Foothills Unitarian Church, located in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado, is seeking a full-time Music Director to join our creative, collaborative, and spiritually grounded team. We are looking for a heart-centered musician who understands that music is ministry; a spiritual practice that deepens connection, belonging, and collective courage.

This full-time, benefited role includes:

• Leading and inspiring ensembles that include both professional musicians and the extraordinary singers and instrumentalists within our Foothills community.

• Engaging and helping to guide the full arc of worship production - musical leadership plus aesthetic vision, creative collaboration, and attention to the emotional andspiritual experience of our services.

• Cultivating congregational singing as a central spiritual practice: accessible, embodied, joyful, and theologically resonant.

• Building loving, covenantal relationships across staff, choir, and congregation.

• Bringing a justice-centered, progressive lens to the work, believing in the power of community, art, and partnership to transform lives.

Foothills Unitarian Church is a vibrant, progressive faith community of roughly 1200 people, with about 450 in-person and 100 online participants most Sundays, spanning ages from infants to centenarians. We center transformative partnership, joyful resilience, radical welcome, and collective courage. We are agile, joy-filled, theologically grounded, and deeply committed to issues of queer/trans and immigrant justice, reproductive and economic justice, and regenerative work in the face of climate change.

We bring energy, depth, and a willingness to play, to experiment, and to steward worship as both sacred and communal. We are a staff of 11 full-time and some part-time team members who deeply value this shared mission.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Minister of Music & Worship

• Approaches music as ministry while honoring preparation, craft, beauty, and excellence

• Chooses music that invites participation, reflection, courage, and joy

• Brings pastoral sensitivity to music-making during times of grief, transition, celebration, and collective emotion

• Recognizes and holds strong musical preferences with care, grounding decisions in shared values and congregational needs

• Collaborates closely with ministers to align music with the theological and emotional arc of worship

• Brings a high level of musical expertise, discernment, artistic judgment, and cultural sensitivity, education, and responsibility to all aspects of worship

• Holds responsibility for the overall musical standard of worship at Foothills

Choir Director & Leader of Solo and Ensemble Music

• Serves as primary Choir Director, leading rehearsals and performances for the choir, soloists, and small group ensembles

• Cultivates a choir culture grounded in belonging, musical growth, care, and shared purpose

• Demonstrates excellence in rehearsal leadership, musical preparation, and presentation

• Selects repertoire with depth and intention

• Balances musical challenge with accessibility, supporting singers across a range of experience levels

• Leads additional vocal and instrumental groups throughout the year

• Sources arrangements and charts as needed to support worship and ensemble singing

Curator of Musical Life

• Selects music for meaning, singability, and spiritual nourishment

• Holds a wide musical palette, and the resources to continually expand it, honoring tradition while making room for the new

• Understands that sophistication and depth can live within music that welcomes broad participation

• Actively expands the church’s musical library to support evolving worship needs

• Gathers the wider community in song through community sings, jam sessions, and music-centered events

Cultivator of Music Teams & Volunteers

• Recruits, trains, mentors, and supports volunteer and staff musicians

• Creates rehearsal spaces that are organized, welcoming, and meaningful

• Establishes clear expectations rooted in covenant, respect, collaboration, and shared purpose

• Tends to group dynamics with compassion and clarity

• Leader of Musical Systems & Steward of Musical Resources

• Builds and maintains clear systems for scheduling, communication, preparation, and follow-through

• Partners with worship team to support high-quality in-person and livestreamed worship

• Plans ahead for high-impact seasons to ensure sustainability and care for staff and volunteers

• Oversees the music budget, library, instruments, and equipment

• Ensures copyright and licensing compliance (CCLI / OneLicense)

• Maintains organized physical and digital music systems

• Partners with leadership on long-range planning for music ministry vision and needs

Desired Qualifications & Attributes

• Bachelor’s degree in music or equivalent professional experience

• Minimum 5 years music leadership experience; congregational or community arts experience preferred

• Excellence in choral and vocal leadership; piano skills preferred

• Ability to lead a wide range of styles (folk, gospel, soul, contemporary, classical, UU hymnody)

• Strong organizational and communication skills

• Proactive, self-directed leader with strong system-building capacity

• Warm, relational presence with curiosity, adaptability, and a sense of humor

• Experience with or willingness to learn about Unitarian Universalism

• Commitment to anti-racism, inclusion, accessibility, culturally responsive and responsible leadership

• Comfortable with, or willingness to learn, technology used in worship production and planning

The Details

Start Date: August 2026

Salary: $70,000-$85,000 + benefits

Location: Fort Collins, CO

Application Deadline: March 2, 2026

Apply

Send resume and cover letter to Sophia Miller at apply@foothillsuu.org