Senior Residential Cultural Lead

Compensation: $55,000–$63,000 annually

Employment Classification: Salaried

Reports To: Residential Director

The Senior Residential Cultural Lead is the senior working leader within the residential department and is responsible for developing, maintaining, and protecting the culture of the residential environment. This position exists to ensure that residential treatment is characterized by appropriate authority, consistency, accountability, emotional safety, and meaningful relationships between students and staff. 

The Senior Residential Cultural Lead is not an office-based administrative position. This is a working leadership role. The Senior Cultural Lead must maintain a substantial and visible presence on the residential floor and is expected to work a minimum of three direct-care shifts per week with students. 

The Senior Cultural Lead serves as the primary leadership resource for Residential Leads and is responsible for helping ensure that the residential department operates as one coordinated system rather than as a collection of individual teams. 

Duties & Responsibilities

Residential Culture

Establish and reinforce the behavioral and cultural expectations of the residential department. 

Maintain a calm, confident, and appropriate authority with students. 

Identify and address unhealthy student power dynamics. 

Prevent students from assuming inappropriate influence over peers or staff. 

Ensure staff consistently respond to disrespect, manipulation, bullying, treatment resistance, and other unhealthy behaviors. 

Model appropriate boundaries, emotional regulation, and professional conduct.

Help create an environment where students understand that structure and accountability are part of treatment. 

Staff Development

Develop Residential Leads into increasingly capable leaders.

Coach younger and less experienced employees in judgment, maturity, communication, and authority.

Model effective interventions directly on the floor.

Identify staff who require additional training, coaching, or accountability. 

Participate in performance-management processes as appropriate.

Help establish residential work as a professional and career-minded role rather than simply a college job. 

Leadership and Accountability

Hold Residential Leads accountable for the standards of their teams.

Ensure Leads understand their responsibility for both students and staff.

Follow up when standards are not met.

Identify patterns of weakness across teams.

Ensure corrective action is implemented rather than merely discussed.

Maintain visibility into the functioning of each residential team. 

Team Correlation

Ensure required weekly leadership, correlation, and training meetings occur.

Promote consistent standards across M/W/F and T/Th/Sat teams.

Ensure important information is communicated across shifts.

Establish systems that allow Leads to communicate concerns and observations in real time.

Ensure the residential department operates from shared expectations rather than individual interpretations of policy.

Clinical Collaboration 

Maintain strong communication with therapists and clinical leadership.

Ensure meaningful residential observations reach the treatment team.

Support implementation of treatment goals within the residential environment.

Participate in treatment-team meetings as appropriate.

Help residential staff understand how daily interactions contribute to clinical outcomes.

Direct Student Supervision

The Senior Cultural Lead is expected to remain actively engaged with students. Responsibilities include: 

• Behavioral Intervention
• Direct Supervision
• Conflict Resolution
• Coaching and Mentoring
• Crisis Response
• Modeling Appropriate Relationships
• Supporting Staff during Difficult Situations

Administrative responsibilities must never displace the core expectation of visible residential leadership. 

Minimum Qualifications 

• Minimum age of 21. 
• High school diploma or equivalent. 
• Minimum of three years of relevant experience preferred. 
• Experience with adolescents, residential treatment, behavioral health, education, youth development, coaching, military, law enforcement, or another setting requiring significant interpersonal authority is preferred. 
• Demonstrated leadership experience.
• Demonstrated ability to manage conflict.
• Strong judgment and emotional maturity. 
• Ability to establish boundaries without becoming punitive.
• Ability to command respect without relying on intimidation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills. 
• Demonstrated reliability and personal accountability. 
• A bachelor's degree is preferred but is not the defining qualification for this position. Life experience, maturity, leadership presence, and demonstrated ability to work effectively with adolescents are highly valued. 

Ideal Candidate 

The ideal candidate is someone who has enough professional and life experience to bring a level of maturity and presence that younger employees may not yet possess. 

This person should be able to walk into a room of adolescent boys and communicate through their presence: “I am calm. I am paying attention. I know what I am doing. You are safe. And the expectations matter.”