Manager of Recruitment and Admissions

Job Description

Job Description

Salary : $55,400-$69,200 annually

Who We Are

Spark the Journey (Spark) is a nonprofit organization that provides mentorship and a community of support for young adults to chart their own paths to achieving college and career success. Formerly known as Capital Partners for Education (CPE), Spark has been working with talented young adults in the Washington, DC metro region for over 30 years and currently serves over 400 mentees annually. Spark the Journeys unique mentorship approach fosters long-lasting relationships between mentors and mentees as young adults choose to pursue the education, career path, or personal goals they want to achievewith a community of support behind them.

About the Role

The Manager of Recruitment and Admissions (MRA) plays a key leadership role in driving Spark's volunteer mentor recruitment efforts. This position serves as a pivotal connector between the strategic planning and daily execution within the Recruitment & Admissions team. The MRA is responsible for setting recruitment goals, managing timelines, and continuously refining approaches to ensure both immediate mentor recruitment needs and long-term volunteer engagement are met.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Recruitment and Admissions, the MRA collaborates closely to build and sustain partnerships that expand Sparks mentor pipeline across the DMV region. The MRA supervises the Recruitment Coordinator, fostering a high-performing, cross-collaborative team. This role is ideal for someone who lives in the Washington DC region and excels at volunteer engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and translating big-picture strategy into streamlined, people-centered recruitment operations.

Responsibilities

Recruitment and Engagement (60%)

• Design and lead recruitment, onboarding, and mentor engagement events, collaborating closely with the Recruitment Coordinator on logistics and execution
• Build and maintain strong relationships with school and non-profit partners, supporting the Associate Director to facilitate robust participant recruitment pipelines
• Maintain an active pipeline of prospective mentors through diverse sourcing channels, working in coordination with the Recruitment Coordinator
• Oversee and manage the process of matching mentors and mentees including logistics and data coordination with the Associate Director, focusing in on process improvement and implementation
• Create, update, and distribute all materials related to recruitment, matching, and engagement events, ensuring brand and message consistency in partnership with the Recruitment Coordinator and the Development team
• Coordinate Recruitment communications and events with Programs team leads to ensure unified integration within the broader program calendar and initiatives
• Lead and coordinate Mentor Champion Coalition activities, including empowering members to execute key projects
• Collaborate with Associate Director to manage annual mentor and participant recruitment budgets, ensuring efficient allocation of resources

Program Refinement (10%)

Team Management (30%)

Qualifications

Education & Experience

Skills & Attributes

Technical Tools

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

This position is partially a sedentary role but requires the ability to travel to and move around at events in the DMV areas. The person in this position will need to speak clearly and loudly in front of an audience; respond to emails, chat messages, and audio / visual communications; and may need to occasionally move about inside the office to liaise with internal team members and external volunteers, access files, and use office machinery such as a copier / printer.

We are not able to sponsor employment visas for this position. Applicants for this position should be legally able to work full time in the United States for 12 months.

Compensation & Benefits

The starting salary for this position is $63,600the midpoint of the roles annual salary range ($56,000$71,200). Depending on skills and experience brought to the role, the salary may increase within this range. To counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity, Spark uses a non-negotiable salary system. Our goal is to offer a competitive salary that also meets our equity guidelines. Rather than negotiating, we offer a comprehensive benefits package which includes :