Senior Director of Family and Community Programs

Program/Department: Family and Community Programs

Reports To: Executive Director

Supervises: BFEN Manager; Chelsea Coalition and Site Coordinator; Dorchester Coalition Manager; ParentChild+ Manager; Early Childhood Engagement Manager

FLSA Status: Exempt

Pay: $100,000-$106,000, commensurate with experience

Employment Status: Full-time

Work Location: Hybrid- three days/week onsite

Organization Overview 

Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts (FNC) advances the healthy development of children, caregivers, and communities through parenting education, early childhood engagement, family support, coalition building, and training providers.

Each year, FNC engages more than 8,500 children, caregivers, and professionals across Boston, Chelsea, and beyond. Our work is grounded in equity, collaboration, family leadership, and our commitment to creating nurturing communities in which children and families can thrive.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Senior Director of Family & Community Programs provides strategic and operational leadership for Family Nurturing Center's family engagement, early childhood, coalition, and community-based program portfolio. This position is responsible for ensuring high-quality, family-centered services that strengthen children, families, and communities while advancing FNC's mission, values, and commitment to equitable, culturally responsive practice.

The Senior Director leads the implementation, coordination, and continuous improvement of community-based programs across multiple sites, ensuring strong program quality, effective leadership, meaningful family engagement, and responsive community partnerships. Recognizing that many members of FNC's workforce bring lived experience as parents, caregivers, former program participants, or community leaders, the Senior Director creates an environment that values those experiences while investing in staff development through clear systems, coaching, mentoring, and opportunities for professional growth.

Working collaboratively across the organization and with community partners, the Senior Director helps strengthen FNC's presence in the communities it serves by building sustainable partnerships, expanding access to services, and ensuring programs evolve to meet the changing needs of children, families, and neighborhoods.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Programmatic & Organizational Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and programmatic oversight for the Family & Community Programs division, ensuring high-quality, equitable, financially sustainable, and community-responsive services across BFEN, Chelsea, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Allston-Brighton, and ParentChild+.
• Supervise, coach, and develop program managers and site leaders while establishing clear expectations, accountability structures, leadership pathways, succession planning, and professional development opportunities.
• Monitor program performance, participation, staffing, service delivery, and operational effectiveness; identify barriers and lead improvements to systems, processes, communication, and organizational capacity.
• Develop long-term strategies for program growth, redesign, integration, or sunsetting based on community needs, outcomes, organizational priorities, funding opportunities, and financial sustainability.
• Participate as a member of the organizational Executive Leadership Team in strategic planning, priority setting, organizational decision-making, change management, and implementation of organization-wide initiatives.

Financial Stewardship & Resource Management

• Provide strategic oversight of program financial performance and resource utilization, ensuring that programmatic decisions are aligned with approved budgets, funding requirements, organizational priorities, and long-term sustainability.
• Develop, monitor, and manage program budgets in partnership with the Executive Director and Finance team, including budget development, forecasting, expenditure monitoring, staffing allocations, and variance analysis.
• Regularly review financial reports and proactively identify and address budget pressures, funding gaps, variances, and emerging financial risks; develop and implement corrective strategies as needed.
• Ensure staffing, programming, contracts, and other resources are appropriately aligned with available funding and organizational priorities while maximizing the impact of available resources.
• Provide senior leadership with timely analysis and recommendations regarding program financial performance, resource allocation, funding sustainability, and opportunities for investment, expansion, redesign, or program reduction.
• Partner with the Senior Director of Advancement and program leaders on grant and contract development, renewal, reporting, and funder stewardship by contributing program strategy, budgets, outcomes, implementation plans, impact data, and compelling stories that accurately reflect the experiences of families and communities.
• Monitor the funding, budgets, deliverables, and sustainability of assigned programs and contracts, proactively identifying risks, gaps, and opportunities and working across Finance, Advancement, Evaluation, and program leadership to address them.

Board & Governance Engagement

• Serve as a senior programmatic resource to the Board of Directors and relevant board committees on matters related to program strategy, performance, financial sustainability, organizational risk, community needs, and emerging opportunities.
• Prepare and present clear, timely, and decision-ready programmatic and financial information for board and committee discussions, including performance trends, budget considerations, significant risks, strategic opportunities, and recommendations.
• Maintain senior-level relationships with funders, public agencies, and institutional partners and represent FNC in discussions involving significant funding, programmatic, partnership, compliance, or organizational risks.

