Join one of the most innovative, effective & action-packed outdoor education teams.
Trackers teaches kids the skills that carried humans for more than two million years: fire, shelter, tracking, foraging, archery, blacksmithing, boats, and bows. We teach them for the connection real skills give to kids and families. A kindergartner who tracks elk to where they browse learns the forest is alive. A middle schooler who sleeps warm in a shelter she built stops asking permission to be capable.
Our school-year programs are mentorships. The same educator holds the same kids from fall through spring and into summer, and every scheduled day counts. That educator is the Coordinator, and the day-to-day is yours to run: your program sites, your team of Guides and Interns, and every kid and family in your care. You help design the year alongside our program directors: the curriculum arcs, skill progressions, story immersions, and the intensive operations that carry them. Then you teach in what you built, leading a team of Guides and Interns who bring each day to life.
Trackers runs camps and classes for over 20,000 youth and adults a year across Portland, the Bay Area, and Seattle. We are a craft school that runs like a production company and a film set. Our high-level precision is not bureaucracy. It is what lets one Coordinator and their Guides take twenty-six kids to the coast at low tide and bring every one of them home fed, tired, and inspired.
Why We Teach This Way
Our mission goes against the grain of the modern world. We hold that self is not more important than family. That youth is not the only relevant voice. That humans are not the most important species. If that reads as relief instead of offense, keep going.
Here we do hard things. We transport kids from the city to real wilderness, run in all weather, and teach five-year-olds to carve with real knives, carefully, because grit builds the confidence that consumer comfort never will. We're called Trackers because tracking is a way of seeing and understanding: reading landscapes, recognizing patterns, noticing what everyone else walks past. It shapes what and all we teach.
Kids grow up here inside our Four Guilds, a story that feels timeless and offers context to the myriad of what we teach.
- Rangers train to Be Ready. They keep alive the arts of forest craft, honing wilderness survival, tracking, and awareness. Rangers move invisibly like the Wind.
- Mariners grow to Be Gritty. They sail by salty trade and wisdom, fishing and foraging, charting a course by stars, currents, and tides. Mariners Respect the Waters.
- Wilders live as Caretakers. They tend plants, trees, and creatures, guiding the needs of people into harmony with every season. Wilders root in and Restore the Earth.
- Artisans connect the Team. Ringmasters of humor, heart, and wisdom, they craft at forge and kiln and share the stories that teach us to Do It Better. Artisans keep the hearth Fire burning.
The Guilds come from our stories. And we teach by lore and legend because it's the oldest delivery system humans have for skills and experience. The programs you help design become chapters in that story.
Every Coordinator's year is different. Days like these come from real Trackers programs:
- Facilitating a 24-hour stealth scenario where teams move unseen through the forest
- Leading an expedition to the Oregon coast for tidepools and coastal foraging
- Co-facilitating a survival shelter weekend with our top instructors and founders, where kids sleep in shelters they built with no sleeping bag
- Teaching snow shelters on a mountain expedition
- Tracking and finding a herd of elk with kindergartners
- Mentoring teens as they step up to help lead younger campers
Kids who started with us at six are now the teenagers younger campers look up to. You help build the year that makes that arc happen.
Who We're Hiring
This is both a physically and mentally intensive role. A Coordinator holds a story arc, a skill progression, a staffing call sheet, a tide table, and the emotional growth of thirty kids in a class community, then adjusts all five before lunch. That person usually comes from one of two directions.
Coordinators help plan what Guides deliver, and that craft is earned. Most of our team grows into it through the Guide and Intern paths, and we promote from them. This posting is for rare educators who already carry it.
The Trained Skills Educator
You went deep: a nine-month immersion, an instructor certification, or a residential apprenticeship at a school like Wilderness Awareness School, Tom Brown's Tracker School, Roots, Boulder Outdoor Survival School, Jack Mountain, Teaching Drum, or Earth Native. You can teach bow drill fire, tracking, shelter, and foraging at a professional standard, and you have taught them to real kids in real weather.
Your own training continues here, alongside instructors and founders with decades in the craft. Plus, you've applied like a boss in intensive educational environments. And you're not afraid to teach kindergartners.
The Seasoned Teacher
You are a seasoned teacher inspired to change the nature of education and learning with old school skills and competencies. You bring what our field cannot easily train: curriculum design, classroom management at scale, parent communication, and the stamina of a full teaching week. We will train you in the wilderness skills.
Please note: One of our founders dropped out of high school at fourteen after reading Walden, then later designed his own degree at Evergreen. We value demonstrated capability over paperwork, in both directions.
Both doors share two absolute requirements:
- Authentic Forest Craft. You are inspired by forest crafts, bushcraft, and folk arts and come ready to dive deep into learning them as means of nature connection.
- Professional Educational Experience. You have designed and run a full season of programming yourself. You wrote the plan, taught it, and adjusted it when the day demanded.
