Literacy Specialist, Alpha - $100,000/year USD

What sets you apart is that six-year-olds are excited to see you. At Alpha, this position is first and foremost a Guide role: a dynamic, captivating presence children want to engage with. Your structured-literacy training opens the door; your capacity to hold a K-2 group's full attention for a 20-minute session is what secures the offer. If "dynamic, captivating presence" does not describe you, this position is not a fit.

Alpha has dismantled conventional instruction. Students work through academic content independently on AI-adaptive applications - no lectures, no textbooks, no district pacing calendars. Your role represents the one space where a human specialist cannot be replaced. You build small-group reading sessions based on live student performance data, and you facilitate motivation sessions that push 100% of your students to meet their weekly app targets using Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification).

Your early months focus on establishing credibility with the students. Sessions must be engaging, appropriately leveled, and demonstrably effective. Student satisfaction metrics and "love your Guide" feedback (target 90%+) track this directly. Once you establish that foundation, your responsibilities expand: analyzing AI-generated performance insights to refine upcoming instruction, communicating fluency progress and decoding milestones to families, and contributing to how Alpha's K-2 literacy model develops in tandem with adaptive technology. As Alpha opens new campuses, your work becomes the blueprint for reading instruction across the organization.

Before an offer is extended, you will submit a brief video presenting an engaging story for young children, and you will complete a full day on campus interacting directly with K-2 students. Low energy with children will disqualify candidates, regardless of credential strength. This is intentional. Apply today.

What you will be doing

• Creating and facilitating small-group K-2 reading sessions rooted in structured-literacy approaches (Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, LETRS, IMSE, or equivalent), informed by live student data
• Facilitating daily motivation sessions that ensure 100% of students reach their weekly adaptive-app targets, using Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification)
• Conducting and evaluating running records, fluency assessments, and decoding probes to monitor progress and adjust subsequent instruction
• Analyzing AI-generated performance insights from Alpha's adaptive learning platforms to differentiate instruction on the fly, not only during planning
• Serving as the engaging, energetic adult your K-2 students are excited to see each day

What you will NOT be doing

• Implementing a commercial reading curriculum, scripted program, or district pacing calendar; you create your own lessons based on student data
• Delivering whole-class lectures; all instruction occurs in small, targeted groups and students complete academic subjects through adaptive apps
• Serving as a reading consultant, teacher coach, or district-level specialist; you are in the classroom with students every day
• Managing a traditional classroom schedule - subject-by-subject lectures, homework review, test prep; your time is allocated to workshops, motivation sessions, and data-informed small groups
• Scoring homework or issuing report cards; student progress is captured in app data and your running records, Provide structured-literacy instruction that produces measurable acceleration in K-2 reading outcomes across phonics, fluency, and decoding.

Do you have experience in Working with students?, Do you have a Master's degree?, You have invested years becoming fluent in structured literacy. Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson, IMSE, or a Master's in reading instruction. You listen to a student's reading error and immediately identify the phonemic skill that needs work. You build phonics lessons from scratch, without depending on a boxed program. That expertise is expected. It is not what sets you apart., * Structured-literacy certification (Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson Reading System, IMSE, CERI, Neuhaus, UFLI, or equivalent) OR a Master's degree in reading instruction

• Bachelor's degree in any field, plus 2+ years of full-time K-2 structured reading instruction in a school or clinical environment, utilizing systematic phonics or structured literacy
• Proven ability to design independent reading lessons and clearly explain what you teach and how, without depending on a published program
• Willingness to work full-time in person at one Alpha campus: Phoenix, AZ; Oklahoma City or Tulsa, OK; Nashville, TN; Austin, Fort Worth, Houston (South Houston or The Woodlands), or Plano, TX; Park City (Salt Lake City), UT; or Dorado, Puerto Rico (relocation assistance available)
• Willingness to work with all K-2 students (not exclusively struggling readers) and to incorporate AI and adaptive-learning tools into everyday instruction
• Legally authorized to work in the U.S. or Puerto Rico without visa sponsorship
• Bilingual English/Spanish required for the Dorado, Puerto Rico campus

Nice to have

• Direct experience with AI-powered or adaptive reading platforms (e.g., Amira, Lexia, i-Ready, Reading Plus) for instructional planning or student data interpretation
• Documented record of measurable reading gains (fluency growth in WCPM, accuracy improvement, decoding level progression) you can cite with specific numbers
• Experience in non-traditional or innovative educational models (charter, micro-school, Montessori, hybrid)
• Experience performing, coaching youth sports, or otherwise engaging a K-2 audience beyond the reading classroom

Pulled from the full job description

• Health insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Relocation assistance, * $100,000 annual salary, distributed weekly, with health, dental, and vision coverage starting day one