Director of Engagement and Programming

About the Position

The Director of Engagement and Programming is a full-time employee who’s part of JRC’s core staff team. This person is responsible for facilitating connections and engagement throughout the congregation. They play an integral role in programming and event management, member outreach, Jewish life, and customer service. They support JRC’s financial sustainability by increasing member retention and managing rental relationships. The Director of Engagement and Programming reports to the Executive Director and works closely with our Rabbi. The role is Tuesday-Saturday in order to support clergy, programming, and rentals.

About Us

JRC, one of the Reconstructionist movement’s largest congregations with about 430 households, sits on the border of Evanston and Chicago, creating a special mix of suburban and city culture. Our members represent a beautiful diversity of Jewish observance, gender and sexual identity, race, and interfaith families. We are a hands-on, highly collaborative congregation with members leading many aspects of community life with our dynamic staff and clergy.

Salary and Benefits

The salary range for this full-time, exempt position is $70,000-80,000, commensurate with experience. Benefits include paid time off, paid parental leave, medical, dental and vision insurance plans, and option to participate in JRC's retirement plan.

Essential Functions:

Facilitate synagogue programs, connections, and engagement in the congregation

• Strategize ways to engage members, facilitate connections within the congregation, and boost volunteerism
• Collaborate with members, clergy, and staff to support engaging, robust Jewish community programming for the congregation
• Oversee JRC’s program calendar, facilitating the process among members, clergy, and staff; create facility usage plans based on other programming and staff availability
• Support members in planning and executing events, with a zoomed out lens and dreaming big
• Work with Executive Director and volunteer marketing team to promote programming internally and externally
• Create program listings in JRC’s online WordPress calendar and work with the Executive Director to share via social media

Ensure smooth and meaningful ritual and lifecycle events for members

• Oversee B’nai Mitzvah process in collaboration with clergy, including ritual, celebrations, and orientations; provide concierge-like support to families
• Act as point-person for B’nai Mitzvah rentals, including contracts, vendors, insurance, and delivery/setup for celebrations
• Provide logistical and practical coordination for Shabbat and holiday services, including coordination for tech, setups, facility needs, supplies, and ritual objects
• Collaborate with clergy, lay leaders, members, and staff for ritual, holiday, lifecycle events, and Shabbat experiences; act as High Holidays point person

 Manage and promote JRC rental program, increasing rental revenue

• Manage relationship with prospective and contracted renters, overseeing all aspects of rental from planning to execution
• Work with Executive Director and lay-led marketing team to promote JRC as a rental venue
• Attend events as needed

 Supervise facility event support staff

• Manage recruiting and hiring
• Provide ongoing training and support to facility event staff, maintaining a positive work culture and clear expectations
• Communicate and coordinate details of events (e.g., setup, tech needs, staffing, schedules, etc.) for comprehensive and successful execution

About You

We’re a nimble team with diverse skills to serve our close-knit, warm, relaxed congregation. The best fit for this role is someone with experience working with nonprofit organizations or member-based organizations, preferably synagogues or other Jewish institutions. You have extensive involvement with project management. You are excited to strategize and execute your vision, and you are enthusiastic about Jewish life in our congregation. You have a calm, compassionate way with people and you enjoy facilitating community connections. You’re a good oral and written communicator and you have a keen attention to detail. You can work independently and proactively, though you enjoy collaborating on a small team. You can work on multiple projects, adapting your work to accomplish the big picture via the detailed tasks and effective problem solving. And you are tech-savvy and quick to adapt easily to new tech platforms.

We strongly encourage applications from candidates reflective of the communities JRC serves, including people of color, those in interfaith relationships, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and individuals with varied identities and backgrounds, including Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to Micky Baer at [email protected] or 847-328-7678 ext. 14.

Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation is an Equal Opportunity employer.