Manager of Coaching Programs

Status: Full-time exempt (not eligible for overtime)

Reports to: Associate Director of Coaching

Location: Remote within USA

Compensation: $85,000 annually, eligible for benefits (see details below)

Job Summary

The Manager of Coaching Programs plays a vital role in supporting the sustainability and growth of independent news businesses through LION’s programs. This role on LION’s Membership team ensures that LION provides consistent, high quality customer service to participants across the United States and Canada by managing the programs that offer training and support.

This manager-level role requires the ability to work independently, use advanced analytical skills to assess information and meet regular deadlines while acting as the primary point of contact for all program participants.

The Manager of Coaching Programs owns facilitating the selection and onboarding of program participants, managing ongoing participant engagement, and coordinating program wrap-ups. The Manager of Coaching Programs will also support the continuous improvement of programs by analyzing feedback and helping design new initiatives that strengthen members’ organizational infrastructure. Additionally, this role will support the Independent News Sustainability Summit (INSS) by managing educational programming, coordinating speaker selection, and ensuring a smooth experience for presenters and attendees.

This is an exciting time at LION as our membership grows and news entrepreneurs engage with LION programs that aim to help them move their businesses toward sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

Program Management [40%]

• Facilitate the selection process of news businesses into programs suited to their stage of sustainability
• Contribute to the growth of LION’s membership by supporting the pipeline from potential members to active members through program engagement
• Onboard program participants and subject matter experts; act as primary point of contact for program participants
• Coordinate and execute wrap-ups of program cycles, ensuring smooth transitions and clear documentation
• Remove blockers for participants to create a more engaging and fulfilling program experience

Program Iteration and Design [40%]

• Support (and eventually lead) the design of participant selection processes
• Analyze program feedback to identify strengths, areas for iteration, and to inform membership engagement goals
• Support (and eventually lead) the design of new program offerings to build members’ organizational infrastructure

Independent News Sustainability Summit [10%]

• Support the design of capacity-building educational programming at the event
• Manage the process of soliciting speaker pitches, reviewing and approving pitches, and ensuring a smooth experience for speakers and session attendees

Other Duties as Assigned [10%]

• This role could assist in planning and executing in-person and virtual events, as assigned by supervisor
• As new needs arise, this role could be temporarily assigned to other duties to ensure that LION is providing a balanced workload to the overall team

LION is an Equal Opportunity Employer

LION believes that a team with diversity of backgrounds and experiences will generate the most innovative ideas and ultimately do the best work in support of our mission. This is why we welcome contractors, vendors, staff and board members who contribute to a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment. We understand diversity as multi-dimensional and intersectional, encompassing aspects of our identities including race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, class, geography, lived experiences and more. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply to opportunities at LION so that we build a team that reflects the diversity of independent news entrepreneurs we wish to serve.

We know there are great candidates who might not check all the boxes listed below or who possess important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

Skills and Qualifications for The Role

• Program Management: Effectively manages participants across multiple programs to ensure a high-quality member experience
• Customer Service: Proven track record managing programs and projects that involve stakeholders with a range of needs that require some degree of customized responses and/or support
• Data Informed: Collects and analyzes relevant data to inform decision-making processes and assess the outcomes of actions or initiative
• Equitable and Inclusive: Actively seeks and incorporates the diverse perspectives of our member needs into decision-making processes, fostering a respectful and inclusive environment
• Effective Communication: Develops and delivers communications using various modes to address different audiences, with support and guidance
• Technical Proficiency: Can quickly learn and navigate systems including Salesforce, Airtable, Slack and other relevant data and communication tools

Expectations for Teamwork at LION

• Work in a way that upholds and reflects our organizational values: Being data-informed, equitable and inclusive, people-centered, systems thinkers, transparent and iterative
• Use digital tools and platforms to stay organized, communicate transparently, and collaborate with team members remotely
• Collaborate strategically with others, clearly defining processes for decision making
• Give and receive constructive feedback to help the team produce its best work
• Celebrate our wins and learning moments
• Take on an experimental mindset and demonstrate flexibility to iterate on our work, systems, and processes
• Be willing and able to ask for help when needed, and demonstrate an ability to learn and grow in the role

Physical Requirements and Environmental Conditions

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position, at a desk or similar, 90% of the time. Time spent in a stationary location includes operating a computer and relevant peripherals and communicating via phone.

Travel Requirements

• Available to travel for staff retreats 1-2 times per year (approx. 3-5 days per retreat, including travel)
• Available to travel for annual LION member event annually (approx. 3 days)

About LION

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional journalism association for independent news publishers. While most of our 400+ members across the U.S. and Canada run local news businesses, we also have members who serve larger regions and specific identity-based communities across geographies. LION provides teaching, resources and community to independent news entrepreneurs as they build and develop sustainable businesses. One of our core values is being people-centered, and here are some ways we build that culture for our staff.

90 Day Introductory Period

This introductory period is a try-out time for the employee and the Company. During this introductory period, the Company will evaluate employees’ suitability for employment and employees can evaluate the Company as well. The purpose of the introductory period is to be intentional about setting clear goals for the employee to accomplish, prompting regular feedback and support from the employee’s manager, and providing structure for a candid conversation about whether either the employee or the manager believes there is a misalignment of the employee’s competencies with and interest in the role.

Benefits

• Medical PPO, Vision & Dental fully paid by employer; 50% paid for dependents
• Short-term disability, long-term disability, life, and worker’s compensation insurance paid by employer
• Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Care HSA
• Paid Time Off (including sick days) is 20 days per year
• Paid holidays (including week of July 4 and Christmas Eve through New Years Day) is approximately 20 business days
• Up to 12 weeks fully paid family/caregiver leave
• 401K with employer match up to 3.5%
• Flexible working hours
• No-meeting Fridays
• Annual professional development budget
• Monthly work-from-home stipend
• For new hires: Health insurance stipend until eligible for employer medical coverage to begin
• Eligible for year-end, surplus-dependent bonus

Application Materials These are questions to understand your experience and voice, we expect candidates will not submit fully AI generated answers as their responses.

Follow this link to apply, with the following application materials. Applications will close at 11pm Pacific Time on Wednesday May 14, 2025.

• Your Resume or CV
• Why are you interested in supporting independent news entrepreneurs?
• Tell us about a time when you used data to design or iterate on a program strategy. How did you know you were successful (or unsuccessful)?
• This role will communicate directly with members, ranging from answering questions to letting them know that they are not eligible for certain programs . Please tell us about a time you had to handle a difficult situation with a customer or client. What challenge did they come to you with and how were you able to remove obstacles to their success?
• Tell us about a time when you managed a project with multiple tasks and deadlines. How did you stay organized and collaborate with a manager/colleague, and how did you successfully communicate with external partners? What challenges did you face? What did you learn from that process?
• Please share anything else you’d like us to know about your background, experience or skills that speaks to your ability to do this role.
• Please provide any online links that show your work (a Twitter profile, a portfolio page, etc.) and/or discuss your work (a website, program description, article/post, report, etc.)