: Senior Manager, Educational Excellence

About Acton Academy Calgary Central

Acton Academy Calgary Central is a learner-driven, Socratic, mastery-based independent school in Calgary. We opened in September 2025 with Alberta Education approval and hold CRA charitable status. Today we serve preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary learners in our current building.

Our model rests on a simple belief: children are highly capable. Learners set meaningful goals, take ownership of their learning, and build on their unique strengths, with guides who ask questions rather than give answers.

We are now preparing for our next stage of growth: a second site for our preschool in 2027-28, and a proposed charter school opening in 2028-29.

About the Role

This role leads admissions, family engagement, people operations, and compliance preparation, and builds the systems that support each of them. Over the next 18 months, you will also lead two major projects: opening a second preschool site in September 2027 and preparing to launch a charter school in 2028. For a candidate who wants to grow with us, there is room to take on additional strategic initiatives, each with a corresponding increase in pay.

At 18 months, success looks like this:

- Admissions, family engagement, HR, and compliance run on documented systems, not on one person's memory
- A licensed second preschool site opened in September 2027 and growing from 20 toward 30 to 40 spots
- Enrolment at or near capacity at both sites (totalling roughly 60 spots) by September 2027 (total 55-60 enrolled learners)
- Charter readiness on track for September 2028, if approved, with family and staff recruitment underway

Phase 1: From your start to February 2027(3 months)

- Learn the school alongside the Executive Director
- Take over day-to-day leadership before her leave begins in March
- Enhance systems and processes for admissions, family engagement, HR, and compliance
- Refine current evaluation efforts into a systemized program
- Enhance and implement parent engagement and education plan

Phase 2: February to August 2027 (7 months)

- Prepare to open our second preschool site, including staff and family recruitment, staff onboarding, and building readiness
- Enhance current teacher onboarding process

Phase 3: November 2027 to July 2028. (10 months)

- Charter readiness, including staff hiring and onboarding, and family recruitment

Key Responsibilities: Lead Admissions, Families, People, and Compliance

About half your time will go to the core of the school today. Much of this work is hands-on. Your job is to do it well and build systems so it runs reliably without you holding every detail.

- Enrolment and admissions: respond to inquiries, book and lead tours and shadow days, follow up with families through enrolment, and manage applications, waitlists, and re-enrolment.
- Marketing: oversee both strategy and implementation of social media, website updates, traditional marketing, digital marketing, and facilitate 4 information sessions and 7 open houses per year.
- Family engagement: strategically plan parent evenings, facilitate workshops, onboard new families, and co-create our session newsletters.
- Compliance: overseeing and ensuring compliance with Child Care and Alberta Education requirements
- People operations: lead HR, including recruitment, onboarding, employment agreements, certification and police check tracking, and the substitute list.

Build Systems and Processes Across all of this work, you will help the school run more efficiently and effectively as it grows.

- Map, document, and improve our core processes, from inquiry to enrollment, hiring to onboarding, etc.

Goals within first 90 days:
- HR processes, specifically recruitment, hiring, and onboarding
- Enrollment processes, specifically managing and engaging prospective families
- Develop a strategic current parent engagement plan




- Choose and set up tools that make the work easier, and train staff to use them well.

Lead the Preschool Expansion for 2027-28 We plan to move our preschool to a nearby second site in September 2027 and grow it from 20 to 30 or 40 spots. Our current building will then serve Grades 1 to 5. You will lead the opening, from licensing and staffing to opening day, while our Director of Operations leads the site search and lease.

Goals between February 2027 and August 2027:

- Work alongside our Director of Operations to make sure procurement, set-up, and building readiness are complete for move-in.
- Lead the child care licensing application and work directly with our licensing officer.
- Recruit, hire, and onboard preschool staff (repeat from HR goal).
- Recruit families to fill the new spots (repeat from Enrollment goal).
- Build the systems and routines needed to run two sites well.

Prepare for a Charter School Opening in 2028-29 We have applied to open a charter school and expect a decision in December 2026. If we are approved, you will lead readiness work with support from our co-founders over the following 18 months:

Goals

- November 2027 - March 2028: Build and manage the launch plan across staffing, enrolment, and compliance.
- March 2028 - June 2028: Work alongside our Director of Operations on procurement and building readiness for opening day.
- November 2027 - June 2028: Lead family outreach and recruitment.
- January 2028 - May 2028: Lead staff recruitment and hiring.
- Support grant applications and early fundraising.

