Residential Director - Heartlight.jobs

Residential Directors

Supervisory role overseeing residential houses, staff, and daily operations to ensure a supportive, structured, and effective living environment.

Summary
Full Description

Summary Overview of Residential Directors Position.

Heartlight Ministries is seeking a compassionate, servant-hearted leaders to join our team as Residential Directors. This role is designed for someone who thrives in relationships, enjoys mentoring others, and is passionate about helping struggling teens and their families experience lasting change.

Residential Directors oversee two residential homes on Heartlight’s campus, providing leadership, support, and encouragement to the staff who live and work directly with residents. They play a key role in maintaining a healthy, safe, and engaging environment while helping ensure consistency in daily operations, programming, activities, and resident care.

In addition to staff leadership, Residential Directors help coordinate activities, support family events and retreats, respond to resident needs and emergencies, and contribute to the overall success of Heartlight’s residential program. Depending on experience and strengths, each Residential Director also assumes a specialized leadership area such as staff support and scheduling, program activities, or campus-wide event coordination.

Qualifications

Strong leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills

Experience working with teens, young adults, ministry, education, residential programs, or team leadership preferred

Ability to mentor, encourage, and develop staff while fostering a positive team culture

Organized, dependable, and capable of managing multiple responsibilities

Strong problem-solving and conflict-resolution abilities

Commitment to Heartlight’s Christian mission, values, and approach to caring for teens and families

Schedule & Commitment

Full-time leadership position averaging approximately 50 hours per week

Monday–Friday schedule with flexibility required for the needs of a residential ministry

Participation in three annual Family Retreats

Rotating on-call responsibilities, typically one weekend per month

Active involvement in campus events, activities, staff training, and resident support

Residential ministry is more than a traditional office role and requires a willingness to invest in the lives of teens and staff outside of standard business hours when needed

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $42,000–$54,000 annually

Employer-provided housing valued at approximately $10,000 per year

Health, dental, and life insurance benefits

401(k) retirement plan with up to an 8% employer match after one year of employment

Paid time off that increases with tenure

12 paid holidays annually

Additional compensatory time off provided for on-call weekend responsibilities

1. Introduction

This position is one that requires relational skills, a great action-oriented sense of responsibility, a sensitive person that can respond to those they are responsible for, and a dedication to reliability. Each Residential Director oversees two of the on-campus houses for the residents and will entail the care and encouragement of the staff in those houses.

Each of the Assistant Directors will also take on an additional responsibility suited to their capabilities and talents. Those areas of responsibilities will be Activities I, Activities II, Staff Support Scheduling, with one of these positions being the Lead Residential Director who has oversight of all the Residential Director’s positions.

The entire residential staff that live in-house with the teen residents are the backbone and blessing of the Heartlight program. Their oversight and encouragement determine the success of the residential program. This position as a Residential Director is to ensure that each house they oversee, and each area of responsibility they are given, is one dedicated to effectiveness, excellence, and the pursuit of relationships with all.

2. Qualifications

Strong leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills

Experience working with teens, young adults, ministry, education, residential programs, or team leadership preferred

Ability to mentor, encourage, and develop staff while fostering a positive team culture

Organized, dependable, and capable of managing multiple responsibilities

Strong problem-solving and conflict-resolution abilities

Commitment to Heartlight’s Christian mission, values, and approach to caring for teens and families

3. Necessary Skills

Heartlight’s desire is for the person in this position to be a people person, who sees the value of working with teens that are struggling.

Their character and integrity is paramount.

Our hope for all the staff is they are Christians that embrace scriptural values and principles.

The desire to have this person be a team player and have good organizational skills.

We hope this position demonstrates maturity, responsibility, patience while not afraid to learn new skills and ways to help the teens that God has placed in our care.

We hope that all become knowledgeable to what is required, understands Heartlight’s expectations, and isn’t afraid to give those around them a taste of the character of God.

2. Specific Responsibilities

1. Lead Assistant Director

This position must be able to “connect” with the staff in the houses they oversee, and be one that offers and help, guidance and direction to each residential staff. They are to be seen as an advocate helper, and not an inspector and policeman. This connection means that the Residential Director will be actively involved in the lives of their staff and be one who guarantees the success and prudent operation of the houses they oversee and the staff and residents that live there.

