Overview
Field Instructors and Lead Field Instructors at Big City Mountaineers play a central role in delivering safe, joyful, and inclusive outdoor experiences for youth ages 12–18 from communities historically underrepresented in the outdoors. Instructors lead day hikes, overnight trips, and multi-day backpacking or canoe expeditions depending on region, while facilitating outcomes-based curriculum focused on belonging, leadership, and connection. Working closely with BCM staff, volunteers, and Youth Agency Partners, instructors support youth development through relationship-building, reflection, and shared challenge. Responsibilities include supporting positive group dynamics, empowering youth voice, teaching outdoor technical skills, implementing BCM safety policies, managing risk in the field, and completing paid pre- and post-trip responsibilities such as planning, gear and food preparation, evaluations, and debriefs. This is a seasonal position running approximately from April 1 through Labor Day, with dates varying by region. Instructors typically commit to 1–10 trip series per season, each including a day trip, overnight, and multi-day expedition with the same youth cohort. Paid training includes a virtual National Orientation and an in-person regional training. This is a W-2 hourly role paid $15–$22 per hour depending on experience, with training time paid and overtime provided per labor laws. Programs take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis (Boundary Waters), and Birmingham, with priority given to candidates living within 100 miles of hub cities. BCM strongly encourages applicants whose lived experiences have been historically underrepresented in outdoor spaces.
Qualifications:
Qualifications include experience working with diverse youth, outdoor or backcountry leadership experience, ability to complete required trainings, WFA or WFR certification or willingness to obtain, ability to pass background and driving record checks, ability to lift up to 60 pounds, strong communication and teamwork skills, and a commitment to youth-centered, equity-driven outdoor education, with certification support available through BCM’s Instructor Scholarship Program.
Preferred Skills:
Trauma-informed or Mental Health First Aid training
Multilingual skills (Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Amharic, Hmong, Somali, and more)
Experience in outdoor education, adventure programs, or camps
Cultural responsiveness and commitment to equity and belonging
Water safety / lifeguard certification (canoe programs only)
About Big City Mountaineers
Big City Mountaineers (BCM) is committed to providing transformative experiences through nature that strengthen life skills and build community for youth from disinvested communities. BCM creates opportunities for 12 to 18 year-old students to connect with nature, themselves, community, and joy by providing free, fully outfitted, and professionally-led backcountry trips. BCM programs occur on the ancestral territories of many of this nation’s first peoples. Headquartered in Denver, CO, BCM is a national organization with a dedicated team of full-time staff, seasonal trip instructors, and volunteers. Our regional hubs are on the lands of the Ute, Araphaho, and Cheyenne (Denver), the Dakota and Anishinibawaki (Minneapolis), the Ohlone, Ramaytush, Chochenyo, and Muwekma (San Francisco Bay Area), the Duwamish and Muckleshoot (Seattle), and Muscogee and Shawnee (Birmingham).
