Early Education Director

How you Will Power our Purpose (Job Summary)

As a Director of Early Education, you will foster essential growth, nurture curiosity, and build genuine relationships. You will oversee the day-to-day program operations of multiple EAC YMCA Early Education centers, cultivate relationships with stakeholders at all levels, and assess and evolve program delivery to prepare children for school readiness. Our Early Education programs are designed to meet the unique needs of children through intentional, age-appropriate instruction focusing on cognitive, language, social, and physical development.

You will also support the enterprise's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) and the core character values of the YMCA. Reporting directly to the Associate Vice President, Early Learning, you will partner closely with other senior leaders throughout the enterprise to achieve outcomes.

How You Will Make an Impact (Essential Functions)

Program Operations: (40%)

• Oversees daily program operations at multiple childcare sites, ensuring that staff adhere to and exceed all state, local, and Y health and safety regulations through daily monitoring of programs.

• Analyze and resolve problems that arise at centers relating to staff, children, schools, or parents.

• Support center staff in developing behavior support plans

• Works collaboratively with colleagues to accomplish collective goals;

• In collaboration with the Associate Vice-President of Early Learning, manage programmatic budgets that meet financial objectives, which includes evaluating program enrollment, program expenses, and involvement in the yearly budget entry and process.

• In collaboration with the Associate Vice-President of Early Learning, manage purchasing and distribution of materials and supplies from grants and donations.

• Serves as a professional and engaging representative of the Y; establishes, develops, and maintains positive relationships with principals, parents, staff, program participants, and licensing representatives.

Program Management: (30%)

• Responsible for ensuring that all program-related paperwork is current, accurate, and submitted in a timely fashion.

• Actively participate in all aspects of staff development, including team meetings, pre-service training, and at least an additional 30 hours of training during the school year.

• Create and manage weekly staff schedules.

• Approve staff timesheets and PTO requests in line with programmatic budgets.

• Addresses and resolves concerns, providing follow-up, documentation, and training as needed.

• Substitute in programs when necessary.

Program Quality: (20%)

• Lead programs to meet and exceed all Childcare Regulation and Texas Rising Star standards with the goal of reaching and sustaining the Texas Rising Star 4 status at all centers.

• Continuous focus on evaluating the quality of each assigned program; ensuring proper delivery of the curriculum; identifying opportunities for program improvement and staff development.

• Adhere to policies and procedures in a proactive manner, making the safety and care of children your primary focus.

Performance Achievement & Results: (10%)

• Fosters a culture that builds trust and treats all team members and colleagues with respect; constructively and immediately deals with conflict; gains commitment and provides clarity; holds team members accountable and cultivates peer accountability; and achieves results to meet strategic and operational goals.

• Models inclusive leadership behaviors and embraces all dimensions of diversity - building strong teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to our mission.

• Responsible for hiring, coaching, and managing all direct reports and ensuring alignment with association people practices for all positions within their organizational structure.

• Responsible for successful Strategic Plan metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to meet strategic goals and objectives.

• Implements a goal-based leadership approach (OKR methodology) and ensures the development department is actively working towards supporting organizational level objectives and key results. Conducts Cycle Check-ins and the Annual Check-In with direct reports to ensure progress with OKRs, providing ongoing coaching and feedback, and discuss development opportunities.

Completes other duties as assigned.

What You Bring to the Community Enterprise

Education, Experience, and Certifications:

• Must meet Director qualifications under the Texas Rising Star guidelines.

• The position requires Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) (formerly overseen by TDFPS) Program Director certification. Must be or have the ability to become certified according to HHSC standards.

• Current CPR and First Aid certification or become certified upon hire.

• YMCA experience preferred.

• Bilingual (Spanish/English) strongly preferred.

Competencies We're Looking For:

• You're a Cause-Driven Leader

• You are effective at:

• Advancing our mission and cause - providing visionary leadership to ensure resources are mobilized to adapt to new challenges and needs in the community.

• Building relationships - connecting people to the Y's cause by developing inclusive relationships, partnerships, and collaborations to co-create solutions to pressing social needs.

• Leading operations - ensuring relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the organization so we can continue to fulfill our promise to the community.

• Developing and inspiring people - supporting the holistic development of self and others so everyone can embrace the Y's cause, sustain our culture, and inspire others to action.

• You build effective teams - building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.

• You're organized & productive

• You are a master at planning your day and not letting distractions come in between meeting your goals.

• You demonstrate resiliency - rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.

• You communicate effectively - developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.