Optional Growth Opportunity: Lead Research and Evaluation Taking on this initiative comes with a corresponding increase in salary. We want to evaluate the effectiveness of this model, including research and evaluation, both with external partners and for continuous improvement efforts internally. You will lead our research and evaluation work, and partner with the Director of Operations for internal key performance indicator measurement and efforts.

Goals

- Iterate how we evaluate our model, including how we measure learner growth over time (specifically around social-emotional indicators). Build/improve a system and process for collecting and evaluating this data.
- Gather and analyze feedback and data from learners, families, and guides, and turn findings into improvements (surveying is currently a part of our operations, but could be improved).
- Seek input from community partners, experts in the field on our current processes, including striking an Evaluation Committee. Use input from the committee to iterate the evaluation process in 2027-28.
- Build research partnerships with universities, education organizations, and interested professionals.
- Seek funding to enhance research capabilities and awareness.
- Share results with our board, funders, Alberta Education, and the wider education community.
- Implement what we learn to strengthen the Teacher Training Institute and the design of our future schools.

Optional Growth Opportunity: Build our Teacher Training Institute Taking on this initiative comes with a corresponding increase in salary. The Teacher Training Institute is a new program, run as a revenue-generating social enterprise. It builds on two trainings we have begun, a Montessori teacher training program and Acton guide training focused on the Socratic method, both currently led by our Lead Guide. You will be the builder of the Institute, working as a team with our Lead Guide,



who will help shape its ideas and content and support or lead the training itself.

Goals

- 2027: build the Institute's strategy and strengthen our current staff onboarding as an early pilot.
- January 2027 - May 2027: Work with our Lead Guide to bring the Montessori and Acton training together into one coherent and online onboarding program under Journey Tracker LMS, as the first iteration of a bigger training program.
- June 2027 - December 2027: Build the program's structure, including curriculum outline, schedule, admissions, and the trainee experience. Build a revenue generation strategy, including sponsorships, donations, and pricing.
- January 2028 - March 2028: Prepare the Institute for full launch in spring 2028, and grow it into a recognized program with a sustainable revenue model by 2028-29.
- April 2028 - June 2028: Develop and implement the Institute as a pipeline of trained guides for our current school, the second site, and the charter school.
- Spring 2029: Build partnerships with educational institutions to recognize this program as credit and for practicums. Operate the Training Institute as a revenue generating enterprise.

Optional Growth Opportunity: Fundraising Taking on this initiative comes with a corresponding increase in salary. As a registered charity entering a period of growth, we need a fundraising program that matches our ambitions. Our Executive Director will shift her focus to fundraising once you begin, and you will be a close partner in building it.

Goals

Early 2027

- Help build the fundraising plan for the school, and possibly the second site.
- Recruit and kick off a fundraising committee (with ED).

Late 2027:
- Build a fundraising strategy for the charter school and the Teacher Training Institute.
- Prepare grant applications and manage reporting to funders.
- Keep fundraising moving during the Executive Director's leave, including grant deadlines and funder reporting.
- Run our donation and receipting processes, in partnership with our Director of Operations.

Who You Are Required

- A track record of launching or scaling something: a new school, site, program, or organization
- Solid with numbers, including budgets, spreadsheets, and financial tracking
- Clear, warm written and verbal communication with families and staff
- Highly organized, and able to see what's coming and act without being asked
- Comfortable working independently for extended stretches
- A genuine belief in learner-driven education and in children as highly capable
- A clear police information check with vulnerable sector search

Preferred

- Experience designing or delivering teacher training or adult education
- Montessori training or experience
- Experience with Alberta Education compliance or child care licensing

- Experience in independent or learner-driven schools
- Experience in admissions, enrolment, or sales

Key Terms of Employment

- Reports directly to the Executive Director (or Direction of Operations in her absence).

- Competitive salary and benefits package commensurate with experience and qualifications, including RRSP contributions.
- Adheres to Alberta labour laws and standards for early childhood education.
- Tuition discount for children.

How to Apply If you are ready to inspire and guide young learners on their educational journey, we invite you to apply. Please review the below links to learn more about this nontraditional model and submit your cover letter and resume via email to [email protected].

For additional information about Acton Academy Calgary Central:

- Visit our website at ActonCentral.org
- Listen to this interview about the Acton Academy model: Jordan Peterson and Zach Lahn
- Read or listen to this book about the Acton Academy model: Courage to Grow by Laura Sandefer

Pay: From $75,000.00 per year

Benefits

- Dental care
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- RRSP match
- Tuition reimbursement

Work Location: In person

📌 Senior Manager, Educational Excellence (Calgary)
🏢 Acton Academy Calgary Central
📍 Calgary