Associate Director of Programs & Services

About BAGLY

Founded in 1980, BAGLY (the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth) is a youth-led, adult-supported social support organization committed to social justice and creating, sustaining, and advocating for programs, policies, and services for the LGBTQ+ youth community in Massachusetts. BAGLY’s vision for 2030 is to be the beacon of light that transforms the lives and landscapes of LGBTQ+ youth in Boston — and beyond!

About BAGLY’s Programs Team

BAGLY’s Programs Team includes staff, youth and young adult Peer Leaders and Interns, contractors, and volunteers. BAGLY’s core program areas are Health & Wellness, Community & Belonging, and Youth Leadership & Advocacy. These programs are supported by BAGLY’s 10,000-square-foot Downtown Boston Community Center, which provides space for activities, events, peer-led social support meetings, and other programming and services.

Position Overview

The Associate Director of Programs & Services (AD) is a senior member of BAGLY’s Programs Team and reports to the Senior Director of Programs & Services. The AD provides strategic and operational leadership for BAGLY’s Health & Wellness portfolio, ensures the successful programmatic implementation of associated grants and contracts, and supervises the staff and systems necessary to deliver high-quality programs and services.

The AD oversees Health & Wellness programs and services, including clinical testing and linkage to care, sexual health education, behavioral health partnerships, health literacy, HIV prevention and education, and emerging initiatives. The AD also directly supervises the Community Center Program Manager and works closely with the Senior Director to strengthen coordination, quality, and effective management across BAGLY’s Programs Team.

The Senior Director retains primary responsibility for program strategy and fiscal management of program contracts and budgets. The Associate Director is responsible for ensuring that programmatic activities, deliverables, data and reporting requirements, and other contractual obligations are successfully implemented.

This is a collaborative leadership position requiring strong program leadership, people management, relationship-building, problem-solving, and organizational skills, as well as familiarity with the experiences and needs of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults.

The position is on-site, based at BAGLY’s Downtown Boston Community Center. Regular evening coverage, including approximately one Manager on Duty shift per week, occasional weekends, and travel within Massachusetts may be required.

Duties & Responsibilities

Health & Wellness Program Leadership

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for BAGLY’s Health & Wellness portfolio, ensuring programs are high-quality, responsive to community needs, aligned with BAGLY’s mission and values, and effectively implemented.
• Ensure effective implementation of Health & Wellness programs, services, and initiatives, including alignment with established goals, timelines, quality standards, and contractual requirements.
• Lead program planning, performance management, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement across the portfolio.
• Oversee Health & Wellness programs and services, including clinical testing and linkage to care, sexual health education, behavioral health services and partnerships, health literacy, HIV prevention and education, and emerging initiatives.
• Provide operational oversight of BAGLY’s on-site clinic and ensure appropriate systems and partnerships for HIV/STI testing, PrEP/PEP and treatment referrals, healthcare navigation, and linkage to care.
• Maintain and strengthen relationships with clinical, behavioral health, and community-based partners.
• Support the development and implementation of new initiatives in response to emerging community needs and funding opportunities.
• Ensure Health & Wellness programming is culturally responsive and grounded in harm reduction, health equity, and LGBTQ+ affirming practices.

Grant, Contract & Performance Management

• Serve as the primary internal programmatic lead for Health & Wellness grants and contracts.
• Develop and manage workplans, implementation timelines, milestones, deliverables, data requirements, reporting requirements, and other contractual obligations.
• Monitor program and contract performance and proactively identify risks, gaps, timeline concerns, and opportunities for improvement.
• Maintain effective systems for tracking program performance, deliverables, deadlines, reporting, and compliance requirements.
• Serve as a primary programmatic contact for funders and contract managers, escalating significant issues or strategic opportunities to the Senior Director as appropriate.
• Coordinate with the Senior Director to ensure programmatic implementation aligns with contract budgets, fiscal requirements, and funder expectations.
• Ensure staff and contractors understand and fulfill their responsibilities related to grant and contract implementation.
• Coordinate the collection and review of program data and information needed for reports, evaluation, internal decision-making, and continuous quality improvement.
• Use program data, evaluation findings, participant feedback, and other evidence to monitor performance and inform program improvement and decision-making.