Strategic Planning, Leadership & Organizational Development

• Partner with the Executive Director and Executive Leadership Team to translate organizational strategy into program, staffing, operational, partnership, and resource priorities.
• Identify organizational and programmatic opportunities, emerging needs, and capacity gaps; develop recommendations that strengthen FNC’s ability to achieve its mission and respond to changing community conditions.
• Develop and implement organizational systems, leadership practices, and cross-functional approaches that promote consistency, accountability, operational excellence, and effective decision-making across programs and sites.

Family Engagement & Community Connection

• Provide strategic oversight of family engagement across programs and sites, ensuring services are welcoming, inclusive, culturally responsive, accessible, and reflective of community needs.
• Strengthen family-centered practices that promote trust, belonging, connection, and meaningful family voice in program design, implementation, and continuous improvement.
• Promote strategies that reduce barriers to participation, improve equitable access, and strengthen communication and relationships with families and communities.

Site Leadership & Programmatic Risk Management

• Partner with the Operations Manager and program leaders to ensure site-based programs have the staffing, space, resources, and operational support needed for effective service delivery.
• Identify, escalate, and address programmatic risks related to staffing, service delivery, compliance, funding, partnerships, family experience, and organizational reputation.
• Ensure program leaders understand and fulfill contractual, regulatory, and organizational requirements while maintaining clear accountability for program implementation.
• Align program staffing and resources with service needs, funding requirements, and organizational priorities to support sustainable program delivery.

Evaluation, Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Partner with the Evaluation Specialist and Senior Director of Advancement as needed to use qualitative and quantitative data, family feedback, participation trends, program outcomes, and community information to assess performance and inform strategic and operational decisions.
• Ensure timely, accurate, and appropriately reviewed reporting for assigned programs and initiatives, including CFCE requirements and other externally funded programs.
• Provide senior-level oversight of performance, quality improvement, compliance, and organizational accountability for major publicly funded initiatives, including CFCE.
• Foster a culture of evidence-informed decision-making, reflection, learning, and continuous improvement across the division.

What Does Success Look Like

Success for the Senior Director means building a strong, connected, and sustainable Family & Community Programs division where staff have the clarity, support, and resources they need to do their best work, programs are delivering meaningful outcomes for children and families, and FNC’s community partnerships continue to grow and deepen.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Education, Human Development, Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, Community Development, Public Health, or a closely related field.
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience in family support, community engagement, early childhood, human services, or a related field, including experience leading managers and multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated experience providing strategic and operational oversight of complex, multi-site or community-based programs.
• Strong experience supervising, coaching, and developing managers and staff while establishing clear accountability and building team capacity.
• Experience managing program budgets, grants, contracts, compliance requirements, and performance expectations.
• Experience building and sustaining partnerships with public agencies, funders, community organizations, and other external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to organizational strategy, change management, cross-functional leadership, and senior-level decision-making.
• Strong communication, facilitation, relationship-building, financial management, and organizational leadership skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, trauma-informed practice, family engagement, and community-centered approaches.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Social Work, Education, Human Development, Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, Community Development, Public Health, or a closely related field.
• Professional licensure or specialized certification related to family support, early childhood, community engagement, behavioral health, or related discipline.
• Experience working within nonprofit human services organizations.
• Experience collaborating with state agencies, municipalities, or community coalitions to implement publicly funded programs.
• Experience engaging with boards, governing councils, advisory bodies, or other organizational governance structures.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range for this position is $100,000–$106,000/ year commensurate with experience. Family Nurturing Center offers a competitive benefits package, including comprehensive health benefits, generous paid time off, professional development opportunities, and a collaborative, mission-driven work environment.

Physical and Mental Demands

• Ability to sit, stand, and move throughout the workday
• Ability to lift fifty (30) pounds
• Ability to manage emotional demands associated with mission-driven work

Work Schedule

This is a full-time, exempt, hybrid position with a regular onsite presence required to support staff, programs, community partnerships, and organizational priorities. The Senior Director will work across FNC locations, including Dorchester, Hyde Park, Chelsea, and Allston-Brighton, with the specific schedule determined by programmatic, staff, and community needs. Travel between FNC locations and community partner sites is required. Occasional evening and weekend hours are also required to support programs, meetings, community events, and other organizational priorities.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

FNC recognizes the impacts of institutional racism and other structural inequalities. We believe “marginalized” communities are at the center of our organization and work. As such, People of Color, people with lived experience of immigration, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Family Nurturing Center offers a competitive benefits package, including comprehensive health benefits, generous paid time off, professional development opportunities, and a collaborative, mission-driven work environment.

Bilingual or multilingual skills are welcomed and valued.