Executive Director

About Big City Mountaineers

At Big City Mountaineers, we work alongside the transformative powers of nature to foster a lasting impact in the lives of youth from disinvested communities. BCM creates opportunities for 12 to 18 year-olds to connect with nature and realize their own sources of strength, resilience, confidence, serenity and joy by providing free, fully outfitted, and professionally led outdoor experiences. BCM’s programming culminates in a weeklong backcountry trip, which is often the first time the youth we serve experience the outdoors in such a way. The BCM experience enables youth to take on healthy and relevant challenges and cultivate a connection to themselves, their community, to nature, and to joy. 

Over thirty five years, BCM’s programming has come to be a recognized and highly regarded national nonprofit.  BCM is at an exciting point in its history, one that holds great potential and opportunity to reimagine how the organization can best deliver on its mission. Our team includes a dedicated staff, seasonal trip instructors, and volunteers. 

Though we are headquartered in Colorado, Big City Mountaineers’ regional hubs touch both coasts, and several locations in between. We are located on the ancestral territories the Ute, (Denver, CO), the Dakota and Anishinibawaki (Minneapolis, MN), the Ohlone, Ramaytush, Chochenyo, and Muwekma (San Francisco Bay Area), the Duwamish (Seattle, WA), and the Muscogee Creek and Shawnee (Birmingham, AL).

Position Overview

The Executive Director role calls for an empathetic and visionary leader with exceptional operational and financial acumen, including proven skills in organizational leadership and collaborative decision making.   The successful candidate will have experience leading a national or hybrid organization, with a track record of growing and diversifying revenues through donor relations, grant writing, corporate partnerships, and identifying new funding sources. A passion for the outdoors and youth development is essential, expressed in professional, personal, or volunteer activities in outdoor and or youth education. The Executive Director should bring experience in leading and implementing a strategic visioning process and managing through organizational change.  Lived experience or work experience with equity, diversity, and inclusion practices is a must.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director will execute the Board’s strategic vision for BCM, leading the organization in fulfilling its mission. With the Board, the Executive Director helps to set the vision and strategic plan, inspiring internal and external stakeholders to work toward the organizational mission and goals.  They will partner closely with the Board and communicate actively to provide the Board with all information necessary to make informed decisions.

The Executive Director will lead, inspire, and grow the team of full-time staff, seasonal trip instructors, and volunteers throughout BCM’s regional areas across the United States. They will collaborate with the Board to direct the organization’s budget towards growing BCM’s most critical and impactful programs.

Position Summary

The Executive Director will lead a national team to achieve BCM’s mission anchored in our values. Responsibilities include pursuing the strategic vision of the Board of Directors; day-to-day guidance of BCM, including program operations, staff management, fundraising and revenue generation; financial management; administrative management; and communications. 

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 

Strategic Direction

• Steward the strategic direction of the organization as defined by the Board of Directors.  
• Lead a collaborative process with the Board and staff for ongoing development and execution of strategic and operational plans, to incorporate programs, policy work partnerships, communications, and fundraising.
• Champion and live BCM’s mission, vision, and values to staff, volunteers, youth development agency partners, and donors.

Staff Management

• Perform day-to-day staff management, including but not limited to performance management, staff development, compensation, benefits, and relationship management.  
• Oversee BCM employee lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, retention, development and offboarding of BCM’s year-round, temporary, contractor, and volunteer staff. Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.  
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment, bringing people together as a team and making them feel valued and connected to the organization’s mission. 
• Steward National Council, volunteers, and contractors to cultivate a sustainable network in service of BCM’s mission. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Advocate for equity and access to transformative outdoor experiences for disinvested communities.
• Demonstrate a critical analysis of barriers that impact disinvested communities to ensure that the resources and programs BCM provides to communities are in service of the organization’s mission.
• Commit to building diversity and equity in BCM’s programs, processes, and policies.

