Puppet Education Manager

Oakland Children's Fairyland • Oakland, CA

9h • $63,440 • Onsite

About The Position

Children’s Fairyland is seeking a creative and engaging Puppet Education Manager to lead and grow our puppet education programs. This role combines education and performance, giving children ages 2–9 the opportunity to experience puppetry through interactive workshops, storytelling, and dramatic play. The Puppet Education Manager plays an important role in expanding Fairyland’s educational impact both in the park and through outreach to local schools and community partners.
Working closely with the Puppet Education Specialist, the Manager delivers programs both onsite at Fairyland and offsite at local schools and learning communities. The Puppet Education Manager ensures that all programs are developmentally appropriate, engaging, and aligned with Fairyland’s mission to inspire creativity, learning, and play.
Teaching responsibilities include facilitating workshops, performing and storytelling with puppets, guiding dramatic play activities, and demonstrating performance skills such as puppetry manipulation, acting, singing, and movement. The Manager is responsible for creating a safe, inclusive, and joyful learning environment where young children feel encouraged to participate and explore their creativity.
The ideal candidate is energetic, engaging, and passionate about working with young children. They bring strong classroom management skills, an understanding of early childhood development, and the ability to connect with diverse learning communities. Preferred candidates will have 3–5 years of experience in early childhood education, fluency in Spanish and experience working with English learners, and basic theatrical performance skills such as singing, dancing, and acting.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required in Early Childhood Education required
• 3 - 5 years of classroom experience as an early childhood educator
• 2 years of experience with performance-based disciplines such as theater, puppetry, and/or performance art
• Full professional proficiency in Spanish and is accustomed to working with children who are English learners
• Extremely strong communication skills including writing ability and verbal communication with adults, including in person, over the phone, and via email.
• Experience with facilitating and training educators preferred
• 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.
• Comfortable working with basic arts and crafts supplies
• Possess a working vehicle and current auto insurance policy
• Flexible and adaptable to constantly changing and/or challenging situations including weather, crowd size, staff shortages, occasionally having to work past scheduled hours
• People-oriented- 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
• This position is primarily located in an outdoor environment. Able to perform the following duties with or without accommodation:
• Stand, sit, kneel, walk, bend, and perform repetitive motions for the duration of an eight (8) hour shift
• Traverse safely over uneven terrain throughout the entirety of the 10-acre amusement park
• Safely lift and transport items of up to 50 lbs.
• Respond quickly to sounds
• See and respond quickly to situations
• Communicate in clear, loud voice
• Operate two-radio for communications with park personnel
• Work in indoor and outdoor, seasonal weather conditions. Work is approximately 80% indoors and 20% outdoors.
• Ability to work on weekends and holidays
• Proven track record of punctuality and attendance
• Current COVID-19 Requirement: Ability to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination prior to start of employment

Responsibilities

• Deliver hands-on puppet education experience with field trip groups and park guests.
• Travel to off-site designations to deliver hands-on puppet programs
• Evaluate workshops through teacher assessments and informal observation to drive curricular edits.
• Collaborate with the Education Team to expand programmatic design and language accessibility through enrichment activities, and creating multiple-means for expression for Spanish speaking children and caregivers and English learners.
• Collaborate on program assessment efforts and evaluate needs for program development with the education team.
• Facilitate puppet education workshops for teachers and educators
• Manage puppet education program registration, confirmation, and evaluation, including processing payments in collaboration with the Specialist(s).
• Collaborate with Fairyland teams to ensure successful communication on marketing efforts, facility’s needs, program schedules, and operational support
• Assist with financial management of grant award expenses
• Represent Fairyland at community engagement events
• Plan, execute, and successfully complete the suite of puppet education programs, ensuring it meets objectives within budget, schedule, and scope.
• Supervise and collaborate with the Puppet Education Specialist on building puppet shows and curriculum design.
• Set performance goals for the Specialist(s) and evaluate performance against goals on a regular basis.
• Effectively coach the Specialist(s) and provide supportive and developmental feedback to enhance performance. Ensure that team members develop the technical, leadership and professional skills to be successful.
• Committed to on-going professional development as an educator
• Be a positive role model to constituents and external and internal stakeholders
• Plan, design and implement parkwide event-specific projects as needed
• Perform puppet shows as the supporting role occasionally for Fairyland guests in the Storybook Puppet Theater, as needed
• Adhere to Fairyland guidelines & policies and to those of the facility, reporting any incidents or problems
• Perform other duties as assigned

Benefits

• 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

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees