Fine Woodworker & Woodworking Instructor

Turn Your Woodworking Experience Into a Career Teaching the Craft!

• Philadelphia Woodworks is looking for an experienced fine woodworker who is also great with people to join our team as a full-time woodworking instructor and shop professional.
• This is not a production woodworking job. You'll work in a professional-grade community woodshop teaching classes, working one-on-one with private students, helping members tackle challenging projects and sharing your craft with people who are genuinely excited to learn.
• Our best instructors develop long-term relationships with students and loyal followings of customers who return specifically to work with them. If you enjoy people as much as you enjoy woodworking, this is an unusual opportunity to make the craft your career in a creative, social and rewarding environment.

Who We're Looking For:
- You must be a skilled woodworker. We're looking for substantial hands-on experience in fine furniture making, cabinetmaking or comparable fine woodworking, with furniture-quality craftsmanship and strong knowledge of professional woodworking machinery and techniques.
-Just as important, you should be warm, patient, personable and an excellent communicator. You'll work with everyone from nervous first-timers to experienced woodworkers tackling sophisticated projects.
- Professional teaching experience is a plus, but not required. If you're an excellent woodworker with the personality and communication skills to become a great teacher, we want to hear from you.

What You'll Do:

• Teach hands-on group woodworking classes and private lessons
• Coach customers through furniture and woodworking projects
• Build custom projects and commissions
• Prepare materials, projects and equipment for classes
• Maintain, tune and troubleshoot professional woodworking machinery
• Help maintain a safe, organized and professional shop
• Supervise and assist junior shop employees
• Assist with customer service, sales and occasional administrative responsibilities

What Makes Someone Great at This Job:

• Our strongest instructors combine craftsmanship with emotional intelligence. They can make a nervous beginner comfortable, explain a difficult concept several different ways and make a five-hour class feel like five hours spent woodworking with a knowledgeable friend.
• We're looking for someone who is dependable, personable, patient, mechanically inclined and proud of producing excellent work.
• Strong mechanical aptitude is especially valuable. Experience diagnosing, tuning and repairing woodworking machinery is a significant plus.

About Philadelphia Woodworks:

• Philadelphia Woodworks is a professional-grade community woodshop offering hands-on classes, private instruction and open-access membership to woodworkers throughout the Philadelphia region.
• People come here because they want to be here—to learn, build, improve their skills and spend time doing something they love. It's a very different working environment from a traditional production shop.

Compensation & Benefits:

• Approximate annual compensation: $60k–$75k, depending on experience, capabilities and performance.
• Compensation includes regular hourly wages with opportunities for overtime and performance-based bonuses. Exceptional candidates with the complete combination of woodworking, teaching, customer and mechanical skills may qualify for compensation at the top of the range.
• Full-time employees also receive:

> Paid vacation
> Paid sick time
> Free access to our professional woodshop during designated off-hours for personal projects
> Opportunities to continually expand their own woodworking skills
- Please note: This position does not include employer-provided health insurance or retirement benefits.

Schedule:

• Tuesday: 10 AM–6 PM
• Wednesday: 10 AM–6 PM
• Thursday: 2 PM–10 PM
• Friday: 10 AM–6 PM
• Saturday: 9 AM–6 PM
• Reliable transportation is necessary.

Interested? Send us:

• Your résumé or a description of your woodworking experience
• Several photos or a portfolio of woodworking projects you've personally built
• A short introduction telling us about yourself and why this position interests you

If you're an experienced furniture maker, cabinetmaker or fine woodworker who has ever thought that sharing the craft with others might be more rewarding than spending every day in a production shop, we'd especially like to hear from you.