The Programs
Every Coordinator owns one track: After School or Apprenticeships. We match the track to your skills and background.
After School. Approximately 170 program days across 36 weeks, about five afternoons a week. A large team and kids who see you almost daily.
Homeschool Apprenticeship. 24 program days, one full day a week per group. Deep skill progressions with the same crew all year.
Weekend Apprenticeship. 9 field days, one weekend a month. Nine days is all your kids get with you, so every date on the schedule matters.
Break Camps. Everyone at Trackers works break and summer camps as our core programming. The ability to help facilitate our 20-year model is non-negotiable.
These are mentoring programs. The educator who starts with a group in September finishes with them in June and continues them at scale through summer. Apply for a year you can commit to fully.
Your Week Includes Next Summer
Program days are only part of the role. A dedicated portion of your school-year hours goes to planning the following summer: designing curriculum, building schedules and logistics, and helping cast the staff who will run it. Summer is our largest season, and the Coordinators who plan it are the ones who lead it. When your kids arrive at camp in June, they walk into a season you spent the year building.
What You're Responsible For
First, you help plan the season: curriculum arcs, skill benchmarks, story immersions, and weekly program plans your team can execute with confidence. Then, on program days, you are in charge. You are the on-site lead, and these four areas are yours to hold, straight from the Trackers Program Guide every staff member trains on.
Safety. Maintain constant situational awareness across students, staff, activities, and site conditions. Enforce safety practices, make timely calls, and respond early to risk or changing conditions.
Operations. Own our work as a live-action, intensive production and operation. Schedules, communications, transitions, gear, vehicles, and coverage stay tight so programs run on time at high quality, in all weather.
Stewardship. Protect the health of our students, staff, and land. Keep people and places cared for, ensure hydration and nourishment routines happen, and uphold Trackers behavior management standards.
Leadership. Coach Guides and Interns in real time. Correct bad habits early and model strong instruction in the field. Communicate directly and professionally with families, and keep building your own Trackers skills, because your mentoring is only ever as deep as your own skillset.
Where This Goes
Creative authority at Trackers is earned, and it is real. Learn the form, prove you can hold it, and you end up directing programs, going places and doing things you never expected.
Pay & Compensation
Position Type: Salaried leadership role
Annual Pay: $43,680–$54,912 per year, set within the yearly Coordinator range based on approved certification add-ons.View the Coordinator Pay Rubric →
Add-ons recognize credentials including state teaching certification, Wilderness First Responder, 9-month wilderness immersion programs, CyberTracker certification, and CDL with passenger endorsement.
Schedule & Structure
Program year: fall 2026 through summer 2027. Weekly structure varies by program assignment.
Physical Readiness
This is a hands-on role. Physical demands vary by program assignment. Reasonable accommodations may be available for qualified individuals.
In the Field
- Lift, carry, and pack up to 50 lbs; hike 10--20 miles in a day as needed across uneven, off-trail terrain while supervising youth
- Supervise safely in outdoor conditions year-round: heat, cold, rain, and snow; operate in heat index up to 104°F and AQI 69--150 with modified breaks and activity levels as needed
- Arrive prepared for the outdoor environment with insulated and waterproof clothing and footwear appropriate to conditions
- Ride transport with students via van or bus as assigned, including extended rides in noisy vehicle cabins
In the Studio & Workshop
- Lift, carry, and move up to 50 lbs of tools and materials
- Stand and move between workstations for extended periods, typically 3--5 hours
- Use equipment with safe control, coordination, and attention to detail while supervising students
- Maintain shop safety protocols in active, noisy workshop and studio environments; occasionally transport materials between locations
Required Certifications & Requirements
- CPR and First Aid, or ability to obtain before start
- Emergency allergy response training
- Mandated Reporter Training (Oregon; 18+)
- Background check and references
- Complete required Trackers trainings (paid)
Driving (key to this role)
- Valid driver's license held 2+ years: required. Our programs run on transport, so this one is key
- CDL Class B with passenger endorsement: required for this role. Can be obtained within 4 months after being hired, with training available for qualified individuals. Earning it triggers the CDL pay bump under our rubric
- Driving eligibility: 21+ years and a clean MVR (past 3 years, no major violations) per insurance requirements
How to Apply
Hiring at Trackers is casting a fantastic production. Apply with your background, your credential or training history, and one example of a program season you designed yourself. Finalists teach a live demo with kids and staff observing.
All new hires begin with a 90-day mutual fit period for onboarding, training, feedback, and clear shared expectations. Employment is at-will, and this posting is not a contract.
Picture an arrow moving so fast it seems unstoppable. That's the modern world. We are working to turn it around. If you are too, apply.
Apply at: https://trackerspdx.com/careers/outdoor-educator-coordinator
Pay: $43,680.00 - $54,912.00 per year
Benefits:
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
