Lead Preschool Teacher

Tinycare was founded in 2018 on the idea of giving experienced early childhood teachers an opportunity to open their own small-ratio, well-supported at-home care centers in the vibrant communities of America’s largest cities.  By providing subsidized housing and supporting our teachers with the operational, talent, and licensing support that often prohibits teachers from starting their own centers, this hybrid model promotes nurturing children, supporting families, and valuing educators. Now a part of the Guidepost Montessori network, we believe in whole child development and creating intentional, beautiful and natural environments for children.

We embrace emerging technologies and tools that support the operation of consistent, high-quality care centers, but we are committed to a screen-free model that puts a primacy on rich experiences, the development of meaningful relationships, and frequent opportunities for imagination and exploration.

Salary range is 60-65k/year which includes subsidized housing in modern, luxurious apartments. We accommodate your family’s needs, whether you live alone, with a spouse, and/or have children

About the Role

We are looking for a passionate, collaborative early childhood educator to join our team as a Lead Guide in our  Childrens’ House classrooms.  You will lead your own community of children and their families, partnering with and managing a full-time co-teacher. You will create curriculum, build relationships with families, provide 1:1 training and mentoring for your co-teacher, as well as manage your materials, space, and budget. You will live in a beautiful and modern subsidized apartment in a highly-desirable neighborhood as an at-home care provider.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our growing team focused on reinventing childcare for the modern world.

What are we looking for?

• Experience in center setting: 2+ years of experience as an early childhood classroom Lead Teacher
• Mentoring or training: 1+ year coaching and mentoring other teachers
• Time Management: living in the same place that you work can be challenging. Being able to time manage and make space for all responsibilities is necessary.
• Mission-oriented: passionate about our mission to improve quality and access of child development programs while elevating the status of early childhood educators.
• High output: gets stuff done. Reliable. Strong decision-making. Doesn’t procrastinate.
• Detail orientation: extremely detail oriented. Children’s lives are at stake. We have to be perfect.
• Communication skills: excellent communicator able to express needs and manage conflict well.
• Collaboration skills: team player. Empathetic. Able to work well with others and accommodate different work styles.
• Flexibility: willing to roll with the punches of an early stage startup environment. Constantly looking to take in feedback and improve.
• Leadership: Ability to lead and take charge, especially as you are essentially running an independent program. Sometimes you need to make thoughtful decisions without looking for permission.
• Learn quickly: pick up new processes and tools quickly. You are always looking to improve and become more effective and efficient.

Bonus Points +

• Being bilingual in a language other than English.
• ECE Units or Degree
• Montessori, Reggio or Waldorf Experience

What will you do?

• Program oversight: Oversee your program and make sure that it is a safe, fun and friendly environment for your co-teacher, children and families.
• Curriculum and menu planning: Creating rigorous lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate to each child in your classroom, as well as menu planning for each week as we incorporate home cooked organic meals into our program.
• Budget tracking and ordering: As a Head Teacher, you have the ability to order your own materials, toys, essential supplies, etc. You will need to make sure to be on top of your monthly budget as you receive a limited amount each month based on how many children are enrolled.
• Managing co-teacher: You will be responsible for approving your co-teachers time cards/ any OT and assisting in their needs or questions.
• Coaching and mentoring: As a Head Teacher, you will be a resource for other teachers and their questions as well as your co-teacher, coaching and mentoring them to become a HT in the near future.

• Licensing compliance: You will be the licensee for your Tinycare space and need to make sure you upkeep and are updated with all licensing requirements for any potential licensing visits, including printing out childrens forms, teacher forms, etc.
• Brightwheel: logging each child’s day-to-day information about what they ate, if they napped, etc.
• Communication across HQ and families: You are responsible for providing excellent communication to families about their children, from the amazing to the not-so amazing. You are also responsible to communicate to HQ about any needs/ concerns that may arise during your day to day.
• Day-to-day child routines: Duties include but are not limited to: diaper changing, potty training, feeding, cooking, cleaning, logging information for parents on Brightwheel App, etc.
• Maintaining cleanliness of space/ environment: Making sure your space is a suitable environment for the children and their families during business hours Monday through Friday (8:00-5:30PM)
• Child Observations & Parent-Teacher conferences: You will be required to make observations for each of your children and report any observations to the families either as needed or during parent teacher conferences.

Why consider this role?

• Growth Opportunities: You will be reporting directly to the Senior Mentor Teacher in your program’s Village. This will be an opportunity to learn in a fast-growing, early stage startup environment, and to learn the strategic skill sets that will prepare you for future leadership roles such as a Mentor Teacher or Education Coordinator.
• Subsidized Housing: We provide subsidized housing for Lead Guides.  You would live in a beautiful and modern apartment in a highly desirable neighborhood that doubles as your work site.
• Benefits: Tinycare offers health and wellness, daycare, commuter, PTO, and sick-leave benefits to all employees
• Impact: Tinycare is helping solve the childcare crisis in America through increasing the supply of high-quality care, empowering educators to live in the communities they serve, and improving gender equality — you will be a key part of scaling our ability to serve more children & families

Why this role may not be a good fit?

• Ready to Build?: Much like the children we serve, many of our processes and systems are still in their infancy stage. There are innumerable problems we’ll still need to solve as we scale, and infrastructure that’s yet to be built.  If you like more established companies, this role probably isn’t for you. 
• Resilient through Change?: Tinycare is a rocketship that’s about to take off. We’ll be scaling nearly 10x this year, across our daycares, and teacher hiring. Our company culture and values will stay constant, but how we operate will likely look very different 6 months, and a year from now. Not everyone is comfortable with change and that’s ok! But pivots are inevitable during hyper growth. Projects and priorities are likely to shift.
• Comfortable in the Uncomfortable?: If you’re someone who needs structure or are looking for clearly defined day to day tasks, this may not be the right position.  We strive for flexibility and independence in teachers, to allow a space where you can BE a teacher. This isn’t an environment where someone is going to tell you what to work on each day. Everyone at Tinycare has a swimlane, but at such an early stage we’re frequently jumping in to help others, and assisting with tasks that may not be “in our job description.”
• Connected to the Mission?: Everyone on the team is extremely mission-driven, and works incredibly hard to push towards our lofty goals of disrupting the early childcare industry. We’re looking for a team that will be all-in on achieving these goals.

Higher Ground Education, Guidepost Montessori, and Academy of Thought and Industry are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). We will not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under applicable federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Our leadership is dedicated to ensuring the fulfillment of this policy. When requested, we are committed to reasonably accommodate employees and applicants with disabilities or special needs that may require an accommodation. 

Higher Ground Education, Guidepost Montessori, and Academy of Thought and Industry are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). We will not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under applicable federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Our leadership is dedicated to ensuring the fulfillment of this policy. When requested, we are committed to reasonably accommodate employees and applicants with disabilities or special needs that may require an accommodation.