Manager of Youth & Family Programs

Job Description

The Houston Botanic Garden is seeking a Manager of Youth & Family Programs who will be
responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing programmatic initiatives geared to
families with children and school groups. This role will manage existing programs and
determine growth areas, as well as oversee aspects of Garden-wide programs that have
educational components, such as special exhibitions – like Habitat, which is currently on view –
while developing new replicable, scalable, and profitable programs for youth and family
audiences. These include, but are not limited to, Garden-wide special events, developing school
and family tours of exhibitions, BotaniCamp, interpretive signage, and off-site programs.

The Manager of Youth & Family Programs is expected to co-create programming with the
community, building external relationships and strengthening existing partnerships.

The successful candidate will be smart, intuitive, creative, resourceful, innovative, team oriented, and forward-thinking, with a proven record of success in designing and managing
events, projects, or programs. The position is full-time and contributes to advancing the
Garden’s educational mission and excellence in guest services. This position manages the
newly created part-time position of Youth Program Coordinator.

The Manager of Youth & Family Programs reports to the Director of Communications & Community
Engagement.

About Us

The mission of the Houston Botanic Garden is to enrich life through discovery, education, and
conservation of plants and the natural environment. The Garden is building an organization and
a staff to welcome guests to its world-class botanic garden, which opened in the fall of 2020,
and to inspire people to love plants and be good stewards of the natural world.

Duties & Responsibilities

-Develop and implement programs and events that are mission-appropriate, innovative, experiential, cost-effective, and often co-created with our diverse community partners.
-Collaborate internally with peer departments to discuss, plan and execute oversight of Youth & Family programming activities.
-Assist in training volunteers who would be supporting Youth & Family programs.
-Assist Garden-wide exhibitions, including but not limited to, developing and reviewing docent training, and guest tours.
-Manage the Youth Program Coordinator to coordinate, plan, and facilitate school field trips and other youth audience visits.
-Coordinate with external partners, artists, and vendors, including negotiating and writing MOUs/agreements, processing purchase orders, and managing day-of details.
-With staff and volunteer support, coordinate and facilitate on and off-site programs and events with community partners, often on weekends. Write copy and collaborate with the Director of Communications &Community Engagement on promoting events and programs.
-Monitor and assess effectiveness of Youth & Family programs by creating and tracking metrics regarding program attendance, feedback, ROI, etc., report to senior leadership, as requested.
-Foster teamwork and mentor staff and volunteers by modeling best practices alongside them.
-Other duties as assigned

Education and Experience

-BA or BS degree; a combination of education and equivalent experience may be considered.
-Experience in interpretive education models.
-Prior experience in a botanical garden, cultural, or nature-based non-profit given preferential ranking.
-A minimum of 3 years of successful experience managing programs, projects, or special events.
-Demonstrated experience in reaching, welcoming, and including a diversity of audiences in program development.
-Proficiency working with graphic design, ticketing, and website software – including, but not limited to, Adobe InDesign, Canva, Tessitura, and WordPress – is given preferential ranking.
-Excellent written and oral communication skills
-Bilingual candidates with proficiency in Spanish are given preferential ranking

Additional Information

Physical Demands/Working Conditions:
-Must be able to move throughout the 132-acre Garden property, as needed.
-Must be able to work outdoors in all weather conditions including heat, cold, wind, and humidity.
-Must be able to sit, stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crawl, reach, push, pull, lift, grasp, feel, and utilize repetitive motions for prolonged periods of time.
-Must be comfortable working in immediate proximity to children and the general public in a safe, outgoing and friendly manner.

Position Details:
-Annual salary range of $48,000 – $55,000, depending on experience
-Full-time salaried position
-Flexed schedule, some evenings and frequent weekends required
-One day a week remote work permitted, if scheduling allows, after successful probationary period is met.

Benefits:
Medical, dental, and vision insurance, retirement savings match, short term disability, long
term disability, and life insurance available.

Application Instructions

Interested candidates should send a resume and cover letter to hr@hbg.org. Resumes submitted via alternate methods will not be considered. We will contact those candidates who most closely match our requirements.

Thank you for your interest!