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Job Title: Director of Program Operations & Engagement
Department: Operations
Reports To: Chief Administrative Officer
FLSA Status: Full-Time, Exempt, Salary
Pay Range: $120,000 – $130,000
Mission: Creating and supporting mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of the next generation.
Vision: Through mentorship, all youth achieve their full potential.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Director of Program Operations & Engagement serves as a hands-on operational leader responsible for partnering directly with program leaders to strengthen execution, improve consistency, and drive organizational success across all program areas. This role works alongside leaders—not above them—to identify operational challenges, develop practical solutions, reinforce accountability, and ensure organizational priorities are successfully implemented.
Success in this role requires a highly collaborative leader who thrives in the day-to-day operations of the organization. The Director is expected to spend significant time working directly with teams through observation, coaching, training, problem-solving, and follow-up to ensure processes are effective, expectations are clear, and initiatives move from planning to completion.
The Director will work closely with the CAO to identify opportunities, strengthen program operations, build capable teams, and ensure programs are positioned to achieve organizational goals. The role will have a strong focus on operational readiness, productivity, quality, turnaround time, and measurable program outcomes.
Rather than independently managing program services, this position focuses on building operational capacity by working directly with leaders and teams to improve performance, implement best practices, strengthen execution, and achieve measurable results.
Leadership Partnership, Coaching & Operational Support – 25%
- Serve as a day-to-day operational partner to program directors and managers.
- Work closely with the CAO to identify operational needs, strengthen programs, develop leaders, and build high-performing teams.
- Meet regularly with leaders to review priorities, challenges, KPIs, staffing, productivity, and operational performance.
- Work alongside leaders and teams to observe workflows, identify barriers, and provide real-time coaching and support.
- Coach leaders on prioritization, execution, communication, accountability, and follow-through.
- Work directly with managers to identify gaps in performance and develop practical action plans to address them.
- Support leaders during implementations, transitions, staffing changes, and periods of organizational growth.
- Follow up consistently on commitments and action items to ensure work moves from discussion to completion.
- Build leadership capability through coaching, mentoring, training, and practical problem-solving.
- Serve as a hands-on resource to leaders when additional operational support is needed.
Operational Excellence, Readiness & Program Performance – 25%
- Lead operational readiness efforts across program teams to ensure staff, workflows, resources, and processes are positioned to achieve program and organizational goals.
- Work closely with program and enrollment teams to ensure operational activity supports the organization’s match goals and other key program outcomes.
- Identify opportunities to improve processes, turnaround time, quality, productivity, consistency, and overall program results.
- Evaluate current workflows and identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, duplication, and barriers to successful execution.
- Develop and implement practical process improvements that increase efficiency and improve outcomes.
- Standardize processes, tools, workflows, and expectations where consistency is needed across teams.
- Work with managers to establish clear operational expectations and ensure teams understand how their daily work connects to organizational goals.
- Monitor the effectiveness of implemented changes and make adjustments based on results, feedback, and operational observations.
- Support departments during staffing transitions, new program launches, organizational changes, and periods of increased demand.
- Ensure operational practices align with organizational standards, child safety expectations, client experience standards, and strategic priorities.
Training, Onboarding & Team Development – 20%
- Oversee onboarding and operational training for program team members within assigned areas of responsibility.
- Partner with program leaders and the CAO to identify training needs based on performance, process changes, and organizational priorities.
- Design and facilitate training for leaders, managers, and staff on operational processes, systems, workflows, and expectations.
- Develop onboarding materials, job aids, SOPs, tools, and training resources that support consistent execution.
- Ensure new team members receive the training, resources, and hands-on support necessary to become productive in their roles.
- Reinforce training through observation, coaching, follow-up, and KPI performance trends.
- Assess training effectiveness and identify additional learning or coaching needs.
- Work alongside managers to reinforce expectations after training and ensure new processes are being consistently applied.
- Partner with People & Culture to support leadership development and organizational training initiatives.
Productivity, KPI Management & Accountability – 15%
- Manage and monitor productivity across designated program production teams and their managers, with oversight and direction from the CAO.
- Establish clear expectations for productivity, quality, turnaround time, activity, and other applicable program KPIs.
- Review performance data weekly with managers to identify trends, gaps, barriers, and opportunities for improvement.
- Work directly with managers when productivity or performance falls below expectations to identify root causes and establish corrective action plans.
- Ensure managers are actively managing their teams’ productivity and holding staff accountable to established expectations.
- Monitor whether teams are completing required activities within established timelines and quality standards.
- Use data, observation, team feedback, and client feedback to evaluate operational effectiveness.
- Champion a culture of accountability, collaboration, ownership, and client-focused execution.
- Ensure accountability is balanced with coaching, problem-solving, and the support necessary for teams to succeed.
- Escalate significant performance, staffing, operational, or resource concerns to the CAO with recommended solutions.
Reporting, Projects & Continuous Improvement – 15%
- Present weekly and monthly operational reporting to executive leadership highlighting KPIs, program feedback, operational trends, risks, accomplishments, and areas requiring attention.
- Develop and maintain dashboards, scorecards, reports, and other tools that provide clear visibility into program performance.
- Translate operational data into actionable recommendations for leadership.
- Coordinate organization-wide operational projects from planning through implementation and support after.
- Monitor project timelines, deliverables, dependencies, and accountability.
