Associate Director, Coaching

Associate Director, Coaching

The American economy is broken. Today, 53 million working adults‑nearly half of the U.S. workforce‑do not earn a living wage. These talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full‑time boot camp programs don’t offer enough flexibility, and online courses don’t have the structure or support to translate learning into a new career. The result? Talented workers, disproportionately people of color and women, get stuck in low‑wage roles with no way to build a better life for themselves and their families.

Merit America is a national nonprofit that creates pathways to family‑sustaining careers for Americans stuck in low‑wage work. Our fast, flexible solutions are built for working adults: we start by analyzing tens of millions of job postings to identify in‑demand, high‑paying tech careers and then work with industry‑recognized partners to train for these roles with part‑time programs that combine flexible online learning with best‑in‑class coaching.

Finally, we support our learners in their job search, helping them connect with a broad constellation of local and national employers such as JPMorgan Chase and Infosys to land higher‑earning, family‑sustaining jobs. Merit America is on a mission to build a scalable pathway for workers to join the middle class through merit, not money. Since our founding in 2018, we’ve generated a projected $1 billion in near‑term wage gains for our learners.

The primary mission of the Associate Director, Coaching is to ensure a high‑quality, consistent, and data‑informed learner experience by developing and leading a team of Coaches while driving operational excellence across assigned cohort(s). The Associate Director, Coaching will report directly to the Managing Director of Coaching and works primarily with the Program, Data, Design, Growth/Admissions, and Employer Partnerships teams across Merit America.

• Supervise, coach, and develop a team of 10+ Coaches, fostering belonging, performance, and alignment with Merit America’s mission.
• Lead hiring, onboarding, and ongoing professional development for Coaches.
• Conduct regular 1:1s and performance conversations, setting clear expectations and supporting growth.
• Monitor Coach and learner data to identify training needs and guide targeted coaching.
• Foster a team culture rooted in accountability, inclusivity, and continuous improvement through regular team meetings, recognition of experimentation, and transparent communication.
• Identify and amplify coaching best practices across teams and coaches.
• Oversee assigned cohorts to ensure operational consistency and high‑quality execution of the Merit America model.
• Use program dashboards/data to monitor learner progress, engagement, and milestones, intervening proactively.
• Develop and implement engagement strategies, manage learner communications, and lead escalation resolution for at‑risk learners.
• Standardize coaching practices and ensure alignment to curriculum expectations and coaching protocols.
• Partner with Program Design to surface insights, pilot improvements, and refine curriculum.
• Ensure Coaches effectively track outcomes, document learner stories, and verify achievements through regular quality checks.
• Ensure smooth coordination across scheduling, staffing, and learner communication workflows.
• Collaborate in cross‑departmental work streams to strengthen program quality and accelerate learner outcomes.
• Share insights with the MD of Coaching and Program Directors to inform strategic decisions.
• Provide feedback to Engineering, Data, and Design teams to enhance tools and workflows.
• Contribute to organizational experiments by testing new coaching models, engagement approaches, or interventions.
• Support rollout of organizational changes, including staffing shifts and new program structures.

• Committed to Merit America’s mission to pave pathways to family‑sustaining careers, break the poverty cycle, and create upward mobility for low‑wage workers.
• Demonstrated history of embodying our values, which inform our work and drive our organization’s…