Young adult leadership is critical to SSP’s mission to mentor and guide volunteers, especially youth, in their service-learning work with our partner communities. We hire teams of 6 staff members to lead each site.

Sierra Service Project is now accepting applications for these summer staff positions:

Why work for SSP?

Rewarding & Challenging

Staff live and work together, running all aspects of the summer program for 150 to 300 youth, young adult, and adult volunteers. Most volunteers spend a week at site, but local volunteers may serve with us just for a day.
Unique Responsibilities

From preparing meals for large groups to drawing plans for construction projects, each position has unique responsibilities. No prior SSP or job experience needed, training provided.
Community Building

All staff members share in the responsibility for safeguarding the health and safety of the whole community. Each staff member contributes to modeling and creating a safe, supportive environment of growth for all participants.
Benefits & Training

Meals, transportation, and housing are provided for the duration of employment. Ten days of paid training is provided in Sacramento before staff head to the SSP summer site location in our partner communities.

Locations

Staff will be work with three partner communities during the 2024 summer:

Employment dates are June 12 (when training begins) and August 11 (when debrief concludes). Contact us if you have scheduling conflicts.

Site Director summer employment begins June 8. They also work part-time throughout February-May to interview applicants, communicate with their staff team after hiring, visit partner communities, and prepare for staff training. This is mostly asynchronous work, increasing in frequency as the summer approaches, and based on the Site Director team availability. Site Directors meet on Zoom for training and planning sessions for one hour every other week, increasing to weekly in the weeks leading up to the summer.

Qualifications

18+ and a high school graduate (or GED) plus at least one year of college or work experience
Suitability to work with and act as a role model to youth
Mature and flexible leadership among people of all ages and backgrounds
Capability in conflict resolution, communication, and organization
Able to work with no or limited interruption for the duration of your employment. Please identify any schedule limitations within the application.
Employees who work with youth are required by California law to complete Live Scan fingerprinting (paid for and organized by SSP); any convictions may lead to a job offer being revoked.

Deadline: February 1

2024 staff teams have been announced. At times we need last minute staff to fill in – please reach out if you would like to be called upon.

Application Process

Complete an online application, which includes essay questions and identifying references. We will send an online questionnaire to your references via email, and advise you to give advance notice to allow them sufficient time to complete this reference.

We suggest writing and editing your essays in a separate document and copying and pasting your responses into the fields. Take the essay questions seriously, but limit your responses to 150-250 words. If you prefer, you may answer any question via a 1 to 3 minute audio / video response. List n/a in the essay response field.

Informational Zoom Call & Interview

After completing this application and receiving your references, someone in the SSP office will contact you to schedule an informational Zoom call. The next step will be a Zoom interview with two Site Directors and one HQ staff person.

Apply for Summer Staff

Staff Pay

The base salary is $3,590 for 8 ½ weeks of work. Meals, housing, and transportation are provided.

Salaries for SSP summer staff are determined by the experience required to do each job. The salary calculation for each job is:

Salary = Standard Base Salary + Experience Additional Pay

Standard Base Salary

The standard base salary for all positions is $3,590 for 8 ½ weeks of work.

In-Person Experience Additional Pay

Individuals who have worked for SSP in the past receive additional pay according to the number of years they have served on staff in-person. This pay is received regardless of whether you have done a particular job before or not.

1 year: $200 additional pay
2 years: $500 additional pay
3 years: $900 additional pay
4 or more years: $1,300 additional pay

Site Directors will also be paid $1,150 throughout the spring for pre-summer work including reviewing staff applications, hiring weekend, regular check ins, and site visits.

Examples:

If it is your first summer on staff, your pay will be base $3,590
If you worked for one summer in-person, your pay will be the base $3,590 + $200 additional pay = $3,790.

Apply for Summer Staff

Not quite ready to apply?

Ask any questions you have in the contact form below and someone will get back to you within 72 hours.

Job Descriptions

* All staff are paid a base salary plus additional pay based on the number of years they have served on staff in-person.

Construction Coordinator

There are three Construction Coordinators at each site. They work together as a team who are responsible for the selection and completion of home repair and community-based projects, taking care of work teams, and managing the site’s tool and building material budgets.

Base Salary: $3,590 per summer*

Food Service Coordinator

There are two Food Service Coordinators (FSCs) at each site. These individuals work together as a team. The FSCs are responsible for providing healthy food for all volunteers who have a variety of dietary needs. The FSCs control over one third of the site budget.

The position of Food Service Coordinator is considered an entry level SSP job. Many individuals have started their SSP staff careers at the Food Service Coordinator position and have moved on in subsequent summers to other positions.

Base Salary: $3,590 per summer*

Spiritual Life Coordinator

The Spiritual Life Coordinator is responsible for the creation and implementation of the spiritual program for the summer. The Spiritual Life Coordinator also assists all other staff members as necessary with their jobs.

Base Salary: $3,590 per summer*

Site Director

The Site Director is responsible for the overall operation of the site: supervising the staff and ensuring that everyone involved in SSP (volunteers, staff, and community partners) has a safe and meaningful experience.

Site Directors are selected as early in the year as possible and participate in the hiring of the rest of the staff.

Base Salary: $3,590 per summer*

Site Directors will also be paid $1,150 throughout the spring for pre-summer work reviewing staff applications, hiring weekend, Zoom check ins, and site visits.

Apply for Summer Staff