Program Operations

• Oversee BCM’s programming and ensure alignment with the strategic vision of the Board.
• Supervise the National Program Director and provide support with program design and logistics, transportation logistics, contracted services, staffing and training, risk and safety management, and post-program evaluation.  
• Align youth outcomes of BCM programming with mission and values.

Development

• Oversee fundraising and development activities (both financial and in-kind) to ensure financial sustainability of the organization.
• Supervise Development Director and provide support with donor relations, grant writing, diverse donor cultivation, and identifying new funding sources (individual, corporate, foundation, government, and other sources).
• Steward and cultivate major donor relationships. 
• Ensure program growth aligns with cultivated revenue streams. 

Financial Management

• Ensure financial growth and adequate reserves as specified by the Board of Directors.  
• Responsible for budget management, financial audit, managing BCM’s endowment, and reporting in coordination with the Board and Finance committee. 
• Develop and manage annual budgets and forecasts for approval by the Board.  
• Implement risk management best practices to ensure organizational sustainability. 
• Manage third party contracts that support BCM’s operations and administrative needs. 

BCM is a dynamic organization with varying emerging needs. Responsibilities may include other administrative duties as needs arise.

 

Desired Experience and Qualifications

A successful Executive Director candidate will have: 

• Experience working with a comparably-sized or complex organization with multiple operating locations, diverse stakeholders, and various funding streams; 
• Ability to lead stakeholders in innovation, refinement, and operational excellence in pursuit of the mission.
• Experience with change management best practices and helping organizations transition through financial, staff, and other major changes.
• Ability to lead complex educational and programmatic changes to reach the desired youth development outcomes. 
• Passion for the environment, social justice, youth development, and the benefits of outdoor access. 
• Demonstrated success in fundraising and understanding of development strategies; exceptional communication, story-telling, and relationship-building skills; the ability to think creatively and outside-the-box in partnering with private and corporate funders; 
• Proven management abilities with a record of broad operational oversight, including overseeing complex budgets; 
• Experience cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with a governing board;
• Experience building community with diverse partners and skills to navigate conflict. Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusivity, collaboration, respect and care for the people, partners and the natural world we work with. Ability to cultivate relationships built on care, reciprocity and reflection. 
• An inspirational and transparent communication style in diverse settings, ranging from large groups to one-on-one conversations; a capacity to connect with and relate to members of the BCM community on a personal level.  Self-awareness and the tendency to respond to dissonance with curiosity and inquiry.
• Experience with risk management and incident response systems. Wilderness First Aid certification or ability to gain one within the first 3 months of employment.  

 

Employment & Compensation

This is a full-time exempt position with expectations for some nights and weekend availability, with a starting annual salary range of $95-125k/year. The Executive Director will be eligible to receive medical, dental, and vision insurance within one month of hire.  Big City Mountaineers employees enjoy over 30 paid days off per calendar year) and flexibility in terms of work schedule. Employees have access to additional benefits after an initial period of employment.

Candidates will only be considered if they live in, or plan on relocating to, the Arvada, CO area. 

The expected start date for this position is December 1, 2025.

 

How to Apply & Timeline

Please submit a current resume and cover letter detailing why you believe your experience and passions align with BCM’s needs to [email protected]. In your cover letter, be sure to address the following: 

• Your professional experience and track record of success that will help you thrive in this role
• Your personal “Why”, both in terms of our mission and why this is the right moment and role for you in your professional path
• How your personal identity and/or lived experiences play a role in your motivation and ability to do this work

Please combine both documents into a single PDF file, and use the subject heading format [Your Full Name] – Executive Director  Application.  (there are several free PDF creator tools online to help you with this)

All applications or internal statements of interest must be received no later than October 31 @ 11:59pm MT. If we feel you are a potential fit, we will be in touch to schedule an interview.

Big City Mountaineers is invested in cultivating a diverse candidate pool and is interested in connecting with candidates whose identities and/or lived experiences reflect the youth we serve. We understand that our next Executive Director  may not have taken a traditional professional path, and we encourage interested individuals to apply even if they don’t meet every one of our qualifications listed.