About Sonar

Sonar is a mission-driven startup redefining how society delivers personalized mental health support. We provide 24/7 text-based wellbeing support, blending real human connection from trained Wellbeing Coaches with AI tools that make them more effective. This human-first, technology supported, approach lets us deliver safe, accessible support at scale, and our work has been recognized by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN.

Since our founding in 2022, we have supported more than 20,000 youth across the United States, improving mental health outcomes, grades, and attendance while reducing crises. We are backed by leading institutions including Stanford University, Informed Ventures, HopeLab, and Nina Capital.

The role

As a Wellbeing Coach, you are the human on the other side of the conversation for a teen who reaches out. You build real rapport over text, respond with warmth and personality, and help young people feel genuinely seen. You are equipped with AI tools that suggest responses and surface context, but the connection is yours to build. The teens can tell the difference between a thoughtful, personal reply and a generic one.

This is a coaching role first. We are looking for people who love the craft of conversation: reading tone, matching energy, asking the right follow-up, and making someone feel understood in a few sentences. Your conversations are reviewed and you get regular coaching, because the quality of each individual conversation is what makes this work matter.

Please note: this is a non-clinical role. To maintain a clear non-clinical scope of practice, it is not open to candidates who currently hold or practice under an active clinical license.

What you'll be doing

• Support teens' emotional wellbeing over chat, one real conversation at a time
• Answer incoming messages within one minute, and keep conversations feeling personal and human throughout
• Review chats and member profiles to build real context on each member, so your messages are personalized and the member feels genuinely heard
• Send personalized check-ins to members
• Build rapport quickly and sustain it across multiple exchanges, adapting your tone to each teen
• Manage more than one conversation at once during busier windows, without letting either member feel like a number
• Use our AI copilot as a starting point, not a script. You personalize every response so it sounds like you, not a template
• In a crisis, escalate appropriately with clear, calm communication. An understanding of teen suicidality, strong empathy, and sound independent judgment are essential

What makes a great coach here

These are the skills we screen for most closely, because they are what separate good support from support that actually lands with a teen:

• Rapport and warmth. You make people feel comfortable fast. Teens open up to you because your tone is genuine, not clinical
• Conversational engagement. You know how to keep a chat going, ask questions that invite more, and read what someone needs from how they write. You can draw out a guarded teen without pushing
• Personalization and effort. You put real thought into each reply. You use the AI tools to work smarter, but the words and the care are yours
• Written voice and tone. You write naturally and clearly in a way that feels human and age-appropriate for teens, not stiff or formal
• Judgment under pressure. You stay calm and think clearly when a conversation turns serious, including when several are happening at once

Must have

• Strong written communication with a natural, engaging voice. This is the core of the job
• Experience supporting people, whether in mental health, peer support, education, youth work, or a similar setting. A formal mental health background and lived experience are both welcome
• Genuine enthusiasm for connecting with teens over text, and a track record of building trust with people quickly
• Comfortable managing more than one conversation at a time during busier windows
• Reliable internet, laptop, and a quiet workspace

Nice to have

• Prior experience in text-based, chat, or crisis support
• Psychology, counseling, social work, or related coursework or credentials (non-licensed)
• Familiarity with US teen culture (social media, current issues, how young people actually talk)
• Mental health first aid or crisis training (we'll provide it if you don't have it)

This role is a strong fit if you

• Genuinely enjoy the back-and-forth of a good conversation and take pride in making someone feel heard
• See AI as a tool that frees you up to be more present, not a replacement for your own voice
• Want feedback and want to get better at the craft, not just clock a shift
• Are the person friends come to when they need to talk

Growth and development

We take the craft seriously, and we invest in you getting better at it. Here is what that looks like:

• Structured onboarding and training to get you ready before you take real conversations, not a sink-or-swim start
• Regular coaching and feedback on your actual conversations, so you can see yourself getting better over time
• Real, transferable experience in behavioral health and crisis-informed support, the kind that holds weight for grad school, licensure paths, and the next step in your career. We are glad to be a reference once you have earned it
• Room to take on more as you grow, from mentoring newer coaches to helping shape how we do the work
• A clear path to advance to a higher Wellbeing Coach role once you meet our advancement criteria, which are tied to real team goals rather than time served

Hours

• Flexible 8-hour on-call shifts, with availability needed across morning, overnight, and night hours including weekends.
• When conversations come in, we expect timely, engaged, and high-quality responses
• Hired as a contractor

Our hiring process

• A short written exercise (about 30 minutes) so we can see how you actually connect with a member over text
• A video conversation about your background and the role
• A live text role-play and a behavioral interview

Compensation

• Cash: $70-120 per shift, based on experience and shift volume.