The Society of Family Planning advances a vision of just and equitable abortion and contraception, informed by science. By leveraging the powerful tools of science and medicine, we aim to ensure that abortion and contraception practices and policies are grounded in science and center people whose access to care is constrained by systems of oppression, and that all people have access to evidence-informed and person-centered abortion and contraception. To achieve our vision and desired impacts, we focus on the following strategies, as described in our 2023-2028 strategic plan:
- Convening a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and multidisciplinary community of all engaged in the science and medicine of abortion and contraception
- Supporting the production and resourcing of research primed for impact
- Organizing and leveraging research primed for impact
- Ensuring clinical care is evidence-informed and person-centered through guidance, medical education, and other activities
- Developing and supporting leaders in abortion and contraception to transform healthcare systems, and
- Aligning the organization’s governance, operations, and overall resources to be in service of the strategies designed to bring our collective vision to life.
The Director of Complex Family Planning reports to the Senior Director of Healthcare Programs and Strategy and is responsible for managing and integrating the Society’s healthcare program portfolio related to complex family planning, with primary responsibility for guiding and successfully executing the organization's programs and strategies related to supporting the Complex Family Planning subspeciality, while also exploring new areas of growth that connect to strategies four and five in our strategic plan. Persons in this role are responsible for developing and executing complex, high-impact programs, communications, and/or operations that are aligned with the organization’s strategic plan. They provide leadership across key initiatives, often overseeing committees, managing teams, and ensuring the successful implementation of organizational priorities. Additionally, directors are critical in driving fundraising efforts and external partnership development.
Ideal candidates will bring deep expertise in family planning and clinical practice, continuing education, and leadership development. As part of a membership organization, this person demonstrates sound judgment in stepping forward to represent the organization and guide programmatic decision-making when needed, and stepping back to empower members to lead initiatives within their areas of expertise, ensuring our strategic plan and DEI Vision are implemented, meet the moment and make a meaningful impact. This is a remote position and is open to candidates living in the US who are within one hour of a major airport. It is anticipated that the person in this position will travel 15% of the time.
Specific responsibilities
Activities include, but are not limited to, those described below.
Provide vision- and values- aligned leadership to advance the Complex Family Planning subspeciality — 60%
- Work within and across teams to develop, provide oversight, and continually refine multi-year program plans and budgets that tightly align with the Society’s strategic plan, DEI Vision and available resources, and are responsive to new opportunities to meet the moment.
- Serve as strategic convener and steward of the Complex Family Planning subspecialty, advancing its integration within the broader family planning. ecosystem and managing Fellowship pipeline development and support across sites, fellows, and Fellowship leadership.
- Guide and support key activities aimed at nourishing the subspeciality, including developing a plan and actionable goals for assessing the advocacy, educational, sustainability, creating or connecting subspecialists to that programming, and continuing to improve on that programming.
- Advance centralized efforts with key programmatic partner organizations such as ACGME, ABOG, and CREOG; ensuring Society leaders in these spaces have the resources and support needed to address emergent and ongoing issues.
- Champion participation of subspecialists in Society programming.
- Connect the subspeciality community to a variety of resources in the ecosystem
- Stabilize routine offerings while increasing our ability to respond to emergent topics (including updates to milestones and travel questions).
- Understand and respond to supports Fellowship Directors need to address emergent challenges that impact the subspeciality (including changes to clinical care, DEI, funding, GME, research, and sustainability).
- Support Fellowship Directors in advocating for institutional support for Complex Family Planning.
- Continue to establish our niche as a subspeciality.
- Lead and collaborate with multiple committees, refining as needed the purpose and function of committees to ensure maximum strategic impact.
- Champion DEI practices in subspecialty programming and strategy, ensuring continuous improvement in programmatic activities.
- Represent the Society in external meetings, conferences, and partner spaces as appropriate, often acting on behalf of the Senior Director of Healthcare Programs and Strategy.
- Partner across internal teams to integrate evaluation, learning, and continuous improvement into program design, implementation, and refinement.
Provide vision and values-aligned leadership to advance new healthcare programs — 20%
- Continually assess, maintain, and communicate an acute understanding of the healthcare challenges and opportunities that a scientific society and subspecialty are well poised to address, ensuring alignment with our vision and anticipating future needs.
- Participate in the exploration of new areas of growth and thoughtfully expand and execute on work to meet the moment.
- Advance DEI practices across all healthcare programming, ensuring continuous improvement in programmatic activities.
- Cultivate and steward strategic relationships with key members, external partners, philanthropic organizations, and industry partners to ensure the Society is agile and responsive to emerging needs and opportunities in the dynamic healthcare landscape.
Provide leadership and advance organizational health and development — 20%
- Foster and sustain organizational culture, emphasizing accountability, learning, transparency, engagement, and collaboration across a distributed work environment.
- Partnering and/or supervising staff working on aligned programming, fostering coordination, shared accountability, and effective collaboration across teams. .
- Support the successful execution of the Annual Meeting in collaboration with all staff.
- Lead and support fundraising efforts to secure resources that support strategic goals for healthcare programs and overall organizational growth.
- Bring a learner’s mindset to all work and look for opportunities to identify which activities were most impactful and most used, and what strategies would improve impact and use.
- Apply working knowledge of clinical environments in healthcare systems and professional education to program design.
- Ensure alignment between clinical guidance, education, and subspecialty programming while maintaining clear role distinction and shared accountability.
Qualifications
This role requires deep experience leading healthcare or clinical-adjacent programs, with a strong preference for work rooted in family planning, reproductive health, or clinician-led subspecialty environments. Highly qualified applicants will possess a significant breadth and depth of experience, meeting many of the qualifications below, and will have clarity on areas where growth and support would be helpful to fulfill the essential functions of this executive role. To aid in review of qualifications, we have noted which qualifications are required to be considered for the position.
- Required: Palpable enthusiasm for leveraging the tools of science and medicine and insight into the role clinicians, subspecialties, and scientific societies play in shaping science and medicine.
- Required: Demonstrated knowledge working within modern program infrastructure, including platforms such as Asana, Slack, and Google Workspace, with the ability to use data and systems to support program execution, learning, and improvement.
- Required: Commitment to inspiring and motivating teams to set and be accountable to goals, with at least five years of experience at the director level leading teams of three or larger in a nonprofit setting.
- Required: At least five years of experience in leading and learning from initiatives focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within a nonprofit setting.
- Required: Self-aware and responsive to one’s own learning edges; able to acknowledge and learn from mistakes.
- Required: High level of computer literacy, including confidence using (or learning to use) Microsoft and Google suite, Asana, Box, Slack, and other digital platforms.
- Proven ability to navigate change, build structure in growing organizations, and develop programs within nonprofit or healthcare environments.
- Strong relationship-builder who can engage clinicians, fellows, board members, and staff with clarity and confidence.
- Strategic thinker who can balance high-level vision with detailed execution.
- Ingrained practice of seeking and recognizing the wisdom of divergent perspectives.
- Ability to step forward to represent or guide members when needed, alongside the ability to judge when to step back for members to lead initiatives.
- Track record of taking a concept from ideation to implementation, all while anticipating likely challenges, mitigating unanticipated challenges, and building community.
- Adept at making and communicating difficult decisions with clarity and kindness.
- Exemplary interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
- Willingness to pitch in as needed. The Society is a small nonprofit and everyone contributes to necessary administrative work.