• Position:  Dean for Faculty
• Status:  Exempt (Salary), Full-time
• Category:  11-month teaching administrator
• Reports To: Head of School
• Pay Scale: $100,000 - $120,000, depending on years of teaching experience and graduate degrees
• Start Date: June 2026

To Apply: Submit resume and cover letter to Head of School Assistant, Annelise_Suleiman@Cate.org. Rolling hiring process begins December 1, 2025.

Job Summary

The Dean for Faculty is responsible for creating the healthiest possible conditions for adults to live, learn, and work well together in delivering our integrated academic, residential, and co-curricular program. The Dean for Faculty supports the unique ways that intersections across these dimensions allow faculty to have a transformational impact on holistic student learning.

Grounded in Cate’s mission and values, the Dean for Faculty partners with colleagues to:

• Clarify and uphold shared expectations for faculty work
• Build structures that support faculty well-being and growth over time
• Advocate for sustainable practices that help faculty meet the demands of boarding school life
• Ensure that faculty voices and experiences are clearly heard in strategic decision-making

Areas of Responsibility

 I. Live Well: Faculty Well-Being, Relational Health, and Community

• Live and work alongside faculty and to know them well.

Establish regular, informal and structured touchpoints (listening sessions, check-ins, survey data) to understand how faculty are experiencing their work and life at Cate and to surface emerging concerns early.

• Serve as a relational resource for faculty.

Help colleagues navigate challenging seasons in ways that honor both personal well-being and professional commitments.

• Support mediation and conflict resolution.

In partnership with HR and relevant supervisors, mediate or coordinate mediation of faculty-to-faculty and faculty-to-administrator conflicts, including DEI-related tensions, with a focus on repair, learning, and restoring working relationships.

• Attend to the sustainability of people and programs.

Collaborate with department chairs, directors, deans, and administrators to review faculty workloads (teaching, residential, co-curricular, committees) and support equitable systems that promote sustainability for people and program while maintaining program quality and scope.

• Foster adult community and connection.

Coordinate or support faculty social and community-building initiatives (e.g., informal gatherings, new faculty integration, mentorship connections) that strengthen belonging and shared purpose.

II. Learn Well: Foster a Learning Culture through Professional Growth and Evaluation

• Steward a clear, fair, and transparent evaluation framework.

Lead the ongoing implementation of Cate’s Essential Expectations, in coordination with department chairs and other supervisors.

• Cultivate a faculty growth program.

Develop and refine a faculty growth model (e.g., inquiry, coaching, peer observation, portfolios) that honors faculty choice and agency while aligning with school priorities and the integrated academic, residential, and co-curricular program.

• Coordinate school-wide faculty Professional Development.

In partnership with program leaders, curate and coordinate school-wide Professional Development offerings, ensuring a balance of centralized experiences (in-service days, faculty meetings) and decentralized supports (e.g. coaching, inquiry groups, instructional rounds, or coaching) that reflect a realistic understanding of the competing demands on time and attention.

• Model lifelong learning.

Engage actively in relevant professional learning, maintain connections with peers in similar roles at other schools, and bring emerging best practices in faculty development, evaluation, and adult learning back to Cate.

III. Work Well: Role Clarity, Staffing, Structures, and Systems

• Clarify roles and expectations across faculty leadership positions.

In partnership with the Dean of Academics, the Director of Residential Life, and Athletics leadership, articulate and align expectations for Department Chairs, Dorm Heads, Head Coaches, and other faculty leaders to ensure responsibilities are clear, coherent, and sustainable.

●     Partner on hiring, onboarding to:

○     Lead an inclusive faculty hiring process that seeks a pool of diverse, qualified candidates who are interested in Cate’s unique program and inquiry approach.
○     Design and deliver robust onboarding and early-years support for new faculty.

• Support systems related to guardrails and workload equity.

Contribute to the ongoing development and monitoring of guardrails (e.g., teaching load norms, duty expectations, co-curricular assignments) and use these structures to guide conversations about fairness, sustainability, and evolving faculty roles.

• Coordinate and communicate policies affecting faculty work.

