Director of Athletics

The Hotchkiss School is seeking an experienced Director of Athletics to drive the next chapter in its storied program. The new director will partner with senior leaders to develop clear, mission-aligned strategic priorities for athletics and oversee their successful implementation.

Guided by transparency, accountability, and a spirit of healthy competition, the Director will oversee a complex athletic program that balances competitive excellence, broad-based participation, and student health and well-being. This 11-month position will report to the Associate Head of School and play a vital role on the school’s leadership team.

The Director of Athletics will develop, manage, and supervise the school’s athletic programs and co-curricular activities, facilities, and oversee associate athletic directors, athletic trainers, and the athletics operations manager.

Hotchkiss provides a generous and comprehensive benefits package, which includes a variety of health insurance offerings, dental, vision, life, and short- and long-term disability, HSA/FSA options, and retirement benefits through TIAA. Ample funding exists to support participation in professional conferences, workshops, summer study, and travel, as well as advanced degree work.

EXECUTIVE AND OPERATIONAL EXPERTISE

• Strategic Vision and Adaptability: Demonstrate strategic vision, a growth mindset, and solution-oriented leadership, with the ability to anticipate and respond to the changing landscape of youth and independent school athletics while staying grounded in the mission of the School and the department.
• Competitive Excellence: Maintain and strengthen a competitive athletic program that consistently competes for league and NEPSAC championships.
• Fundraising: Demonstrated success in campaign development and fundraising, particularly in an athletics context.
• Equity Across Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics: Build and sustain successful programs in both boys’ and girls’ athletics, ensuring equitable opportunities, resources, and support.
• Student-Athlete Well-Being: Prioritize the physical, emotional, social, and personal development of every student-athlete by creating team cultures that emphasize responsibility, wellness, teamwork, and integrity, and by ensuring that athletics supports the school’s commitment to educating the whole student.
• Coaching Leadership: Recruit, develop, support, supervise, and evaluate outstanding coaches who embrace the teacher-coach model and are committed to excellence, character development, and student growth, with a focus on professional development aligned to the School’s mission and values.
• Recruitment: Partner with Admissions to attract and enroll mission-aligned student-athletes who will contribute to the athletic program and the broader Hotchkiss community.
• Campus-Wide Leadership and Collaboration: Serve as a visible and engaged leader across the entire campus, working collaboratively with interdepartmental teams to hear diverse perspectives, and championing the School’s commitment to academic excellence, integrity, and the personal growth of student-athletes, recognizing that athletics is an integral part of the school’s educational mission.
• Department Management: Effectively manage a comprehensive athletic department, including its extensive facilities, budgets, operations, and staff, developing and clearly communicating policies, procedures, and systems that create shared ownership within the community.
• Facilities Management: Experience and knowledge managing complex athletic facilities with an eye toward maintaining excellence and competitive advantage in these offerings.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

The Director of Athletics will:

• Have experience as a coach, preferably across age levels and genders.
• Have substantial administrative leadership experience, including responsibility for strategic planning, program and department development, hiring, evaluation, and budget creation and management, with strong analytical skills and comfort with data.
• Demonstrate excellent management and mentoring skills, including the ability to delegate appropriately, guide colleagues’ professional growth, and create a holistic professional development program to support the coaching team.
• Genuinely enjoy and be effective in working with adolescents, their families, and coaches.
• Communicate excellently and collaboratively, leading with diplomacy, empathy, and fortitude.
• Have the capacity to inspire and guide, as well as the humility to listen and learn from others.
• Manage complex tasks and programs effectively, solving problems, prioritizing demands for time and attention, and driving projects to completion.
• Value diversity, belonging, and inclusion in all educational endeavors, with experience working across diverse cultures and leading efforts to create and sustain a more inclusive learning community, including the professional development of administrative, coaching, and faculty colleagues.
• Show enthusiasm for all aspects of the School’s curriculum, including academics, athletics, the arts, and student clubs and organizations.
• Understand interscholastic eligibility guidelines.
• Demonstrate understanding of and/or experience with boarding school life (preferred but not required).

Hotchkiss School Athletics Values and Vision

“Your work matters. Your play matters. Your enthusiasm, time, friendships, loyalty, goals – all of them matter. Latin matters. Rules matter. So does art history, and junior varsity football. All of it. It matters because you are doing it, not the other way around.” – E.M. Swift  ’69

At Hotchkiss, we believe learning doesn’t stop at the classroom door. The field, court, rink, and pool are as critical to a young person’s healthy development as the seminar table, laboratory, studio, and lecture hall.

Sports make their demands beautifully plain. At a moment when so much technology promises a shortcut, there is still no shortcut through the wind sprints and the scrimmages, no shortcut through the grueling final stretch of a race or that last-minute comeback. We give students chances to feel both aspects of athletic endeavors: the grinding challenge and the lasting joy.

Hotchkiss will not win every game—we don’t need to—but the possibility of winning must be real. Hard-fought victories summon a whole school: teammates, coaches, teachers, friends, and families. They let us celebrate not merely what individual students can do, but what they can do together.

We support athletic excellence by recruiting and retaining excellent coaches and providing them with the support and professional development they need as they engage deeply throughout the full life of the School. We are committed to finding exceptional student-athletes who understand that the work of the classroom and the work on the playing field go hand in hand. We seek kids who want to be debaters and divers, history standouts and linebackers, oboe players and third basemen.

We know that multi-sport participation in adolescence develops and protects the long-term health and performance of the growing athlete. We actively seek student-athletes who will contribute broadly to the co-curricular program and require all students who seek to specialize in one sport to contribute to a second interscholastic team. In this way, we ensure that young people develop the strength, flexibility, and acumen essential to peak performance both at Hotchkiss and in the many years that follow.

Compensation

Salary Range: $140,000-$150,000 (Full-time, 11-month schedule)

Your starting pay within the posted range is determined by an individualized assessment of your relevant experience, skills, abilities, and internal pay equity.

School-Provided Housing

As a residential community with a duty to care for students in loco parentis, you will have residential responsibilities and, in turn, the School will provide you with housing on or very close to campus.

Health and Well-being Benefits

Comprehensive Healthcare: Medical, dental and vision coverage starts the first of the month following your start date.

Financial Future: 403(b) Retirement Plan with up to a 12.5% employer match.

100% Hotchkiss-paid Protection: Basic life insurance, short- and long-term disability plans are fully paid for by Hotchkiss.

Investing in Your Growth:

• Tuition Assistance: Full-time faculty with one or more years of service can apply for tuition support toward job-related accredited education, advanced degrees and specialized certifications.
• Departmental PD Funding: Access to dedicated annual department funds for professional development opportunities such as workshops, conferences, and professional memberships.

How to Apply

The Finney Search Group has been engaged to provide candidates for the School. All interested individuals are encouraged to submit their resumes, Statement of Athletic/Educational Philosophy, and 3 references via https://www.thefinneysearchgroup.com/hotchkiss-ad-application. Applications sent directly to the School will be forwarded to The Finney Search Group.