- Keep executive leadership informed of project status, risks, barriers, and resource needs.
- Lead cross-functional implementation efforts and ensure appropriate communication, training, and follow-through.
- Identify and implement changes designed to improve process efficiency, turnaround time, quality, productivity, and program outcomes.
- Gather feedback from program leaders and staff to identify recurring operational issues and opportunities for improvement.
- Evaluate whether process and operational changes are producing the intended results and recommend further adjustments when needed.
- Ensure projects and operational initiatives remain aligned with organizational priorities and measurable outcomes.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Key Leadership Expectations
The Director of Program Operations & Engagement is expected to:
- Be hands-on: Spend meaningful time in the day-to-day operations of programs, working alongside leaders and teams rather than operating solely from a strategic or administrative level.
- Drive execution: Ensure priorities, decisions, and initiatives move from planning to action and completion.
Build strong teams: Partner with the CAO and program leaders to identify talent, strengthen capabilities, improve onboarding to new role, and build effective team structures.
- Lead through influence: Build trust and partnership with program leaders while maintaining clear expectations and accountability.
- Use data to drive decisions: Regularly review KPIs, productivity, quality, turnaround time, and other operational measures to identify trends and opportunities.
- Improve continuously: Challenge ineffective processes and implement practical improvements that produce measurable results.
- Follow through: Maintain visibility into commitments, action items, deadlines, and deliverables until completion.
Champion collaboration: Break down silos and encourage strong communication and partnership across departments.
- Maintain a client-focused approach: Ensure operational decisions and improvements ultimately strengthen the experience and outcomes of the children, families, volunteers, schools, and partners served by the organization.
- Model accountability: Set the expectation that leaders and teams own their results while providing the coaching and support necessary to achieve them.
Measures of Success
Success in this position will be demonstrated through:
- Consistent achievement of program and operational KPIs.
- Improved productivity and accountability across program teams and managers.
- Improved turnaround time and workflow efficiency.
- Increased quality and consistency of program execution.
- Strong operational readiness across teams.
- Effective onboarding and training of program staff.
- Successful implementation of organizational initiatives and process improvements.
- Clear and timely weekly and monthly reporting to executive leadership.
- Strong follow-through on operational priorities and action items.
- Improved collaboration and communication across program teams.
- Demonstrated ability to identify operational barriers and implement solutions.
- Stronger leadership capability and team performance.
- Measurable improvement in client-focused program outcomes.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration, nonprofit management, organizational leadership, human services, or a related field; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered.
- 5–7+ years of progressively responsible experience in program operations, organizational operations, program management, or a related field, including experience supporting or leading teams.
- Demonstrated experience coaching and developing managers and leaders, strengthening team performance, and driving accountability and follow-through.
- Proven experience evaluating workflows and implementing process improvements that increase efficiency, consistency, productivity, quality, and/or service outcomes.
- Experience establishing, monitoring, and using KPIs, productivity measures, dashboards, or performance data to identify trends and drive operational decisions.
- Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional projects and organizational initiatives from planning through implementation, including managing timelines, dependencies, communication, and stakeholder engagement.
- Experience developing and facilitating training, onboarding, SOPs, job aids, and other operational resources that support consistent execution and employee effectiveness.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
- Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer, as well as occasional standing and walking.
- Must be able to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
- Occasional bending, stooping, reaching, and lifting up to 25 pounds (such as program materials, supplies, or office equipment).
- Ability to travel to various sites, events, and meetings as required by the role.
- May occasionally work in outdoor environments and be exposed to varying weather conditions.
- Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Operational Leadership & Execution – Translates organizational priorities into clear operational plans and ensures initiatives move from planning through implementation and completion.
- Coaching & Leadership Development- Builds the capability of managers and teams through hands-on coaching, mentoring, training, feedback, and practical problem-solving
- Accountability & Follow-Through – Establishes clear expectations, maintains visibility into commitments and deliverables, and reinforces ownership while providing the support necessary for teams to succeed.
- Continuous Improvement & Problem-Solving – Identifies operational barriers, inefficiencies, and root causes and develops practical, sustainable solutions that improve workflows and outcomes.
- Data-Informed Decision-Making – Uses KPIs, productivity measures, quality indicators, operational observations, and stakeholder feedback to evaluate performance, identify trends, and recommend action.
- Collaboration & Influence – Builds trusted partnerships across teams and departments, effectively influencing others without relying solely on positional authority and helping break down organizational silos.
- Performance & Results Orientation – Maintains a strong focus on productivity, quality, turnaround time, operational readiness, and measurable program outcomes.
- Change & Implementation Leadership – Effectively supports teams through new initiatives, process changes, staffing transitions, program launches, and periods of organizational growth while maintaining clarity and momentum.
- Communication & Organizational Alignment – Communicates expectations, priorities, risks, progress, and performance information clearly across multiple levels of the organization and connects day-to-day work to broader organizational goals.
- Mission & Client Focus – Ensures operational decisions and improvements support high-quality experiences and positive outcomes for the children, families, volunteers, schools, and community partners served by Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Work Environment
The environmental conditions described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.
- Routine office environment.
- Frequent independent travel.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and required skills. Job Description may be subject to change to meet the needs of the organization.
Your employment with BBBSOCIE will be “at will,” meaning that either you or BBBSOCIE may end your employment at any time and for any reason, with or without cause.
