental needs, academic goals, and PISTE’s youth-development objectives.
• Monitor participation, attendance, engagement, and retention.
• Establish and track appropriate student engagement and socio-emotional learning outcomes.
• Ensure educators have the information, resources, and expectations needed to deliver high-quality programming.
• Use student, family, and educator feedback to strengthen programming.

Fencing for Brooklyn

Lead successful delivery and continuous improvement of Fencing for Brooklyn.

• Manage program schedules, coaches, volunteers, participant communication, and program systems.
• Improve participant engagement and retention.
• Coordinate outreach and participant follow-up with appropriate staff and partners.
• Work toward a goal of 90 participants each summer.
• Ensure staffing, volunteer, and logistical needs are identified and addressed.

School Fencing Programs

Own successful implementation of PISTE’s school fencing programs.

• Coordinate schools, schedules, coaches, and program communications.
• Deliver at least 15 school programs annually.
• Ensure schools and coaches have clear expectations and information.
• Monitor attendance, participation, quality, and partner relationships.
• Address routine program challenges directly and coordinate logistical support with Operations.
• Maintain the information needed for evaluation, reporting, and program improvement.

PEOPLE, COMMUNICATION & SYSTEMS

Coach, Educator & Volunteer Management

The Program Director is the day-to-day manager of coaches and program educators and oversees volunteer engagement within program delivery.

• Assign coaches and educators within established guidelines.
• Set expectations for attendance, preparation, communication, professionalism, and student engagement.
• Conduct check-ins, provide feedback, and address performance concerns.
• Identify and coordinate training and professional-development needs.
• Recommend coach replacement when necessary, subject to appropriate review.
• Coordinate volunteer orientation, assignments, and communication.

Program Communication & Social Media

The Program Director is the primary day-to-day program communication point for families, coaches, educators, schools, and program partners.

The Program Director is expected to communicate proactively, ensuring stakeholders know what they need to know when they need to know it.

This includes:

• Schedules and student assignments
• Competitions and deadlines
• Program expectations and updates
• Staffing changes
• Attendance concerns
• Program opportunities and events
• Other information necessary for successful program participation

The Program Director will also:

• Create and publish at least one social media post each week highlighting PISTE program activity, student accomplishments, events, educational enrichment, competitions, or other program highlights.
• Coordinate with coaches, educators, and other staff to identify timely stories, photos, accomplishments, and program moments that can be shared.
• Ensure program highlights accurately reflect PISTE’s mission and participant experience.
• Maintain a consistent flow of program content so PISTE’s social media channels regularly reflect the work happening across its programs.
• Coordinate with the Executive Director and other staff when content requires additional review or relates to sensitive student, family, partner, or organizational matters.

The Program Director is not responsible for PISTE’s overall marketing or communications strategy, but is responsible for ensuring that program activity is consistently captured and communicated.

The Program Director should not need to be reminded to communicate.

Data, Outcomes & Continuous Improvement

The Program Director will:

• Track attendance, participation, enrollment, retention, competition participation, and relevant program outcomes.
• Monitor student engagement and socio-emotional learning outcomes where appropriate.
• Collect participant, family, and educator feedback.
• Monitor coach and educator performance.
• Use data and feedback to identify trends and improve programming.
• Maintain clear, accessible program documentation.
• Develop repeatable systems for recurring program needs.
• Maintain systems for scheduling, attendance, competition registration notifications, and program communication.

DECISION-MAKING & COLLABORATION

The Program Director is expected to make routine program decisions independently, including:

• Coach assignments within established guidelines
• Day-to-day coach schedules
• Routine program communications
• Student group assignments
• Routine Academy and lesson scheduling
• Attendance and family follow-up
• Established program procedures
• Routine program improvements

Review is required for significant changes to Academy structure or schedules, replacement of Academy coaches, major budget or program changes, significant disciplinary matters, and decisions with material legal, financial, reputational, or strategic implications.

Collaboration

The Program Director works closely with the Deputy Director/Operations on facilities, transportation, administrative systems, payroll, insurance/compliance, and financial administration.

The Program Director coordinates with the Equipment Manager on student and program equipment needs.

The Program Director collaborates with Development on grant reporting, program data, impact documentation, funder communications, and development materials.

The Program Director reports to the Executive Director/CEO, providing regular updates on program performance, outcomes, staffing, challenges, opportunities, and recommendations—not requiring day-to-day task management.

FIRST-YEAR SUCCESS

Within 12 months, the Program Director will have:

• Delivered at least 15 school programs successfully.
• Moved core programs toward predictable delivery without day-to-day coordination by the Executive Director.
• Established a reliable Academy system for student group assignments, scheduling, coaching, attendance, competition readiness, and family communication.
• Increased consistency of Academy competition participation in accordance with PISTE’s established competition guidelines.
• Strengthened coach training, supervision, communication, and accountability.
• Delivered Fencing for Brooklyn toward the 90-participant summer goal and improved participant retention.
• Ensured educational enrichment is consistently scheduled, staffed, delivered, and integrated into the PISTE participant experience.
• Established measurable approaches to attendance, retention, student engagement, and socio-emotional learning.
• Maintained reliable systems for program communication, scheduling, attendance, and competition registration.
• Maintained a consistent flow of program highlights through weekly social media posts.
• Reduced the Executive Director’s role as the day-to-day program and communication hub.
• Created documented, repeatable systems that support continued organizational growth.

QUALIFICATIONS & IDEAL CANDIDATE

Required/Strongly Preferred

• Experience managing youth, sports, education, or community-based programs.
• Experience managing multiple programs, projects, or stakeholder groups.
• Strong people-management and communication skills.
• Excellent organizational and project-management abilities.
• Ability to work independently and consistently follow through.
• Ability to build systems and create structure from ambiguity.
• Experience managing schedules, staffing, attendance, and program logistics.
• Comfort tracking outcomes and using data to improve programs.
• Strong relationship-building skills with youth, families, staff, schools, and partners.
• Strong technology skills and ability to learn new systems quickly.
• Commitment to youth development, educational opportunity, and PISTE’s mission.

Preferred

• Knowledge of fencing or competitive youth athletics.
• Experience with school-based programming.
• Experience with educational enrichment or youth-development programming.
• Experience with socio-emotional learning.
• Nonprofit program evaluation/reporting experience.
• Familiarity with USA Fencing or competitive fencing structures.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

The person who will thrive at PISTE is:

Proactive. Organized. Accountable. A systems builder. A strong people manager. Adaptable. Relationship-oriented. Youth-centered. Mission-aligned.

They see what needs to happen, communicate before being asked, take ownership of outcomes, and turn recurring problems into reliable systems.

POSITION DETAILS

Title: Fractional Program Director

Hours: 25 hours/week

Status: Part-Time / Fractional

Reports to: Executive Director / CEO

Location: Brooklyn, NY, with regular on-site responsibilities

Schedule: Flexible, including occasional evenings and weekends based on program needs

Compensation: TBD

PISTE is committed to creating an inclusive environment and welcomes candidates who bring diverse experiences, perspectives, and expertise to our work with young people.

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