2. Staff Support & Scheduling

This position requires that they are involved in daily interaction with those in their houses, as well as involvement in training on a weekly basis, helping staff know of the standards required by Heartlight’s license as well as the operations of Heartlight. This would include weekly meetings with the House Directors (One in each house). This person has a daily presence in each of their houses to give assistance to the overall operation of the house, and interact about the demeanor and necessary actions of residents. This would include the review of the weekly schedule and an asking of how they might be of assistance to the House Director, while receiving updates on plans, needs, and program involvement.

3. Functioning of Program

The person in this position has got to be the greatest cheerleader of the houses and staff that live with those residents. Planning particular portions of the schedule along with activities is an important role in the functioning of the house. Ideas, creativity, sharing the needs of the house as well as encouraging involvement of the staff and residents in the various activities is essential. There are times that the Residential Director is the communicator with parents, usually on “on-call” weekends. This support of a house’s involvement and participant also includes the 3 Family Retreats that are held each year.

4. Functioning of Program: Activities

• Q&A, a weekly event that involves all houses and staff getting together during the week.

• Masters Program that involves all residents in various season adjusted activities that happens once a week.

• Family Retreat development and execution of all activities including food, events, entertainment, etc.

• Bible Study that is held once a week with the guys and gal residents that consists of a particular staff sharing about their relationship with Christ.

• Lake Days are held during the summer only and consist of water fun, boat driving, wakeboarding, and kayaking. This position would entail planning, preparing and executing these days.

• Friday Night Fun is a night that provides an activity for the guys and one for the gals, something that is on property and gives the girl’s houses, and the guy’s houses an opportunity to get together.

5. Care and Cleanliness of the Facility

The position includes the care and upkeep of the two houses that each Residential Director is supervising. This means ensuring that the house is clean, in order, repaired, functioning, and kept up. This includes the house itself, the surrounding areas of landscape around house, the care of the house van, resident’s and staff’s rooms. For the times that a house is delegated a scheduled work project, the Residential Director insures of the timeliness, completion and returning any equipment used. Delegation and oversight is an important roles in taking care of the property.

6. Involvement and Intervention with the Residents

This position participates and many times takes the lead in handling inappropriate and disruptive behavior of residents. While this is not necessarily an everyday event, it does happen, and the Residential Director will have to be involved and be the point person in managing the situation. This includes, but is not limited to runaway situation, medical emergencies, covering for other residential sick staff, and being available when “on”.

The overall of this position is to be a living reflection of truth and grace, a place of comfort and strength, and one who offers themself to the residents and staff with unconditional love.

7. Team Management of Residential Operation

Heartlight is a well-oiled machine that molds the different facets of the Heartlight program (counseling, therapeutic groups, program, activities, academics, events, work projects) into a concerted effort to provide an atmosphere of change with the residents, staff, and all parents and family involved. Heartlight’s employees work as a team and no one person is any more important to the organization, as each role is important and crucial for the success of the program.

3. Schedule & PTO

A residential program means involvement in the life of the teens we serve. Because it’s a 24-hour operation, there will always be a demand on time outside of normal work hours. That’s the nature of this ministry. It’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle of involvement that will hopefully one day change the destiny of those families that entrust their teens to us.

BUT, that doesn’t mean that we don’t operate within the guideline of healthy employment. The work schedule is typically 50 hours a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. That is determined by holidays, Heartlight’s Break Times, Paid Time Off, extra days off for participation in retreats and on-call duty. An office is maintained at the Conference Center.

Heartlight has a Paid Time Off system, where accumulated days are used as vacation, sick time, family tragedies. The longer you are an employee of Heartlight, the more time off one has. Those accumulate at a rate where there would be 7 days off after 6 months of service and increase accordingly all the way up to 23 days off a year after 4 years employment.

Heartlight recognizes 12 national holidays, and for any On-Call weekends (Once a month) the Residential Directors are given an additional 2 days off to be used sometime that same month.

This position requires that all Residential Directors also participate at our 3 Family Retreat held throughout the year and determine their schedule around those dates.

4. Compensation Package

The Salary Range for this position is between The Salary Range for this position is between $42,000 to $54,000.

This Assistant Director position also includes Health, Dental, and Life insurance as a fringe benefits. In addition, after a year’s involvement with Heartlight, one can participate in Heartlight’s 401(k) retirement program which offers a generous 8% match.

Heartlight also provides off-site housing for this position, determined to have a value of $10,000 annually, an economic benefit to the one holding this position.