Supervision & Team Leadership

• Directly supervise the Community Center Program Manager, Health & Wellness Program Coordinator, Sexuality Education Program Coordinator, and other applicable program staff and interns.
• Provide strategic direction, coaching, professional development, performance management, and accountability to direct reports.
• Provide programmatic oversight of relevant contractors, consultants, behavioral health providers, interns, and other partners.
• Ensure clear roles, expectations, communication, and accountability across Health & Wellness staff and partners.
• Support appropriate staffing and coverage for Health & Wellness activities and Community Center programming.
• Foster a team culture grounded in collaboration, accountability, creativity, youth-centered practice, equity, and mutual respect.
• Participate in hiring, onboarding, performance evaluation, and other personnel processes as appropriate.
• Provide senior-level oversight of the Community Center through supervision of the Community Center Manager while maintaining the Manager’s responsibility for day-to-day Center programming, staffing, and operations.
• Serve as Manager on Duty approximately one evening per week and as needed.

Programs Team Leadership & External Partnerships

• Partner with the Senior Director to strengthen coordination, quality, and consistent program-management practices across BAGLY’s Programs Team.
• Support consistent program-management practices, systems, expectations, and processes across BAGLY’s Programs Team.
• Facilitate cross-program collaboration, information-sharing, and problem-solving.
• Support the Senior Director with program planning, staffing considerations, organizational priorities, and emerging opportunities.
• Support the Senior Director in assessing program quality, staffing capacity, organizational needs, and emerging opportunities.
• Provide leadership and decision-making support for the Programs Team when the Senior Director is unavailable, within established organizational policies and areas of authority.
• Build and maintain relationships with healthcare providers, government agencies, funders, social service agencies, community organizations, and other external partners.
• Strengthen referral networks and partnerships that expand access to culturally responsive health, behavioral health, sexual health, and social services for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults.
• Represent BAGLY and the Programs Team at relevant community meetings, coalitions, conferences, trainings, and external events.
• Participate in organizational leadership, planning, fundraising, grant development, events, and other BAGLY-wide initiatives as appropriate.
• Collaborate with colleagues across Development & Marketing, Operations, Finance, and other departments.

Education & Experience

A Master’s degree in Public Health, Social Work, Nonprofit Management, Human Services, or a related field is preferred. An equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience will be considered.

Candidates should generally bring 7–10 years of relevant professional experience, including progressively increasing responsibility in program management, nonprofit leadership, public health, social services, or a related field.

Qualifications

Required

• Strong understanding of and commitment to BAGLY’s mission, values, and youth-led, adult-supported model.
• Strong understanding of the experiences, strengths, and current and emerging needs of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, and the communities that support them.
• Experience developing or overseeing health education, training, or community education programs.
• Demonstrated success developing, implementing, managing, and evaluating community-based programs and services.
• Significant experience supervising, coaching, and developing staff and building effective, accountable teams.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex programs, grants or contracts, workplans, deliverables, timelines, reporting requirements, and multiple priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective relationships with funders, government agencies, healthcare providers, community organizations, and other partners.
• Experience using quantitative and qualitative data to monitor performance, evaluate programs, and support continuous quality improvement.
• Strong organizational, project-management, written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to independently move complex work forward while collaborating effectively across teams and departments.
• Willingness and ability to work regularly on-site at BAGLY’s Downtown Boston Community Center, including evening hours, and travel within Massachusetts as required.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Social Work, Nonprofit Management, Human Services, or a related field.
• Experience leading LGBTQ+ health, public health, sexual health, behavioral health, community health, or related programs.
• Experience managing government contracts and/or complex foundation grants with significant compliance, data, and reporting requirements.
• Experience with HIV/STI prevention and testing, PrEP/PEP, healthcare navigation, harm reduction, health equity, or related public health services.
• Experience overseeing clinical or behavioral health partnerships.
• Experience working with youth and young adults experiencing housing instability, foster care involvement, or other complex challenges.
• Multilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.

Equal Opportunity Statement

BAGLY is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider applications for all positions without regard to age, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Frequently cited statistics show that women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and members of other structurally marginalized groups apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. BAGLY encourages you to break that statistic and apply. No one ever meets 100% of the qualifications. We look forward to your application.

Benefits include health and dental insurance, vacation days, 13 paid holidays, personal days, paid sick time, access to a pre-tax MBTA pass program, and a 401(k) plan with employer match.

BAGLY conducts business primarily in English. Multilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.