"Range Master" Job Posting at MIT

DougW

NES Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2016
Messages
35
Likes
24
Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
The "Range Master" at MIT is retiring, and they have posted an opening to find a replacement. There are actually two different links describing the position on MIT's web system:

Here's the short version:

Manager of MIT Shooting Center/Physical Education & Wellness Instructor

And here's the longer one (you will need to click on the box labeled "Manager of MIT Shooting Center / Physical Education and Wellness Instructor":

DSL Open Positions | Division of Student Life

The position is very multi-disciplinary. The Range Master is responsible for:

Safety of all activities at the shooting facility​
Maintaining & improving the facility​
Teaching PE classes in both pistol & rifle, including maintaining the firearms, ordering targets & ammo, safety gear etc.​
Coordinating between all the various users of the facility, including the collegiate pistol & rifle teams, Intramural air pistol, Campus Police, and the faculty/staff/alumni shooting club.​
MIT's FFL​

It is a 10-month-a-year full-time position, with benefits.

The salary range is $60K to $80K, depending on qualifications and experience.

The search committee will begin to review resumes on the 16th of February. Submissions that arrive after that will be considered as well, but only up to the point where they have identified a sufficient number of candidates to proceed to phone interviews.

Don't look at the job "requirements" and give up. I've known every Range Master going back 50 years, and none of them had all the qualifications listed when they started.

The Physical Education classes are a big part of the job. There are two "quarters" of classes taught during each of the regular academic semesters, and an additional set of classes during January. The class schedule is 3 classes a day, four days a week. All the classes are .22 rimfire target shooting. Pistol classes are shot on NRA bullseye ("Precision") targets, and the focus is on target shooting as a sport. These are not combat/defense classes. Experience teaching beginning shooters who aren't there for a job requirement (i.e. military or police) would be a big plus. Beyond that, it's largely a facilities management job.
 
MIT Range used to hold open full course 1200 pt 3 pos rifle and air rifle sectionals. Many young shooters went on and continued to win Gold at Olympics.
 
The "Range Master" at MIT is retiring, and they have posted an opening to find a replacement. There are actually two different links describing the position on MIT's web system:

Here's the short version:

Manager of MIT Shooting Center/Physical Education & Wellness Instructor

And here's the longer one (you will need to click on the box labeled "Manager of MIT Shooting Center / Physical Education and Wellness Instructor":

DSL Open Positions | Division of Student Life

The position is very multi-disciplinary. The Range Master is responsible for:

Safety of all activities at the shooting facility​
Maintaining & improving the facility​
Teaching PE classes in both pistol & rifle, including maintaining the firearms, ordering targets & ammo, safety gear etc.​
Coordinating between all the various users of the facility, including the collegiate pistol & rifle teams, Intramural air pistol, Campus Police, and the faculty/staff/alumni shooting club.​
MIT's FFL​

It is a 10-month-a-year full-time position, with benefits.

The salary range is $60K to $80K, depending on qualifications and experience.

The search committee will begin to review resumes on the 16th of February. Submissions that arrive after that will be considered as well, but only up to the point where they have identified a sufficient number of candidates to proceed to phone interviews.

Don't look at the job "requirements" and give up. I've known every Range Master going back 50 years, and none of them had all the qualifications listed when they started.

The Physical Education classes are a big part of the job. There are two "quarters" of classes taught during each of the regular academic semesters, and an additional set of classes during January. The class schedule is 3 classes a day, four days a week. All the classes are .22 rimfire target shooting. Pistol classes are shot on NRA bullseye ("Precision") targets, and the focus is on target shooting as a sport. These are not combat/defense classes. Experience teaching beginning shooters who aren't there for a job requirement (i.e. military or police) would be a big plus. Beyond that, it's largely a facilities management job.
Thats alot to do for $65k
 
There's a lot more to it than just the salary. MIT has exceptional benefits, and you get July & August off every summer. That said, it's a job, and it's not one where you can sit on your butt all day & play solitaire on the computer...

Damn, 2 months off in Summer would be perfect.. I would tour MT, ID, WY, CA and CO on my bike.
 
There's a lot more to it than just the salary. MIT has exceptional benefits, and you get July & August off every summer. That said, it's a job, and it's not one where you can sit on your butt all day & play solitaire on the computer...

Definitely not. Think of it this way: suppose the ventilation or backstops need improvement. We all know how tough it can be to get that done with a club BoD; imagine having to put together a presentation that'll convince a university to part with six figures for air filtration on a range used by a tiny percentage of the university. In Cambridge, MA!

My university range was very active in the summertime. I'd assume those two solid months of vacay are unlikely to materialize in most years.

I think this salary seems low for the headaches the job will include. It'd be a great gig for someone like a military retiree, who has forcefulness and energy... and a pension.
 
You'd have to be working at least 50% of your time for at least 5 or 7 years to have fully vested pension at MIT. Otherwise, the benefits are pretty good and the job is really easy. BTW, I do not know if the range itself is open or going to be open any time soon. We have Covid testing in the Athletics Center and entrance to W31 is limited to even those who are authorized to work on campus.
 
Last edited:
Definitely not. Think of it this way: suppose the ventilation or backstops need improvement. We all know how tough it can be to get that done with a club BoD; imagine having to put together a presentation that'll convince a university to part with six figures for air filtration on a range used by a tiny percentage of the university. In Cambridge, MA!

My university range was very active in the summertime. I'd assume those two solid months of vacay are unlikely to materialize in most years.

I think this salary seems low for the headaches the job will include. It'd be a great gig for someone like a military retiree, who has forcefulness and energy... and a pension.
The MIT range has Olympic alumni and some endowment money tied to it. It's why the program hasn't been abolished by the wokesters unlike every other on-campus academic range in metro-Boston.

Harvard is the only other school with an on campus range (brand new), but it is HPD only.

If I ever came into a lot of money I would strictly endow a program at my alma Mata (a centrist school at the time which is now a far left sewer) just to screw with them. It would piss off the school within the university I attended as well since they don't have a designated endowment for their program thanks to pissing off every successful graduate they ever had.
 
Back
Top Bottom