Director of Education & Literacy

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & LITERACY
Remote · Part-time contract · 30 hours per week

ABOUT US

La Jolla Learning is a tutoring practice in San Diego, California. We work with about 72 students across three offices and online, and we specialize in children who learn differently — dyslexia, reading difficulties, executive functioning. Many of our students arrive having been told they weren't trying hard enough. They were trying. Nobody had taught them how reading actually works.

We are hiring one person to own the teaching side of our company.

THE ROLE

You own two things: what gets taught, and who teaches it.

This is a director role. You will own these functions outright and be accountable for outcomes we measure every month.

HOURS

Monday to Friday, 2:00pm – 8:00pm Pacific Time. About 30 hours a week.

In your local time:

Philippines: 5:00am – 11:00am
Colombia / Peru: 4:00pm – 10:00pm
Mexico City: 3:00pm – 9:00pm
Argentina: 6:00pm – 12:00am

These hours are deliberate. Our sessions run from mid-afternoon to 8:00pm Pacific, so this is when instructors and families are actually reachable. No graveyard shift, no commute.

Your first hour is a handover. A separate administrator covers our inbox and phone from 11:00am, and you overlap with them from 2:00pm. You are their point of contact, and that hour is how the afternoon starts clean.

WHAT YOU OWN

The instruction

Our instructional standard — what gets taught, how, and to what level of quality
Our structured literacy programs — the PRIDE Reading Program, MegaWords for middle school and above, and Visualizing & Verbalizing for comprehension
Our materials, and what instructors are permitted to use
Assessments end to end — the Academic Skills Assessment, the Dyslexia Screener, MindPrint, and coordinating psychoeducational evaluations with our partner practice. Scheduling, assigning administrators, writing the assessment reports, and the vendor accounts
The ISEE test prep program end to end — exam dates and registration deadlines, placing each student at the right level, materials and practice tests, the student roster, and training the instructors who deliver it

The instructors

Recruiting, screening and interviewing
Hiring decisions, jointly with the Executive Director
Onboarding — offers, payroll setup, background checks, system accounts
Training and certifying instructors in our programs, including assessment administrators
Matching instructors to students, and capacity planning
Time-off, availability changes and substitute coverage
Performance, check-ins and the 90-day review
Exits

The handover, every day

You are the point of contact for the administrator who covers the inbox and phone earlier in the day
The inbox is clear and current when it reaches you. Not skimmed — clear
You verify that at handover, pick up what belongs to you, and make sure nothing belonging to the Executive Director has been answered by the wrong person

The operations that cannot slip

Payroll processing
Compliance training tracking, and holding the certificates
Monthly performance figures and bonus verification for the administrative team

WHAT YOU DO NOT OWN

Enrollment, billing, district invoicing and facilities belong to the Executive Director. Marketing is not part of this role. Pay rates, raises, terminations and anything that commits the company to money belong to Company Management.

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE

Measured monthly:

Students started within 14 days of enrolling — a standard, not an average
A student matched and scheduled within 48 hours of intake
At least two ready instructors at all times in each main program
Applicants reviewed, interviewed and verified within 7 business days
100% of instructors submitting session notes and time entries within 24 hours
Parent concerns and instructor-change requests resolved within 48 hours
Monthly figures delivered by the 5th, with supporting data
No lapsed compliance certificate
Payroll accurate and on time, every cycle
Inbox clear at handover, every day

COMPENSATION

Base rate: $7.50 per hour — about $975 per month for 30 hours a week.

Plus a monthly performance bonus of up to $215. A strong month comes to about $1,190.

Growth: $15 for each new student who reaches four paid sessions — delivered, documented with session notes, and paid for
Speed: $75 when 90% or more of that month's students start within 14 days
Readiness: $50 when bench strength is held all month — two ready instructors in each main program

The four-session rule is strict and works both ways. A student counts only once four sessions have been delivered, documented and paid for. If a family is refunded, cancels before the fourth session, or their payment fails and is not cured, that student comes out of the calculation, including retroactively.

Payroll accuracy and compliance are deliberately not in the bonus. They are conditions of the job, not achievements.

Paid every two weeks against logged, described work.

WHAT YOU MUST HAVE

Direct training in a structured literacy approach — Orton-Gillingham, PRIDE, Wilson, Barton, LETRS or equivalent. Name yours in your application. This is the one thing we cannot teach you.
Experience teaching reading to struggling readers — not just teaching reading
Strong written and spoken English. You will write assessment reports that American parents read and act on
A quiet workspace, reliable internet, and a plan for what happens when the power goes out

WHAT HELPS

Experience managing or coordinating people, not just tasks
Experience training adults
Comfort with assessment instruments, or the appetite to be certified in ours
Comfort running a daily handover with another person and holding them to a standard without it becoming a conflict

THE HONEST VERSION OF THIS JOB

It asks for two different kinds of person: someone who knows how reading is taught, and someone who can run a workforce and hit a payroll deadline. If you have the literacy background and have never managed anyone, apply anyway and say so — we can teach the operational side.

Payroll and compliance are not creative work. They are done correctly on the day they are due, or they are a problem. If deadlines like that drain you, this is not the right role.

You will be using systems that are changing. We are replacing most of our administrative tooling with a platform built for us over the next several months. If you like fixed processes that never move, this will frustrate you. If you like having a say in how something gets built, you will enjoy it.

TO APPLY

Send us answers to all five:

Your structured literacy training — which approach, and where
The hardest student or staffing problem you have solved, and what you actually did
What other work you are currently committed to, and how many hours per week
Your internet speed, and what happens to your work when the power goes out
Confirmation that you can work 2:00pm – 8:00pm Pacific Time, stated in your own local time

We read every application that answers all five. We do not read the ones that don't.