Assistant Early Childhood Director

Are you a dedicated and passionate leader with a drive to create a nurturing and engaging learning environment where young children thrive? Aspen Academy, located just south of Denver, Colorado, has an amazing opportunity for a full-time, year-round Assistant Early Childhood Director to join our Early Learning Division for the 25-26 School Year. In this role, you will support the Early Childhood Director in managing our early childhood programs, ensuring smooth daily operations and helping maintain a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment for students, staff, and families. If you have a proven track record of supporting successful early childhood programs and a commitment to providing the highest quality care and education, we encourage you to apply!

Full Time | Onsite | Year-Round

Start Date: ASAP

Starting annual salary $52,000-$57,000 (based on education & experience) 

Responsibilities

Operational Support

• Assist in maintaining accurate records and compliance with CDHS and CDEC licensing requirements.
• Support program scheduling, including staff coverage, breaks, and transitions throughout the day.
• Manage student files, attendance records, and other required documentation to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Manage staff files and training to ensure licensing compliance.
• Support snack menu planning and procurement.  
• Promote and maintain school safety policies and procedures.
• Adhere to protocols and procedures set forth by Child Care Licensing, Aspen Academy, and State/Local Health Department.
• Keep up to date and well informed with all CDEC policy changes and regulations.

Staff Support

• Provide leadership and guidance to early childhood staff to ensure program excellence.
• Assist in onboarding and training new staff members.
• Support staffing needs, including coordinating substitute coverage when necessary.

Program Assistance

• Help develop and implement engaging and age-appropriate activities and curriculum. Use school-prescribed instructional methodologies and approaches, including Differentiated Instruction, Play-Based Learning, Nature Based Learning, and Project/Inquiry Learning.  
• Assist in monitoring program effectiveness and suggest areas for improvement.
• Support enrollment efforts by providing tours and answering questions from prospective families. 
• Sustain a nurturing environment where every student is fully engaged, appropriately challenged, and adequately supported.
• Provide comfort and support to children as needed throughout the day.
• Support classroom environments adhering to “Love and Logic Principles”. 

Community Engagement

• Foster strong relationships with families, maintaining open and positive communication.
• Participate in and assist with planning and executing events, such as family engagement nights, camps, and community activities during school hours as well as occasional events that may occur after school hours.
• Support regular, proactive, and effective communication with families.
• Represent Aspen Academy at events and in professional settings as needed.

School Life

• Promote and maintain a positive and productive relationship with the school, team members, students and families to support our quest to be the best place to work. 

Professional Development

• Regularly devote time and energy required to grow in the craft of effective teaching.  
• Embrace coachability and a mindset of continuous growth. Be open to and enthusiastically involved in adopting innovative approaches to teaching, feedback from colleagues, and feedback from school administration.
• Embrace, collaborate, and lead in the school’s professional development programs.
• Attend annual health and safety training classes. 
• Participate actively in the school’s faculty and all team meetings and professional learning communities.
• Apply for professional and instructional awards and grants that would support your own professional development, your classroom’s resources or activities.
• Other duties as assigned. 

Aspen Academy is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace committed to providing an environment of mutual respect, where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and military and veteran status. 

Compensation

Be Kind. Do Good. Work Hard. Make the World Better. These are the values our team embodies day to day. Below are some of the ways in which we’ll promise to value you in your time here: 

• Retirement: 403(b) plan with employer matching
• Healthcare: Medical, dental and vision plans with various options to support your unique needs. Free telehealth.
• Wellness: Holistic employee assistance program (EAP) including mental health support.  Fitness challenges, gym discounts, health education, and fun team activities.
• Life Insurance & Voluntary Benefits: Group life insurance and option to enroll in additional voluntary life insurance and other supplemental coverages 
• Time-off: Flexible PTO policy 
• Career development: Professional development reimbursement program and monthly onsite professional development
• Family Care: Tuition assistance

Salary: Starting at $52,000 - $57,000 based on education and experience.

About Aspen Academy Early Childhood Division 

Aspen Academy's Early Childhood Learning Division just opened in August 2025 and serves children from 2 to 4 years old, offering Early Preschool, Preschool, and Pre-Kindergarten classes. The program provides an engaging learning environment and curriculum that blends a unique focus on financial/entrepreneurial/leadership skills, drawn from our flagship school, with Montessori elements, nature-based, and play-based learning principles. Through immersive, hands-on experiences and a deep connection to nature, the program fosters curiosity, creativity, growth, and a lifelong love of learning, while cultivating essential skills for future success. With a staff of 20 and 7 classrooms serving 95+ children, the division offers a vibrant learning environment for young learners.

The Early Learning Division is part of the larger Aspen Academy Community and as such we live and model the community’s values in thought, word and deed to students, colleagues and parents and the larger community. We are palpably committed to, supportive and co-leaders in the achievement of Aspen Academy’s vision and mission.

• Our values: Be Kind. Do Good. Work Hard. Make the World Better.
• Our mission: We edify and inspire students and educators to grow, learn and lead.
• Our vision: We are a national leader in innovative and transformative education.

Our flagship school, Aspen Academy, is located in Greenwood Village, Colorado.  The school serves students in the Denver Metro region and is a national leader in innovative education. Through internationally acclaimed academics and small classes led by exceptional, award-winning faculty, we provide a foundation of rich academics and leadership, where students are empowered to lead purposeful and extraordinary lives. For 20 years, Aspen Academy has focused on real-world skills, including the nation's first integrated entrepreneurial development program. To date, we've helped launch more than 450 student-run businesses. Our students receive 90+ hours of leadership per student, per year. Learn more at aspenacademy.org

Education, Experience, and Qualifications:

• Required: Associate or Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education or related field.
• Required: Minimum 2 years’ experience working in licensed early childhood programs or education.  
• Colorado Early Childhood Director qualified.  
• Preferred: CPR, First Aid Training.
• Minimum: high energy, passion for teaching great kids.
• Demonstrated excellence in:
• Time, organization and project management skills, including attention to detail.
• Written and oral communications skills
• Applying social and emotional intelligence 
• Effective communication with students, families, and colleagues.  Strong interpersonal skills.
• Collaborative mindset and ability to work well in a team environment.
• Cultural competency
• Managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Proficiency in Google and other relevant technology.
• Grant permission for a background check.  
• Meet physical demands to perform essential functions of the role.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions: Ability to work full-time; work in person/in the school building, including occasional evenings and weekends.  Regularly required to speak for long periods of time; stand; walk, use hands; reach with hands and arms and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.