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Next Prep is a postsecondary program that partners with schools to make career-connected learning central to the student experience. This effort involves restructuring schedules, rethinking graduation requirements, and committing to send students off-campus for real experiences on a weekly basis. As a coordinator and counselor, you’ll work in lock-step with college and career director, Next Prep teachers, other staff members, and administrators while also operating as an extension of the Next Prep team. Day-to-day school operations are coordinated with the school principal; program strategy and performance management sit with Next Prep leadership. In cases of conflict, Next Prep leadership serves as the primary decision-maker.

You will manage a caseload of students across 11th–12th grade who are participating in Next Prep apprenticeships and internships. For your seniors, this means intensive advising: tracking credentials, troubleshooting barriers, coordinating with employers, and ensuring every student matriculates into an apprenticeship at a Next Prep partner site. For 11th grade students, it means facilitating their intensive discovery so that they’re ready to make a decision about launching into the apprenticeship as a 12th grader.

This is not a passive advising role. You will be an active case manager, school liaison, and student advocate — someone who sees every obstacle between a student and their pathway as something to solve.

• Manage student applications and enrollment into apprenticeship programs with Next Prep partners
• Serve as the primary caseworker for every 11th and 12th grade student in an internship or apprenticeship, troubleshooting real-time barriers — transportation, certification fees, scheduling conflicts, academic prerequisites, and more (with support from the Next Prep team, which is funding wraparound services for students). Typical caseloads range from 8-15 students in each grade level.
• Coordinate with the Next Prep team to align schedules, manage placements, and ensure students are set up for success in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship work
• Push in academic bridging support (tutoring, Accuplacer prep) for students approaching but not yet meeting pathway qualifications (Next Prep will provide funding and infrastructure for these supports–your job will be to coordinate on implementation in the school building/day)
• Communicate directly with families to for your caseload of students
• Support students through 12th Grade Personal Boards: recruiting board members, preparing students to present and defend their post-secondary plan, and following up on next steps​

• Serve as the primary liaison between Next Prep and school staff — coordinating with teachers, counselors, and administrators around off-campus Next Prep activities, student release time, scheduling, and any program logistics that touch the school day.
• Monitor and support student engagement on Future, Next Prep’s interactive career exploration platform — tracking usage across grade levels, following up with students who are behind, and coaching students to actively use the tool to deepen their self-knowledge and career thinking
• Attend off-campus career and professional skill development activities with students as assigned, implementing, reinforcing key concepts, and debriefing with students to facilitate internalization of career exploration and professional skill development experiences. Next Prep maintains clear protocols for student transportation, supervision ratios, and liability coverage during all off-campus activities, so your job will be to execute and ensure positive student and employer experiences.
• Manage ongoing family communication about career opportunities, pathway options, program milestones, and student progress — proactively keeping families informed and engaged rather than waiting for problems to surface.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with school counselors and teachers so that Next Prep’s work is integrated into how the school supports students’ futures.

• Maintain accurate student records, tracking progress across credentials, dual-enrollment credits, work-based learning hours, and post-secondary planning milestones. As this role requires handling student records in compliance with FERPA, training and protocols through Kairos Academies will be provided.
• Document and escalate recurring student barriers to Next Prep leadership so the team can work toward systemic solutions.
• Coordinate logistics for program activities at the school — including site visits, simulations, capstones, and employer engagements.
• Participate in regular check-ins with Next Prep central staff and school leadership, contributing to continuous program improvement.
• Help adapt Next Prep programming to the specific schedule, context, and constraints of your partner school.

• Next Prep sets key metrics for all programming. The metrics below are examples of targets that you would be working towards as coordinator. The Next Prep team has discretion to amend these metrics before the start of the school year, but you will know exactly what you’re working towards and how to track it by the onset of the school year.

Required

• 3+ years of experience in youth development, school counseling, workforce development, or a related field
• A track record of building trusting relationships with high school students, especially those navigating systemic barriers
• Comfort managing multiple priorities and caseloads simultaneously — you thrive in environments where no two days are the same
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, especially when coordinating across students, employers, schools, and community college partners
• Clear, direct communication with students, families, school staff, and employer partners
• Deep belief that all students — regardless of background — deserve access to a real path to economic opportunity
• A willingness to learn about middle skill, high demand career pathways and a belief that college is not the only productive option for students after graduation
• Comfortable with learning new technologies and willing to help others learn how to apply technology to help them achieve their personal goals

Preferred

• Familiarity with apprenticeship models, career and technical education (CTE), or work-based learning programs
• Experience working within or alongside high schools, including navigating scheduling, graduation requirements, and school culture
• Knowledge of skilled trades, advanced manufacturing, or other technical career pathways
• Experience working directly with employers in a program or partnership capacity

• Base salary range: $50,000 - $53,000 annually.
• Opportunity to earn up to $60,000 salary if certain goals are met during the year.