About the Soaring Society of America
Founded in 1932, the Soaring Society of America (SSA) is the national nonprofit dedicated to the sport of soaring: the art of flying sailplanes and gliders using the atmospheric lift of rising air. We serve a passionate, nationwide community of roughly 8,700 members, advancing flight training and safety, sanctioned competitions, technological innovation, and the long-running Soaring magazine, published continuously since 1937. For more than 90 years, SSA has been the home of American soaring, connecting the pilots, clubs, and volunteers who share a love of flight.
This is a fully remote, U.S.-based role with a mission-driven nonprofit organization headquartered in Hobbs, New Mexico. You’ll support a close-knit community of pilots and volunteers, modernize the digital systems behind a beloved sport, and help carry a time-honored tradition into its next chapter all while working from wherever you call home.
Position Summary
SSA is seeking a part-time digital technology professional to oversee, maintain, and manage the operation of its widely used software resources.
In this role, the Digital Soaring Infrastructure Coordinator will oversee and manage the maintenance and operation of much of SSA’s software resources, including the new SSA website now under construction and more than 12 separate applications — many of which are critical to the operation of SSA-sanctioned glider contests and to members’ enjoyment of cross-country soaring. Beyond routine maintenance, the Coordinator will also support SSA’s effort to modernize the custom, volunteer-maintained applications that currently support soaring camps, databases of turn points for cross-country soaring, and SSA contest management, including contest registration, scoring, live tracking, task selection, and publication of results.
Serving as the primary technical and operational point of contact, the Coordinator will maintain and support the software described above and will coordinate closely with Contest Directors, the SSA Contest Committee, the SSA Digital Infrastructure Committee, software vendors, and volunteer software developers. This role reports directly to SSA Executive Director Denise Layton.
Background & Context
In addition to its main website, through its volunteers and third parties, the SSA operates or uses a wide array of custom and commercial digital systems to support the activities of its approximately 8,700 members. Many applications have been created and operated by individual volunteers, resulting in uncertainty about the sustainability of applications that depend on the efforts of one or a few volunteers. The SSA desires to bring professional management to this infrastructure and to replace custom software with applications that can be maintained and modified without input from the original volunteer creators.
Five examples of this software infrastructure produced by volunteers important to the SSA’s activities are:
- The “members.ssa.org” website runs contest registration, entrant management, task posting, and results publication. This custom SQL-based platform will be retired in 2026 or 2027, with functionality moving a new website using CiviCRM and WordPress.
- WinScore – The primary U.S. contest scoring application is a custom Windows application built specifically for contest soaring under frequently-revised SSA rules.
- The Worldwide Soaring Turnpoint exchange – a web-based volunteer application developed and maintained by John Leibacher; it maintains the database of contest and cross-country waypoints for the United States and other countries.
- info – A website developed and maintained by Lynn Alley that provides a database of US airspace (including temporary airspace restrictions) suitable for uploading to glider flight computers. It contains FAA public and private airports, FAA sectional charts in a variety of formats. The airspace data reflects a combination of automated conversion of FAA airspace and manual fine-tuning of the FAA format to be compatible with glider flight computers. This data is also provided to, and available for download from, the World Wide Turnpoint Exchange.
- SoaringSatTracker – a web application allowing pilots to register their satellite-connected GPS trackers (Spot and InReach) so that their positions will be forwarded to other software for tracking. The developer is Davis Chappins.
There are many other programs important to the SSA’s activities. A full list is available upon request.
Work Structure & Environment
The Coordinator will provide year-round support of the SSA’s new website and other digital applications. Contest activity occurs mainly in the summer. The Coordinator will provide services that include the following:
- Works independently and remotely; self-manage time across the seasons.
- If problems occur during contest season there provide real-time scoring and tracking support, including support outside of normal hours.
Contract Terms
- Initial term of 12 months, renewable annually based on performance review.
- 1099 Independent contract status.
Key Webmaster Responsibilities
- Serve as the Webmaster for the new SSA website and members database; maintain or contract for maintenance of the new SSA website and members database , which will be maintained in Wordpress and CiviCRM. Communicate with the Hobbs office with regard to day-to-day activities.
Digital Platform Management & Vendor Coordination
- Serve as the SSA's primary contact with vendors like Naviter (provider of SeeYou Competition and Soaring Spot), WeGlide, John Leibacher and the Worldwide Soaring Turnpoint Exchange, and other applications that support and SSA activities.
- Maintain awareness of the evolving digital ecosystem and flag risks to the Executive Director, Executive Committee, the Contest Committee, and the Digital Infrastructure Committee.
- Coordinate with vendors and developers on cross-country flight and contest-related functionality requirements for the website.
Documentation & Training
- Develop and maintain clear documentation for soaring camp managers, local contest coordinators, and sanctioned contest directors on digital workflows, scoring procedures, and platform usage.
- Provide training and real-time support to camps, local contests and sanctioned contest directors and scorers during times of active contests.
- Contribute to succession planning for critical volunteer-maintained systems, particularly WinScore and the Pilot Ranking List and ADS-B to OGN, SoaringSatTracker and Turnpoint Manager.
- Deliver brief bi-weekly progress reports to the Digital Infrastructure Committee and Contest Committee per the SOW reporting schedule.
- Provide quarterly written reports to the Executive Committee of SSA.
Contest Related Activities
- Manage the end-to-end digital setup for SSA-sanctioned contests currently in members.ssa.org (until it is retired and its functions transferred to the new website), including providing support for applications that provide for contest creation, contest class configuration, task parameters, and entrant registration and management.
- Plan for and manage the shift of legacy volunteer assets (Winscore, Worldwide Soaring Turnpoint Exchange, OGN software and others) to alternatives not dependent on single individuals.
- Coordinate with the SSA Digital Infrastructure Committee, Cross-country camp directors, Contest Directors (as needed), and the Contest Committee to ensure all cross-country and contest configurations and tracking equipment comply with current SSA needs.
- Serve as the digital point of contact for technical issues faced by Contest Directors during the registration and pre-contest setup window.
Contest Operations & Scoring
- Document and oversee digital scoring workflows for regional, national and (when appropriate) U.S.-based international contests, ensuring accuracy and timely publication of daily scores and final results.
- Maintain proficiency in WinScore; serve as the primary support resource for Contest Directors using WinScore at contest sites.
- Lead and support potential software needs and migration planning and implementation for legacy software, including helping to define specifications and operational processes to operate, maintain and develop the platforms.
- Coordinate with stakeholders on cross-country camps, contest entry, task setup, live tracking, pilot rankings, and scoring rules.
- Assure publication of daily contest tasks and scoring results to members.ssa.org and other audiences in a timely, accurate manner. These processes are mostly automated, but requiring troubleshooting should problems arise.
- Coordinate with soaring camp organizers and Contest Directors on IGC file collection, validation, and upload workflows.
- Coordinate OGN ground station deployment, maintenance and readiness at cross-country soaring sites and contest sites in collaboration with the SSA OGN network team.
- Support live tracking visibility for contests and cross-country soaring