Partner with the Director of People Ops, the Assistant Head, and HR (as needed) to ensure that policies related to housing, leave, accommodation, and other conditions of employment are clearly communicated and understood, even when ultimate decisions rest with other offices.

IV. Lead Well: Stewardship of Faculty Voice and Strategic Priorities

• Represent faculty voice on the Strategic Leadership Team.

Bring faculty experiences, insights, and concerns into SLT deliberations; help pace and coordinate strategic initiatives with an eye toward impact on faculty well-being and capacity.

• Champion Cate’s vision of becoming the healthiest place to live, learn, and work.

Use data, faculty feedback, and program outcomes to recommend strategic adjustments that align staffing, expectations, structures, and culture with this vision.

• Partner with faculty leadership.

Collaborate with existing or evolving faculty leadership bodies (e.g., FAC) so that faculty input is communicated, organized, and translated into concrete, trackable action where appropriate.

●     Engage in external thought leadership.

Build relationships with peer schools and professional organizations; share Cate’s learning and bring back ideas that help the school continue to evolve its approach to faculty support and development.

Faculty Responsibilities

• Teach one section per year (same standard for all Deans, with occasional need to teach additional courses)
• Serve as an advisor
• Serve in the residential program
• Serve in co-curricular program

Core Competencies

The successful Dean for Faculty will demonstrate:

• Enthusiasm for Living and Working with Teenagers and Colleagues

Genuine enjoyment of adolescents and the collegial relational richness of boarding school life.

• Advocacy with Accountability

Ability to hold faculty needs and institutional commitments together, advocating for sustainable conditions that help colleagues meet shared expectations, not avoid them.

●     Relational and Mediation Skills

Training and experience in mediation, conflict resolution; capable of facilitating difficult conversations among adults with care, clarity, and steadiness.

• Commitment to DEI and Cultural Competence

Skill in supporting diverse faculty and navigating identity-related dynamics with humility and courage; capacity to integrate equity considerations into policies and practices.

• Exceptional Communication

Clear, consistent, and direct written and verbal communication; ability to reduce ambiguity, coordinate across multiple stakeholders, and explain complex or emotional topics calmly.

• Leadership and Vision

Demonstrated experience leading adults through change; capacity to articulate a compelling vision for faculty life at Cate and to move from vision to implementation.

• Emotional Intelligence and Presence

High self-awareness, emotional steadiness, and the ability to remain grounded while others are stirred up; strong listening skills and genuine curiosity.

• Organizational Understanding

Knowledge of boarding school life and structures; ability to navigate HR, legal, and financial considerations in partnership with other administrators.

• Learning Orientation

Commitment to ongoing professional growth; willingness to experiment, gather feedback, and iterate on systems in collaboration with faculty and colleagues.

Job Benefits:

This position comes with full benefits that include robust Health/Dental/Life insurance, Retirement and PTO plans.

All Cate Employees live up to the following Essential Expectations:

●     Overtly support and act according to the school’s mission and values.

●     Foster a safe, predictable, and supportive environment for employees and students.

●     Interact with colleagues in a respectful and collegial manner that fosters a healthy culture for living, learning, and working together.

●     Demonstrate commitment and courage in service of building our school culture where diversity is affirmed and supported.

●     Demonstrate appropriate planning and preparation to meet the complex and evolving needs of your role.

●     Uphold professional standards of predictable presence, reliable responses, and relational trust.

●     Appropriately steward strategic and special projects associated with role or team.

●     Honor the confidentiality of School, student, and family information.

●     Comply with policies and procedures as articulated in the School’s Employee Handbook.

●     Authentically engage in self-reflection in service to professional growth and adapting to the evolving needs of the school.

At Cate, we often talk about the deep sense of community that attends the “spirit of this place.” While the “spirit” manifests in many ways, it is rooted in the full recognition of the dignity of each person. We encourage all members of the Cate community to share their background, interests, identities, and beliefs so that we can collectively work to broaden our perspectives, deepen our capacity for empathy, and strengthen our resilience. In doing so, we can continue the daily work of creating and building community

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

Cate School is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition including genetic characteristics, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender, gender identity, genetic information or any other category protected under federal or local law.