Program Manager Position Details

Location: Candidates must be within daily commuting distance to Portland, OR. In-person and remote work will be required.

Job Type: Full-time, permanent, exempt (35 hours a week, which would include occasional evenings and weekends)

Compensation: $62,000 annual salary with generous healthcare, retirement, vacation, and sick leave benefits.

Approximate Start Date: April 20, 2026

ABOUT PEACE IN SCHOOLS

Peace in Schools is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our mission is to liberate mind and heart through teen-centered, transformative mindfulness education. Since 2014, we have delivered an innovative approach to social-emotional learning using our research-backed Mindful Studies curriculum. Evidence-based practices, including mindfulness meditation and conscious communication, empower students to thrive in and outside of the classroom. Each year, we bring trauma-informed, equity-centered, and mindfulness-based social-emotional learning to hundreds of teens and adults across the country.

www.peaceinschools.org

THE CHALLENGE

Peace in Schools is a small team with a large vision; we’re on a mission to ensure that every young person can thrive and contribute to a healthy, courageous, and more joyful future. While the impact of our work has been proven through independent research and over ten years of rigorous evaluation, working inside the education system presents ongoing challenges. Strained school budgets and shifting policies at the federal, state, and local levels, invite our team to be persistent, creative, and relationship-based to sustain and grow our programs.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Peace in Schools is at an exciting time in the organization’s history. With the growth of Mindful Studies Partnerships in both Oregon and California, we are in a prime position to scale and grow while making the model more sustainable through community-based fundraising and exploring earned revenue. This fall, we launched our brand new Training Institute to support youth-serving professionals across the country, expanding our reach and bringing mindfulness to hundreds more youth in new communities. The Program Manager is responsible for organizing all aspects of these two programs. They will develop program management plans and oversee the execution of day-to-day activities and deliverables that are central to this role.

THE TEAM

The Program Manager reports directly to the Program Director and works closely with other team members. Although the Program Manager will be within daily commuting distance to Portland, OR, our ideal team member thrives while working remotely, as most of our meetings happen virtually. The Peace in Schools team thrives in collaboration, but also works individually toward fulfilling our mission.

For Peace in Schools to achieve its mission, we know we must have supported, happy staff who are fully accountable and empowered in their spheres of work, who trust each other to do excellent work, who listen, and are open-minded. Our team strives to practice what we cultivate in our classrooms. We believe that how we do our work is just as important as the outcomes. Our values are presence, equity and racial justice, flexibility, interconnection, compassion, and joy. Our staff and Board of Directors strive to center these values in all aspects of our work: our systems, policies, curricula, and interactions.

THE SKILL SET

We seek a resilient, flexible, and thoughtful leader who can hold many goals and priorities at one time. A deep commitment to our mission and awareness of equity and racial justice are essential. We are looking for someone who exhibits excellent attention to detail, organizational skills, follow-through, motivation, and flexibility. The ideal candidate will have an excellent track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with, and among a diverse group of partners. This position requires a proactive, high-performing individual who is passionate about working cooperatively with team members, proficient in project management, and is deeply committed to executing the mission of Peace in Schools.

The scope of work for the Program Manager includes:

• Program Management (40%)
• Partnership & Participant Management (30%)
• Outreach (25%)
• Other Duties as Assigned (5%)

We are looking for someone who:

• Is passionate about the mission of Peace in Schools
• Embodies mindful leadership that is inclusive, transparent, and empowering in a manner that supports and uplifts the staff and the Peace in Schools mission
• Centers equity and racial justice in all program management and partnership development
• Can work with the Program Director to strategically grow the impact of our programs; establish annual rhythms and planning sessions to optimize program impact; look at structural issues, barriers, and improvements that need to be made to make the work more sustainable and successful
• Can work collaboratively with a team on an existing and developing program
• Can act as the big picture holder of Mindful Studies Partnerships and the Training Institute; ensure program efficiency and excellence; track …