Assistant Residential Program Director - Student Homes

SailFuture | St. Petersburg, FL Six teenage boys in foster care. One family-style home. You lead it. This isn’t a group home with rotating shift staff. Our homes run on consistent adults who know the kids, live daily life with them, hold them accountable, and stay invested. You run the home day to day and lead the Change Agents (Houseparents) who serve as the primary adults in these young men’s lives. And when the program heads offshore, you go too. The job at a glance

• Salary
• $60,000 base + up to $15,000 annual Impact Award
• Reports to
• Residential Program Director
• You lead
• The Change Agents in one residential home
• Schedule
• Monday to Friday, 12 to 8pm, a shared weekend on-call rotation, and two sailing expeditions a year (2 weeks on, 1 week off, 8 weeks total)
• Housing
• Housing and meals provided year-round
• Benefits
• $250/month toward health insurance, 401(k) with up to 6% match, 15 days PTO
• Travel
• Domestic and International sailing expeditions

What you’ll do Lead the team

• Set clear expectations and coach Change Agents through regular 1:1s
• Address performance issues early, document them, and follow through
• Build schedules, manage time off, and keep coverage solid
• Help recruit, interview, onboard, and retain residential staff

Keep youth on track

• Know every young person’s goals, risks, school status, and treatment needs
• Spot early warning signs (disengagement, substance use, school refusal, runaway risk) and act before they become a crisis
• Run intakes, transitions, and discharges so nothing gets missed

Execute the plan

• Make sure drug tests, appointments, meds, and case documentation happen on time
• Sit in on treatment and case-plan meetings and turn goals into daily expectations
• Keep clinical, school, workforce, and residential teams on one consistent plan

Run the home

• Own the weekly schedule: school, work, fitness, appointments, family contact, recreation
• Manage groceries, meals, supplies, allowances, vehicles, and house traditions
• Keep the home clean, safe, welcoming, and inspection-ready
• Support licensing visits, audits, and compliance reporting

Go on expeditions

• Prepare youth and staff for extended sailing trips
• Lead residential supervision while underway
• Help kids turn what they accomplished at sea into confidence back home

What you bring

• Experience working with teens, ideally those impacted by foster care, trauma, juvenile justice, or behavioral health needs
• Experience supervising staff in residential care, education, behavioral health, or youth development
• The ability to balance empathy with accountability and clear boundaries
• Strong organization across people, schedules, documentation, and competing priorities
• Calm judgment, de-escalation skills, and practical problem solving
• Ability to pass background screening, driving, and regulatory requirements
• Comfort with travel and unconventional settings

Why this role You won’t be administering a program from an office. You’ll be in the home for the setbacks and the milestones, coaching your team, and building the conditions for young men who’ve had a lot of instability to grow into confident, capable adults.