Field Instructor​/Guide

Title
:
Field Instructor/Guide
Length of contract
:
Full time, year-round
Reports to
:
Director of Operations
Schedule of Work
:
Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, except during extended multi-day overnight excursions or special programs.
Pay
:
Salary starting at $58 - $62K DOE

Do you believe that the outdoors can be more than a place to recreate-that it can be a powerful environment for learning, growth, connection, and positive change?

Onward & Upward is looking for an experienced Field Instructor/Guide to join our team in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of Alaska.

This is an opportunity to do work that matters. Our instructors don’t simply lead outdoor activities. They create experiences that help young people discover their strengths, build confidence, develop healthy relationships, navigate challenges, and form a deeper connection with their communities and the places they call home.

Onward & Upward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit experiential education organization based in Palmer, Alaska. Our programs combine adventure, positive psychology, evidence-based youth development, place-based education, and managed risk to strengthen youth, families, and communities.

We work with young people across a variety of settings—from schools and after-school programs to multi-day wilderness expeditions. Our programs may include hiking, paddling, climbing, challenge courses, service learning, outdoor skills, and other adventure-based experiences.

As a Field Instructor/Guide, you will be an educator, mentor, facilitator, outdoor professional, and role model. You will help create environments where students are challenged appropriately, supported meaningfully, and encouraged to recognize their own capacity for growth.

Working under the direction of the Director of Operations and alongside our Lead Field Instructors/Guides, you will help deliver high-quality experiential education programs throughout the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and beyond.

Your work will include:

• Leading and supporting outdoor educational programs for youth and other participants.
• Building positive, authentic relationships with students while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.
• Facilitating activities and lessons designed to develop confidence, resilience, communication, teamwork, leadership, and connection.
• Implementing Onward & Upward’s curriculum and contributing to the continued development of lessons and instructional methods.
• Assisting with course planning, preparation, logistics, equipment, transportation, and field operations.
• Participating actively in Onward & Upward’s Risk Assessment and Management Process (RAMP).
• Maintaining a strong focus on participant safety, emotional well-being, inclusion, and meaningful learning.
• Working collaboratively with instructors, schools, families, community partners, and organizational leadership.
• Representing Onward & Upward professionally and positively within the community.
• Participating in extended, multi-day, and overnight programs, including expedition-style programming.
• Contributing ideas, creativity, and leadership to a growing organization.

We are looking for someone who is both an excellent outdoor professional and an excellent people person.

You should be someone who can confidently manage a group in challenging outdoor environments while also recognizing that the most important part of the job is the person standing next to you.

The ideal candidate:

• Is genuinely passionate about positive youth development and the outdoors.
• Connects deeply with Onward & Upward’s mission of promoting a culture of One Health through evidence-based action
  .
• Has experience working…