Senior Director of Client Services (Applications deadline January 16, 2026)

The Senior Director of Client Services assists the Chief Client Services Officer (CCSO) in daily operations and decision-making, providing leadership, supervision, and mentorship to staff. They collaborate on strategic planning and execution, ensuring goals are met and issues are resolved efficiently.

Essential Functions:

• Leadership and Supervision:
  • Supporting the CCSO in their daily tasks and decision-making processes, including administrative personnel functions such as performance management, variances, grievances, and contract review, ensuring alignment with agency goals and policies
  • Providing Guidance: Mentors, trains, and develops other leaders and staff, helping shape future leadership of the organization.
  • Clinical Supervision: Provides clinical direction, consultation, supervision and coordination for all levels of staff. Primary lead with Peer Review Team.
  • Cross-Department Collaboration: Works with leaders across the agency to foster collaboration, resolve inter-departmental issues, and ensure goals are met across the organization.
  • Leadership in Absence: Assumes executive leadership duties in the absence of the CCSO as assigned, making executive decisions and maintaining the continuity of operations.
• Strategic Planning and Execution:
  • Strategic Oversight and Support: Collaborates with the CCSO and Client Services Sr. Directors of Operations, Quality, and Compliance team to develop and execute strategic goals and plans for Client Services.
  • Strategic Alignment: Ensure program areas’ goals are aligned with the broader strategy set by the Operations, Quality and Compliance Sr. Directors. They help define departments or programs’ role in achieving those goals.
  • Prioritization: Assesses various initiatives and makes sure that key strategic objectives are being met within established timelines.
  • Problem Resolution: Resolves significant operational or strategic issues and takes proactive measures to ensure the continued success of the organization.
• Operational Management:
  • Overseeing Operations: Ensures the smooth running of uninterrupted daily program operations working with senior leaders and directors to ensure productivity and effectiveness.
  • Problem Solving: resolves operational or personnel challenges as they arise. Steps-in to programs facing unexpected challenges, leadership vacancies or culture conflicts to shore up programming and staffing. Is a proactive problem-solver and key point of contact in crisis situations, diagnosing issues within programs and implementing effective solutions.
  • Process Improvement & Program Development: Ensures that programs are constantly evolving and adapting to challenges, working on improvements across all aspects of Client Services including Leadership/Sponsorship of new clinical initiatives through development, implementation and change process. Takes proactive steps to adjust the agency’s strategy or program operations in response to external changes (community need or regulatory). Collaborating with the Client Services Sr. Directors of Operations, Quality, and Compliance, identifies areas where operations can be streamlined, optimized, or improved and implement these improvements within their respective areas while providing feedback on effectiveness. Manage changes within their areas, helping staff adapt to new processes, systems, or goals introduced by the Client Services Sr. Directors of Operations, Quality, and Compliance.
  • Resource Allocation: Helps manage organizational resources, including staffing, budgets, and time, to meet objectives efficiently and effectively.
• Communication and Representation
  • Internal Communication: Acts as one of three Senior Directors as a communication conduit between the CCSO and the broader teams, ensuring transparency, clarity, and alignment on objectives.
  • External Representation: Represents the agency at meetings, conferences, or in public forums, standing in for the CCSO when necessary. Serves as a liaison to the community providing information about services, assessing community needs, addressing health care disparities and offering expertise in a manner that promotes the Agency and fosters good community relations. Coordinates outreach efforts of various programs to ensure maximization of resources and referral of services.
  • Stakeholder Engagement: Works closely with stakeholders, including board members, DAs, state departments, or other leaders, to ensure alignment on priorities and challenges.
  • Primary lead with Agency Advisory Committees: Works closely with directors of program areas to set agendas, meet regulatory requirements and follow through with identified consumer feedback and communication.
• Policy, Quality and Compliance Oversight
  • Policy Development: Assists in the creation, reviews, updates to, and enforcement of organizational policies and procedures, ensuring they are in line with legal, ethical, and industry standards.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Ensures that programs comply with adherence to professional standards of care, licensing, accreditation, and all applicable regulatory requirements and standards in collaboration with counsel and compliance team.
  • Program Quality: Ensures consistent high quality service delivery with standardized practices and consistent quality standards to include utilization, incident and peer reviews.
    • Ensures treatment services comply with best practices and demonstrate positive outcomes while upholding a culture of quality assurance, consistency in quality of service to clients and process improvement.
    • Oversees system of care implementation. Administers high quality programming to ensure excellent customer care. Identifies gaps in service delivery resulting in innovative programs.
    • Works with the QI/QA team to establish and evaluate the quality of client records documentation, clinical services, evaluation and diagnosis.
• Staff Development and Succession Planning:
  • Staff Development: Works with HR to assess and develop training programs, performance management systems, and employee development plans to ensure a high-performing workforce.
  • Mentoring and Coaching: Provides leadership coaching and mentorship to client services leaders and other rising leaders to ensure high quality provision of services and effective management of teams.
  • Succession Planning: Assists in identifying and developing future leaders within the organization, ensuring a strong pipeline of talent for key roles.
• Performance and Results Monitoring
  • Setting Metrics: Establishes key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the performance of programs or projects under their oversight.
  • Monitoring Progress: Tracks progress on major client services initiatives/goals reporting results to the CCSO and adjusting strategies as needed.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in social work, psychology, counseling, or closely related field
• Clinical License required at the independent practitioner level as a Social Worker, Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Alcohol and Drug Counselor or Psychologist.
• Must be Vermont license eligible
• Eight or more years of clinical and progressively responsible leadership experience in the mental health, substance use disorder or developmental disability field with at least 3 years of experience, at a program director level
• Valid driver’s license and use of a personal vehicle

Structure:

• Full time
• Exempt
• Starting at $114,546.32
• We offer a competitive salary commensurate to experience

Our Values: Clients are at the heart of our decision making. We are committed to individual and collective well-being and success. We are responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us. We are steadfast in our practice and pursuit of excellence.

Howard Center is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. The agency's culture and service delivery is strengthened by the diversity of its workforce. Minorities, people of color, LGBTQIA+ and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. EOE/TTY. Visit "About Us" to review Howard Center's EOE policy

• Accrue 36 days of combined time off per year for full-time employees (and increasing with years of service); pro-rated for positions 16 hours or more
• Comprehensive Health Insurance with 80% agency-paid premium support for individuals, couples, and families (pro-rated for part time). This Point of Service Plan features no deductible.
• Two Dental options
• Vision Insurance
• Employer 401(k) contributions
• Employer Paid Life, AD&D, Short Term and Long Term Disability insurance
• Medical & Childcare Flexible Spending Account
• Childcare Stipend
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employee referral program with financial payment
• Discounted online undergraduate/graduate courses through Champlain College truED
• Award-winning workplace wellness program including physical fitness groups for staff, financial wellness incentives, and ongoing workplace wellness advocacy and education
• Voluntary benefits from local/international businesses: discounted gym memberships, mobile phone service, ski/snowboard passes, auto/home insurance, and more!
• Employee referral bonus, subject to Howard Center policy.