Quality & Integrity Lead, YSWS
The Role
Every month, thousands of teenagers around the world ship real projects (games, websites, hardware, apps) through Hack Club's You Ship We Ship (YSWS) programs. In exchange, we send them free hardware, invites + flights to in-person hackathons, and grants to keep learning and making technical projects. It's one of the most ambitious programs in youth tech education.
Here's how it works: teens submit projects, program authors review and approve them, and approved projects enter our database. The program authors who run each YSWS program (Boba Drops, Summer of Making, Blueprint, etc.) handle the primary reviews.
Here's what we need: Someone to QA the reviewers. A second set of eyes. A spot-checker who can tell us: "Are the program authors making good calls? Are we catching the fake projects? Are we being too harsh on legitimate ones?"
This isn't a "sit in a queue reviewing every project" job. It's a quality assurance role focused on:
Spot-checking approved projects — Random sampling to catch issues program authors missed
Auditing review quality — Are reviewers consistent? Are they catching fraud? Being fair?
Creating standards — What does "high quality" and "high integrity" actually mean?
Training program authors — Teaching them to make better review decisions
Handling escalations — Appeals, investigations, and edge cases
Building for scale — Systems that work at 100k projects/year, not just 25k
You'll still do plenty of hands-on review work yourself—you can't spot-check effectively without understanding the projects deeply. But your primary mission is ensuring the integrity of the entire approval process, not being the bottleneck for every project.
What You'll Actually Own
Quality Assurance on Reviews
Randomly sample approved projects to verify review quality
Track and report on issue rates across programs and reviewers
Identify patterns: what are we catching? what are we missing?
Flag concerning trends before they become problems
Standards & Training
Define what "high quality" and "high integrity" mean for YSWS projects
Create review rubrics and documented examples for different project types
Train program authors on making better, more consistent decisions
Run calibration sessions so everyone reviews the same way
Write documentation that explains the "why" behind decisions
Investigations & Escalations
Handle flagged projects that need deeper investigation
Process appeals from users who disagree with decisions
Make judgment calls on ambiguous cases—and document your reasoning
Say "no" clearly and kindly when needed, with actionable feedback
Systems & Scale
Design workflows that catch problems before projects ship
Eventually: help train AI tools using your frameworks
Build processes that work at 100k projects/year
Automate what can be automated; stay human where it matters
What This Role Is Not
Reviewing every single project (program authors do primary reviews)
Being a bottleneck in the approval flow
Checking boxes on a form
Waiting for someone to tell you what to do
This is a role for someone who can look at a process, figure out where it's breaking, fix it, and teach others to maintain the fix.
What Success Looks Like
In 90 Days:
You've reviewed 500+ projects and documented common patterns
First draft of review criteria exists with clear "why" explanations
You can articulate what makes a project "legitimate" vs "suspicious"
Program authors are getting regular feedback on their review quality
Zach (Executive Director) and Max (YSWS Director) have stopped thinking about QA decisions
In 6 Months:
Comprehensive guidelines are documented and teachable
Program authors apply criteria consistently across programs
Issue rate on spot checks drops from 46% to under 20%
Appeals process exists and is documented
You're handling investigations independently
In 1 Year:
System scales to 100k projects/year
AI tools are implemented around your frameworks for basic checks
Quality is a solved problem that you own end-to-end
Program authors trust the process and improve continuously
You Might Be Great For This If You...
Have Good Judgment
Can tell the difference between "broke the rules" and "gaming the system"
Understand that teenagers deserve both trust AND accountability
Know when to flag something vs. when to let it go
Can make a call and explain your reasoning
Can Build Systems
Turn ambiguity into clarity
Create frameworks, not just follow them
Document things so others can learn
Think about how processes scale
Can Train People
Give feedback that helps people improve, not just criticizes
Explain complex decisions in simple terms
Run calibration sessions that actually calibrate
Write documentation people actually read
Work Independently
Take ownership of problems, not just tasks
Don't need constant direction
Ask questions when stuck, but default to action
Say "no" clearly when needed
Nice-to-Haves:
Know what a GitHub repo looks like
Experience in QA, content moderation, trust & safety, or fraud detection
Background in education, youth development, or nonprofits
Experience training or auditing others' work
What We Offer
Salary: $55,000 - $70,000 based on experience
PTO: 4 weeks + 11 paid holidays
Health + Dental + Vision Insurance: Vermont Preferred Gold (BlueCross BlueShield), Delta Dental + Vision
Hardware: $2,000 stipend for equipment
Makerspace: Paid membership at Generator (generatorvt.com)
Location: A beautiful 1800s building in Shelburne, VT
About Hack Club
Hack Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by a 16-year-old high school dropout. We're the largest network of technical teenagers in the world—100,000+ across the US and 140 countries. Our motto is "by teens, for teens" and we operate with radical trust and transparency.
We're not a typical nonprofit. We're a small team of engineers (many of them teenagers), building real software that thousands of people use every day. We move fast, ship constantly, and believe teenagers are capable of incredible things when you trust them.
Learn more:
How to Apply
Email zach@hackclub.com with:
A short note about why this role excites you
An example of a time you improved a process or trained others to be more consistent
How you'd approach auditing review quality when you can't review every project
Your resume or LinkedIn + your current location
Put "QA-YSWS" in the subject line so we know you read this whole thing.
Do not apply via the application form on the website you’re reading this on. We are only reviewing and replying to emails.
Applicants must have a US work permit. Candidates already in Vermont are strongly preferred.
Hack Club is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.