Job Description

Springboard Fellow

Houston Hillel

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Houston Hillel as the Springboard Fellow. You will build one on one relationships with students, plan and execute engaging events and programs around campus, and help inspire students to make a commitment to Jewish life . Houston Hillel fosters Jewish life on college campuses in Southeast Texas. In addition to working with undergraduates, Houston Hillel includes two additional components with their own engagement professionals. Jewston is Houston Hillel’s Community for Jewish Twentysomethings (grad students and young professionals), and QJews provides a celebratory space for Houston's Queer Jews in their Twenties and Thirties.

As the Springboard Fellow you are the primary undergraduate engagement professional at Rice University and the University of Houston. You’re always reimagining the ordinary and thinking about ways to repurpose or make things better. You think big and creatively – to you, everything is a possibility and nothing is too big to tackle. As the Springboard Fellow you are an indispensable professional who will make our students’ college experience relevant, exciting, and memorable. You'll wake up each day (or at least most) and be genuinely excited and enthusiastic about creating an inviting place that inspires students to explore, experience, and create vibrant Jewish lives. This is so much more than your average 9-to-5.

Houston Hillel is at a pivotal moment, actively rethinking how Jewish life is expressed and experienced on our campuses. Rather than stepping into a fixed system, our Springboard Fellow plays a meaningful role in shaping what comes next. We value flexibility and initiative, encouraging Fellows to propose ideas, create programs, and stretch beyond a narrow job description as part of their professional growth. Fellows are also included in board meetings and organizational conversations, reflecting our belief that early-career professionals benefit from exposure to leadership and governance and should feel the significance of their role within the organization.

About The Springboard Fellowship

The Springboard Fellowship is a paid, two-year fellowship that brings recent college grads with raw talent, passion, and skills needed to reimagine and redesign Jewish student life to college campuses across North America.

Trained in Relationship-Based Engagement, Human-Centered Design and other entrepreneurial frameworks, you will be exposed to the most successful initiatives from across the Hillel movement. Fellows will work with students to imagine, create, and refine experiences for Jewish life that dramatically impact student engagement, efficiently and strategically apply and scale successful initiatives from across the movement, and give birth to cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to transform how Hillel and creates inclusive spaces for #AllKindsOfJewish.

We’re looking for people who embrace challenges, take risks, fail, and learn from the past, while maintaining their passion and sense of humor. Extensive Jewish education is not necessary — just an interest in creating a vibrant Jewish community, a commitment to learning, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of students.

What You’ll Do

GOALS:

• Build one-on-one relationships with 150 students currently not engaged in Jewish life.
• Collaborate with students and colleagues to develop your own programs and help others implement theirs.
• Learn the skills that will enable you to embark on your next professional adventure.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Map out a plan to strategically engage undergraduates at contrasting universities.
• Supervise student interns who are responsible for engaging their peers in Jewish life on campus.
• Meet with students at Rice University and the University of Houston to understand their backgrounds and work with them to radically reimagine Jewish life on their terms.
• Host brainstorming sessions to develop ideas that fill the gaps in Houston Hillel programming on campus.
• Teach our Jewish Learning Fellowship.

Who You Are

• You’re A Relationship-Builder: You thrive on meeting new people, understanding their interests, and forging meaningful connections.
• You’re A Collaborative Team Player: You enjoy working collaboratively with a team to solve problems and explore new initiatives.
• You’re A Passionate Learner: You love learning and continuously building up your Jewish knowledge.
• You’re An Innovative Educator: You believe in infusing education into captivating experiences that stimulate the imagination.
• You’re A Facilitator: You thrive in creating spaces for students to converse, share ideas, and explore and develop their own ideas on relevant issues.
• You’re A Recent College Grad: Whatever your degree, you are excited about Jewish life on campus and have experience as a participant and maybe even as an educator in a Jewish educational setting.
• You’re A Creative Thinker: You are constantly reimagining the ordinary, seeking ways to repurpose and improve things.
• You’re A Bold Visionary: Think big and creatively, viewing everything as a possibility and embracing a risk-taking, entrepreneurial spirit.

~You’re A Springboard Fellow ~

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• 0 -3 years professional work experience.
• Bachelor's degree.
• This is an in-person role location in Houston, Texas; remote work is not available for this position.
• Strong entrepreneurial spirit. Things may not always go according to plan and you must be willing to take risks and learn from your wins as well as your losses.
• Confidence initiating and running programs, and comfort asking questions.
• Ability to collaborate across teams both inside and outside of Houston Hillel.
• Willingness to admit what you don’t know, and excitement to learn in those areas.
• Creative problem-solving.
• Excitement to continue developing your own relationship to Judaism.

What You’ll Receive

• Competitive salary in the Houston nonprofit marketplace. The salary for this role is $46,000 in year one of the Fellowship, and the salary range is $48,000- $50,000 in year two of the Fellowship.
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plan, Life, AD&D and Long Term Disability (LTD) insurances, Flexible Spending accounts, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
• High-level professional development to help develop core skills in experiential education, including learning from some of the most innovative organizations in Jewish education today.
• $3,200 in professional development funds from the Springboard Fellowship to utilize over the course of two years.
• Intensive Jewish summer and year-long learning experiences that will provide you with the knowledge, passion, and critical tool kit to fuel your work building our Jewish communities.
• Mentoring and career coaching to help you during and after your Fellowship.
• A network of terrific colleagues from across the Hillel movement.
• Travel opportunities, both domestically and internationally, multiple times per year (if permitted).
• Living in Houston, the most racially and ethnically diverse city in America, that enjoys affordable housing and a low cost of living.
• A Remote Work Stipend that will enable you to work from anywhere on campus and throughout the community.
• Access to Houston Hillel’s fund solely dedicated to providing financial travel support for employees seeking abortion access that is not available locally.
• The opportunity to deliver a High Holy Day sermon. Rabbi Kenny Weiss will work with you as you craft your sermon and learn delivery techniques.