The Education & Curriculum Manager develops, leads, and evaluates Children’s Fairyland’s interdisciplinary, culturally responsive educational programs, using storytelling, imaginative play, and hands-on learning to support children’s development. Reporting to the Senior Director of Education & Community Engagement, this position shapes how children, parents and caregivers, and educators engage with Fairyland as an informal learning environment.

Through thoughtfully designed educational experiences, the Education & Curriculum Manager advances children’s literacy, social-emotional development, creativity, scientific exploration, and appreciation of the performing arts and natural world. The role oversees curriculum development and implementation across a range of educational offerings, including field trip programs, Youth Writer’s Workshop, Toddler Storytime, and Summer Camp, while collaborating with colleagues to integrate meaningful educational experiences into parkwide events.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative, organized, and creative education professional who combines strong curriculum development skills with effective team leadership, a commitment to equity and inclusion, and a passion for helping children learn and thrive through play.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Education & Curriculum Program Management

• Develop, plan, implement, and evaluate interdisciplinary educational programs that support children and youth across a range of ages and developmental stages, including Youth Writer’s Workshop, field trip education programs, Toddler Storytime, Summer Camp, and new program initiatives.
• Design engaging, developmentally appropriate curricula that incorporate storytelling, literacy, imaginative play, creativity, social-emotional learning, science, and exploration of the natural world.
• Advance inclusive, culturally responsive programming that reflects the identities, experiences, languages, and learning needs of East Bay children and families, including families from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds and children with differing abilities and learning needs.
• Support programming that offers access to families experiencing financial hardship, and being inclusive of refugees and undocumented families.
• Collaborate with the Puppet Education team and other colleagues on the design, development, and implementation of Puppet Education, Toddler Storytime, and related educational experiences.
• Assess program effectiveness, gather and evaluate feedback, identify emerging community needs, and recommend improvements and new opportunities in collaboration with the education team. 
• Support the facilitation and content development for staff training, including teaching strategies, inclusive learning practices and assessment methods
• Book education programs and facilitate field trip registration, confirmation and evaluation, including processing invoices
• Lead and coach Summer Camp staff to ensure a safe, engaging and positive learning environment
• Plan, design and implement parkwide event-specific projects as needed
• Collaborate with Fairyland teams to ensure successful communication on marketing efforts, facility needs, program schedules, and operational support
• Assist with financial oversight and management of grant award expenses
• Represent Fairyland at community engagement events
• Committed to on-going professional development as an educator
• Collaborate with the education and philanthropy teams on grant applications and reports
• Perform other duties as assigned

Team Leadership 

• Support the hiring process for education staff; schedule, train, assign work responsibilities as needed, counsels and evaluates performance of seasonal summer camp staff
• Embodies service orientation, both to internal (i.e. co-workers) and external (vendors, visitors, teachers, etc) stakeholders
• Model and uphold Children’s Fairyland’s mission, vision, values, policies and procedures, operating standards, confidentiality standards, and code of conduct.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree required; education, early childhood development, or a related area preferred
• At least three (3) years of relevant work experience in an educational setting
• At least two (2) years of administrative work experience (i.e. processing invoices, data entry, field trip coordination)
• At least two (2) years of supervisory or management experience
• Demonstrated experience developing, implementing and evaluating curricula and/or educational programs
• Intermediate to advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office or Google Workspace suites. 
• Extensive knowledge of educational technology and comfort learning new online learning platforms and processes and able to adapt to new systems quickly.
• Ability to work on multiple projects at the same time and able to thoroughly follow-through and be a reliable team member.
• Passion for teaching and supporting the whole child, especially in the areas of literacy, science, creativity, and social/emotional development. Must have a great rapport with kids.
• Extremely strong communication skills including writing ability and verbal communication with adults, including in person, over the phone, and via email.
• A high level of compassion for both children and adults and an abiding commitment to social justice and equity.
• Strong organization, problem solving, and time management skills.
• Able to work independently and collaboratively.
• Knowledge of the Oakland and/or greater San Francisco Bay Area schools and youth centers.
• Possess a clear background history with no barriers to working with children
• Possess current valid California Driver’s License with an insurable driving record

Preferred Qualifications

• Additional studies or training in early childhood education or teaching credential is desirable.
• Bilingual in Spanish a plus

Personal Attributes/Values

• People-orientation- able to interact effectively, politely, and productively with all types of people from all types of backgrounds and experience and in all types of situations. Comfortable working with non-English speaking and culturally diverse stakeholders
• Professional maturity to manage composure during stressful interactions
• Energetic, diplomatic, adaptable and with a good sense of humor.
• Passionate about the mission, vision, and goals of Fairyland and possess an understanding of how this position contributes to the organization’s success. 
• Strong work ethic with an orientation toward process improvement.
• Impeccable integrity and honesty

Physical Requirements 

This position is primarily located in an office environment.  Able to perform the following duties with or without accommodation:

• Sit at a desk, conference room or workstation for more than three (3) hours at a time;
• Traverse safely over uneven terrain throughout the entirety of the 10-acre amusement park 
• Access transportation to local, state and national events or meetings with external stakeholders
• Communicate in clear speaking voice in person, before large audiences and over audio or video-based communications applications (e.g. phone, Zoom)
• Able to occasionally lift 40-50 pounds with assistance
• Able to work special events, weekends and evenings according to Fairyland’s event schedule

Benefits & Compensation

This is a regular, full-time, non-exempt position scheduled Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm. The non-negotiable rate of pay is $34.50 per hour. Full-time employees are eligible to participate in benefits the first of the month following 60 days of service. Benefits include: 

• Medical, dental and vision coverage at 100% for employees
• Accrue up to 10 days of PTO in your first year AND separate paid sick leave bank of up to 10 days per year AND three floating holidays per year
• 401k plan available 
• Family membership to Fairyland or 6 guest passes annually
• Discounts on Fairyland merchandise and Café