Senior Director, New York Works for Children

Job Description

General Description

Children need to spend their most critical years with dedicated, educated, trained, and well-compensated individuals in order to thrive.

The New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute leads the work to establish and implement an early childhood workforce system to ensure funding, standards and competencies, career development resources, qualifications and credentials, professional development (training and strengths-based coaching), and program quality assurance and improvement for individuals who work with young children throughout New York.

Housed at the City University of New York, the Institute is a fast-paced, dynamic public / private partnership that is committed to the early childhood workforce across New York State.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Senior Director, New York Works for Children, will play a pivotal and influential leadership role in the policy and systems-building work of the Institute.

The Institute is the implementing agency of New York Works for Children (NYWFC), New York State's integrated professional development system for the early childhood and school age workforce.

The Senior Director is responsible for developing, implementing, managing, and promoting the statewide system that supports the early childhood workforce, including a wide range of initiatives to improve and expand workforce development policy and practice.

The Senior Director will lead a team of workforce development, communications, and data system managers to further develop and integrate the Institute’s programs into a comprehensive and cohesive statewide system.

The Senior Director will quickly gain an understanding of the Institute’s work and how it fits with other statewide early childhood systems and will be able to identify areas of opportunity for positive impacts on the workforce and New York’s youngest children and their families.

The Senior Director will work with other statewide and national organizations and initiatives to accomplish these goals as well.

The Senior Director will work in conjunction with the Institute’s other system-building projects, including QUALITYstarsNY, the Aspire Registry, career development, and professional development and learning projects and systems that produce research, data and outcomes relevant to policymakers and early childhood stakeholders in New York City, New York State, and around the country.

In this role the Senior Director will serve as a convener and collaborator throughout the state and with agency and organization partners to further the work of the conceptual workforce system known as New York Works for Children.

The Senior Director will produce, with input from the Institute’s leadership team, a variety of documents and communications that share this information with different audiences to advance knowledge about and recognition of NYWFC.

This will include policy reports and briefs, policy position statements, and newsletter and blog articles. The Senior Director will produce content that is proactive, based on our work and outcomes, as well as statements in response to announcements and changes in the field.

An effective candidate will be a systems thinker and a storyteller, able to produce written work products, make the case for changes in policy, introduce innovative approaches to workforce development, and represent the Institute and NYWFC at relevant events.

This position will report to the Executive Director and will supervise a team of professionals.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership and Project Management

Provide strategic leadership, promotion, and administrative and budget oversight of the work of New York Works for Children and The Aspire Registry.

Identify areas of opportunity for system improvement and expansion.

• Collaborate and convene leaders from other agencies and organizations to advance policy and practice. Provide dynamic leadership and effective supervision of a team of managers with expertise in professional development, data analysis, and customer service / user experience.
• Provide strategic oversight of efforts to increase utilization rates of the Registry across the state among early childhood practitioners, organizations, and professional development providers.

Relationship Building and Management

• Manage relationships with City and State agency staff and other Institute partners as needed for ongoing and new workforce and professional development initiatives.
• Participate in statewide early childhood workforce initiatives to build partnerships and expand recognition of NYWFC and the Institute.

Policy and Data Analysis

• Assess and monitor workforce development system trends and lead statewide initiatives related to the early childhood workforce.
• Produce policy papers and other communication materials based on workforce data from the Aspire Registry and other sources.
• Create productive relationships with all Institute program directors to understand how Institute programs interact with and influence each other, as well as the field.
• Produce content for grant proposals and program reports for a variety of funders.
• Perform data analysis regularly to inform project planning and reporting

Other Duties

• Participate in Institute team leadership meetings and projects and work collaboratively with other Institute projects, especially the Career Development Center and QUALITYstarsNY.
• Attend and participate in statewide and national meetings regarding workforce development and registries.
• Manage other special projects and initiatives and represent the Institute and New York Works for Children at community events across the state as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in early childhood education, education policy, higher education administration, or a related field
• Ten+ years of experience in similar work, preferably in workforce development and early childhood education public policy
• Strong interest in and passion for advancing policy for high-quality early care and education
• Demonstrated leadership skills, including managing multiple projects and timelines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; specifically, experience producing policy papers, grant applications, and reports
• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively, preferably with public agencies, nonprofits, and higher education
• Flexibility, a growth mindset, sound judgement, and enthusiasm for learning new skills and technologies as they become available
• Advanced data analysis and presentation skills using Excel or other data analysis tools; ability to build and run reports from a database system (preferred)
• Nonprofit experience a plus

Physical Requirements

This position is located in a professional office environment in Brooklyn, NY and is currently hybrid, working 70% in person (7 days) in office and 30% remote (3 days) during every two-week payroll.

A laptop may be provided if needed to support working remotely. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as personal computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and presentation equipment.

While performing these duties, the employee is required to perform physical activities such as, but not limited to, lifting items (up to 20 pounds), bending, reaching, and sitting for prolonged periods of time.

Reasonable accommodations will be made for employees with disabilities or other needs per RFCUNY policies.

How to Apply

Provide a resume and cover letter specifying your qualifications, experience, and interest relevant to this position.