Housing and Program Coordinator

Start date:                        March 10, 2025

Hours:                               24 hours per week

• Three days per week from 9:30 to 17:30

Location:                          SIT Amsterdam Learning Center (Nieuwe Looiersstraat 31, 1017 VA)

Reports to:                       Academic Director

Salary range:                   1.900 – 2.300 EUR gross per month

SIT:

School for International Training (SIT) was founded in 1964 as a training center for the first Peace Corps volunteers. For 60 years, SIT has prepared students to be effective changemakers and global citizens through experiential education focused on the world’s most critical global issues. SIT Study Abroad offers accredited semester and summer undergraduate programs in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as International Honors Programs that operate across multiple continents.

SIT Amsterdam:

The SIT Study Center in Amsterdam offers a semester program on International Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender, which runs from late January to mid-May (in the Spring term) and from late August to mid-December (in the Fall term). Cohorts of up US-based undergraduate students analyze topics in gender and sexuality from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective in two thematic courses, which are supplemented by weekly site visits and guest lectures. Students also enroll in a Dutch language course and a course on research methods and ethics, which lays the groundwork for an independent study project or internship that forms the capstone of their semester. Both the Spring and Fall semesters include a two-week excursion to Morocco.

In the summer, the focus shifts to short-term programs, and the six-week Human Trafficking, Sex Trade, and Modern Slavery in Europe program in particular. Hewing to the program design of the semester program, students study human trafficking, sex trade, and sex work both as independent and (sometimes) closely intertwined social, political, and cultural phenomena, and supplement the work they do in the classroom with site visits and excursions in Amsterdam and The Hague.

Running concurrently with the summer program, SIT Amsterdam also hosts a number of custom programs every summer (from May through mid-August).

Summary of Position:

The Housing and Program Coordinator will have three principal responsibilities:

(1) oversee the organization and delivery of the homestay experience, which is an integral component of the semester and summer program. Tasks chiefly include (a) recruiting, screening, and preparing families living in the city of Amsterdam to be homestays, (b) matching students with homestay families in accordance with SIT’s matching procedures, (c) designing and leading homestay orientation and training sessions both for families and students, (d) serving as the point person for all questions, issues, and concerns students and families may have about the homestay experience (and working to resolve them), (e) conducting homestay evaluations and visits at regular intervals, and (f) keeping up to date (financial) records and complying with SIT’s homestay reporting requirements.

(2) spearheading the launch of SIT Amsterdam’s student housing program, which will involve (a) identifying suitable student housing providers, (b) matching students with a student housing option in accordance with SIT’s matching procedures, (c) designing and leading student housing orientation sessions for incoming students, (d) liaising between SIT, the student, and the housing provider, (e) serving as the point person for all questions, issues, and concerns students may have about their housing (and working to resolve them), (f) conducting student housing evaluations and partner visits at regular intervals, and (g) keeping up to date (financial) records and complying with SIT’s reporting requirements.

(3) supporting the delivery of one or more of SIT Amsterdam’s custom programs, with tasks ranging from (a) designing the program schedule and budget (in collaboration with SIT’s Custom and Signature Programs team), (b) arranging and overseeing the successful delivery of the program’s curricular, extracurricular, and logistical components, (c) supporting both program faculty and participants while the program is in session, to (d) complying with SIT’s financial reporting requirements. Based on the nature of the program and the number of custom programs running at any given time, the Housing and Program Coordinator may either be chiefly responsible for one specific program, work in tandem with another member of the team on the same program, or perform some of these tasks for more than one program.

(4) additional relevant tasks as assigned by the Academic Director on an ad hoc basis.

While there is a great deal of office work involved in this position, the Housing and Program Coordinator spends as much time working directly with students, our network of homestay families, and our student housing providers – making this position a perfect fit for someone who likes toggling between human interaction and a well-designed spreadsheet.

This position is ideally suited for candidates who are both natural (or born again) empaths with a knack for intercultural sensitivity, organizational masterminds with an eye for detail, and passionate advocates for international education (the latter is truly non-negotiable!).

Given that the Housing and Program Coordinator will be asked to manage critical incidents and handle sensitive information, candidates must be able to perform well under pressure, respond to or intervene in emergent situations deftly and promptly, demonstrate intercultural competence, and be emotionally resilient.

What we are looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree required (either HBO or WO, or their international equivalents)
• Proven experience in (international) higher education in a student-facing role (with ideally three years’ experience working directly with university students)
• An in-depth understanding of our host community and, relatedly, some familiarity with the city of Amsterdam
• Willingness to do some travel inside Amsterdam to recruit prospective homestay families, as well as conduct regular homestay and housing partner visits
• Full professional fluency in English and conversational fluency in Dutch: the candidate must be near-fluent in English, with excellent written and oral communication skills, while also being able to engage in conversations smoothly and effectively in Dutch
• A strong interest in the focus of the program on questions of gender and sexuality, the ways in which these intersect with other categories of identity, and how this shapes our students’ preferred living arrangements
• Some knowledge of US-American culture – or a desire to delve headfirst into the lived reality of being a US college student
• Innate project management skills, meticulous attention to detail, and a commitment to service and professionalism
• Ability to apply sound judgment under pressure and to make swift, but informed decisions in time-sensitive situations
• Willingness to work in person from the SIT Learning Center three days a week
• Candidates must be authorized to work legally in the Netherlands (SIT is not able to sponsor work or work-and-residency permits)
• Candidates should – ideally – be able to assume the position of Housing and Program Coordinator on (or in the week of) March 10, 2025

What we offer:

• A fixed term, one-year contract with the possibility to extend (depending on performance and operational needs)
• A competitive salary for the field, with the precise salary depending on the work experience the candidate brings to the position
• A package of secondary benefits, which includes 15 vacation days, an 8% annual holiday allowance, and access to professional development funds
• Working in a cozy Learning Center in the beating heart of the city of Amsterdam

SIT is committed to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace and encourages applications from members of marginalized or minoritized identity groups.

If you are excited about taking on this position and joining the SIT Amsterdam team – and if you believe you meet the criteria outlined above – please send a cover letter and a copy of your resume as a single file to Jonathan Key (jonathan.key@sit.edu), SIT Amsterdam’s Academic Director.

Interviews with qualified candidates will be scheduled on a rolling basis.