Senior Director, Operations and Military Family Experience

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) is the country’s leading voice for child care, championing equitable access to affordable, high-quality care.

CCAoA works with partners at the local, state and federal levels, including the United States Military and the Department of Defense, to make child care programs, policies and funding work better for children, families, child care providers and communities.

CCAoA works in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to build the supply of healthy, nurturing and stable child care that helps families get to work, supports children’s development and learning and keeps our economy growing. CCAoA also delivers innovative, results-based services for families and child care providers; produces research; engages with the media, public and policymakers; and advances policies and mobilizes action that promotes understanding of and increased investment in a high-quality child care system. To learn more, visit our website. Follow CCAoA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.      

Currently recruiting for an experienced Operations Director that has the tenacity and grit to effectively elevate and lead a call center.

Location: Arlington, Virginia. Candidates must be based in Washington D.C., Maryland or Virginia Metropolitan area and able to work a hybrid schedule with 2 days per week in-office.

Summary of Position: The Senior Director, Operations and Military Family Experience reports to the Chief of Military Programs and Strategy and will collaborate closely on unit initiatives and cross-organizational projects with a keen focus on the operations that directly impact family experiences such as interactions with call center and payments departments. The Senior Director is responsible for the day-to-day operations of non-programmatic contract related work, ensuring the effective execution of business strategies, and driving operational excellence that includes creating and meeting key metrics, optimal allocation of resources, human capital, budgeting, and infrastructure. The incumbent will be responsible for a branch of 65+ staff. Their departmental oversight responsibilities include, but is not limited to, Call/Contact Center, Payments, Joint Application Suite, Data, Parent Services, and Provider Services teams, ensuring contractual requirements and obligations are met and appropriate reviews occur to allow for the creation of actionable operational adjustments. 

Position Duties and Responsibilities: 

1. In collaboration with the supervisor, provide direct supervision and consultation to ensure key responsibilities and projects are completed and meet the needs, standards, and strategic objectives of Child Care Aware® of America. 

2. Act on behalf of the Chief, Military Programs and Strategy as principal liaison and resource staff person on many program goals and cross-organizational initiatives. 

3. Assist in Unit strategic planning and ensure the effective implementation of programmatic plans for Military Programs. 

4. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs), monitor metrics, and implement processes to drive efficiency and productivity across departments, including the fee assistance call center.

5. Monitor team performance and fulfill supervisory responsibilities, including assigning and directing work, evaluating performance, and delivering timely and constructive feedback in accordance with organizational policies and applicable laws. 

6. Develop, direct, and monitor implementation of contractual requirements, policies, and procedures for effective service delivery, as required. 

7. Manage the evaluation and maintenance of contract-related standards for all programs and implement process improvements, as necessary. 

8. Provide support, technical assistance, and training to program staff; coordinate and conduct regular staff meetings on program issues; conduct annual performance evaluations; recruit new staff; ensure adherence with personnel policies. 

9. Prepare, distribute, and maintain records and reports, such as budgets, personnel records, and training materials, as applicable. Monitor documentation of client and program files, as applicable. 

10. Establish and maintain collaborative relationships and partnerships internally and with other agencies and organizations. Be a model for excellent customer service to internal and external stakeholders.

11. Ensure a supportive environment within and across departments that promotes employee professional growth and organizational values. 

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in business, business management, communications or related field and a minimum of 5 years of directly related, progressive work in call center or contact center management or related program areas. 

Business acumen with the proven ability to identify business requirements, required.   

• Management experience and/or at least five (5) years of demonstrated experience in leading and motivating teams in a supervisory or managerial capacity. 

• Superior writing and presentation skills demonstrated in authoring reports, 

presentations, and publications; ability to convey complex information and ideas to all levels of management. 

• Documented experience using call center management software, payments/deliverables software and/or customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

• Project Management Professional (PMP) highly desirable with at least 5 years’ related experience. 

• Ability to evaluate programmatic data, propose innovative solutions, implement changes, and meet stringent deadlines in demanding environment. Ability to analyze information, form conclusions and provide meaningful solutions. 

• Excellent communicator, initiative-taker, innovative, with strong leadership skills and comfortable interacting with all levels of staff. 

• Experience in project development, implementation, administration, and evaluation with a proven ability to facilitate team efforts, provide guidance and communicate project objectives, parameters, status, and outcomes to stakeholders. Knowledge of financial principles to quantify costs and benefits of projects and to track and maintain project budgets. 

• Ability to manage competing priorities, project scheduling, cost controls, tracking and reporting methodologies, and analyzing the delivery of quality services, is essential. 

• Understanding of how to manage government contracts, grants, and other funding sources, and work directly with Federal Government clients as required. 

• Must be an adaptive learner as demonstrated by quickly developing a working knowledge of CCAoA’s military work, contracts, and fee assistance database. Experience working within the Military Child Care System, a plus. 

• Must quickly understand the roles of external government agencies, CCAoA, and other stakeholders. 

• Must possess high level diligence and experience in managing vendors/contractors regarding work scope changes to ensure that all contract commitments are completed on time per applicable specifications. 

• Excellent computer skills and experience with the Microsoft Office suite of products. Experience using Asana, HubSpot, Jira, Smartsheet or equivalent preferred. 

Child Care Aware® of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer & Drug-Free Workplace. This position requires the completion of a satisfactory background check.

We offer a full and comprehensive benefits package to includes medical, dental, vision, supplementary benefits, long-term, short-term, retirement options, transportation, child care subsidy, annual leave cash out, flexible spending account, pet insurance, transit benefits, training, and professional development opportunities.