Lead Teaching Fellow

Lead Teaching Fellow – Description of Role

Do you want to use your coding skills to diversify and strengthen the technology field? Do you want to empower talented people of color and women from low-income backgrounds to launch a new career in software?

CodeSquad is seeking a Lead Teaching Fellow & Curriculum Specialist to lead a team of instructors, train our students in modern web development, and guide them into a career in tech. If you share our vision for upending the status quo, and want to teach and inspire our students, we want to meet you

About the Organization

CodeSquad ) is a non-profit organization that trains adults from low-income backgrounds – particularly people of color and women – to become full-stack web developers. We provide a free, 25-week, learn-to-code bootcamp, taught remotely via Zoom. Following the training, we work with our students to find them internships or full-time technology roles at companies in Greater Boston.

Job Responsibilities

The mission of the Lead Teaching Fellow & Curriculum Specialist is broken into 2 parts:

• Supervise and support a small team of Teaching Fellows. Together, you and the team will train CodeSquad students in full-stack web technologies, build self-confidence, and help them transition into the workforce with job-readiness skills.
• Update and maintain the program's curriculum, including the following technologies: Git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node, Express, MongoDB, , and Netlify. Familiarity with Artificial Intelligence APIs and experience with AI clients including Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude strongly preferred.

Specific responsibilities for this position include:

• As LEAD TEACHING FELLOW:
• Teach online classes roughly six times per month, during scheduled class periods (see schedule below). Classes follow existing curriculum and materials, with updates as needed.
• Lead weekly check-in meeting with Teaching Fellow team, to clarify teaching goals, provide support and ensure smooth transitions between class sessions
• Attend weekly CodeSquad Management Team meetings to provide feedback and updates on student progress
• Participate in recruiting each new cohort, which may include: reviewing applications, interviewing applicants, selecting students, leading the Mini Course, and hosting Info Sessions
• Organize grading of student homework, providing brief but thoughtful feedback; ensure that all instructors grade homework on time
• Hold bi-weekly online office hours for 1-2 hours
• Hold one-on-one sessions with students that need additional support
• Answer student questions before and after classes via Slack or Zoom
• Provide guidance to students in the development of a capstone project
• Share your own professional experiences and industry insight with the students
• Provide inspiration, emotional support, patience, empathy, encouragement, and fun
• Facilitate a progressive, collaborative, and constructive classroom community
• As CURRICULUM SPECIALIST:
• Develop, revise, and update the CodeSquad curriculum as needed, reviewing lesson plans, slides, homework, classwork, quizzes, and other materials
• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing curriculum materials or programs, making recommendations for changes where needed based on current industry standards
• Work with Teaching Fellows to design lesson plans that align with the program's syllabus
• Provide advice and guidance to Teaching Fellows about curriculum development and implementation
• Identify and recommend new curriculum models or teaching methods that could improve student performance
• Manage/participate in occasional Teaching Fellow training programs to incorporate new technologies into the curriculum to match the changing needs of the software industry
• Upload and maintain learning materials on our Google Drive, Canvas LMS, and Github Classroom accounts
• Conduct retrospectives and student surveys to determine curriculum effectiveness
• Monitor student participation and performance

Logistics:

• Live, remote classes are held from January - June
• Weekday classes: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, 6:30pm - 9pm (includes break)
• Saturday classes: 9am - 2pm (includes lunch break)
• All classes currently take place via Zoom conference. The successful candidate should plan to use their own laptop and webcam to give lectures and participate in meetings.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in modern web development and a strong technical background
• Strong written, oral communication, and interpersonal communication skills
• Critical thinking and decision-making skills
• Prior experience teaching at a coding bootcamp or similar programs preferred
• Familiarity with Artificial Intelligence APIs and experience with AI clients such as Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude
• Familiarity with Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and neighboring communities, and sensitivity to the challenges that low-income, people of color and those from marginalized communities experience
• Minority and bi-lingual (English/Spanish or English/Portuguese) candidates are strongly encouraged to apply
• Experience using a Learning Management System such as Moodle and Google Classroom
• Willing to work in a small, entrepreneurial team which is constantly striving to improve while working within budget constraints
• Bachelor's degree preferred but not required

Technology Language Skills:

• JavaScript
• React
• NodeJS
• MongoDB
• HTML5 / CSS3
• Git & GitHub
• Familiarity with Embeddings & Vector Stores
• Familiarity with RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
• Familiarity with building an LLM
• Express
• Netlify
• SQL is a plus but not required

Compensation:

The Lead TF will be compensated at $45 per hour, with potential for increase depending on budget and performance. Hours vary from 10-15 hours per week in Summer and Fall, to 15-20 hours per week in the Winter and Spring.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: From $45.00 per hour

Expected hours: 12 – 15 per week

Education:

• Associate (Preferred)

Experience:

• Teaching: 1 year (Preferred)
• React: 1 year (Preferred)
• JavaScript: 1 year (Required)
• Software development: 2 years (Required)

Shift availability:

• Night Shift (Preferred)
• Day Shift (Preferred)

Work Location: Remote