Co-Director of Technical Assistance, ECE Workforce Center

The National Early Care and Education Workforce Center

The federally-funded National Early Care and Education Workforce Center is a joint center—the first of its kind in the country—to conduct research and provide technical assistance for states, municipalities, territories, and tribal nations looking to promote the recruitment and retention of a diverse and talented early care and education workforce. This Center builds on the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) broader efforts to support the early childhood workforce by identifying effective policies and strategies through research and evaluation, translating lessons from research for practice, and supporting innovations in states and communities through technical assistance. The Center is comprised of a core partnership that includes Child Trends as prime, the BUILD Initiative, ZERO TO THREE, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood, and the University of Massachusetts Boston Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation. The Center’s organizational structure includes a Managing Director at Child Trends, Co-Directors of Research and Technical Assistance, a Research-to-Practice Lead, Center core and collaborating partners, and a federal Integrated Project Team as key entities for ensuring the goals of the Center are met.

Overview of the Co-Director of Technical Assistance Role

The Co-Director of Technical Assistance for the National Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Center will oversee and lead technical assistance and use their expertise, knowledge, and skills to inform all Center activities. The Co-Director of TA will serve as a key member of the Center’s leadership team, which is ultimately accountable to the Managing Director at Child Trends.

This role is designed to be strategic and visionary. As the Center’s TA liaison to the Administration of Children and Families, federally funded TA Centers, and other leaders in the field, the Co-Director will be responsible for developing, refining, and executing the overall TA strategy defined in a written plan that fills gaps in the field and is aligned to the Center’s vision for excellence and success. The Co-Director will also communicate the progress toward implementing the plan and achieving its goals including any refinements which will be based on Center and external feedback, new research, and changes in the ECE practice and policy landscape. The Co-Director will ensure that the TA strategy leverages the research and research-to-practice capacity of the Center to enhance the quality and responsiveness of TA activities and likewise ensure that TA efforts inform the research and other work of the Center.

The Co-Director of TA will work closely and in complementary ways with the Deputy Director of TA who will ensure that the strategic vision and plan is implemented and operationalized. The Co-Director will provide broad oversight to the team including managing the day-to-day execution of universal, targeted, and intensive TA, and supervising a team of 3-5 TA Specialists who collectively build and maintain trusting relationships with ECE leaders relating to the workforce in all 50 states, Head Start regions, and US territories.

There are two primary and equally important functions of the position. The first is to serve as the representative of the TA team within the Center, to federal program officers, in collaboration with the Managing Director of the Center, and to the broader field. Key expectations include:

• Co-leading Leadership, Coordination, and Partnership activities in collaboration with the Managing Director, Co-Director of Research & Research-to-Practice Lead to provide strategic thought partnership on the Center’s goals, audiences, and approaches for supporting the ECE workforce.
• Working collaboratively with other Center team members to actively make connections with other and complementary efforts and integrate findings to develop and deliver meaningful products.
• Developing standards for and ensuring all TA products and deliverables are of high-quality and responsive to the field, working within and outside of the Center to guide their dissemination and use.
• Maintaining adherence to the Center’s goals, objectives, and principles, working closely with the Managing Director and the Center leadership team.
• Effectively communicating the strategy, goals, and activities of the TA team internally and with external stakeholders and other audiences.

The second and equally essential aspect of the Co-Director job is to oversee and direct all Center Technical Assistance, including:

• Designing the overall strategy of TA services offered by the Center and communicating it in the annual TA plan, including definitions, components, entry points, and how different components connect.

• Advising on and ensuring high-quality implementation of the TA plan/strategy across all activities and events.
• Coordinating with all cross-center partners to ensure strategic and detailed tracking of TA participant engagement, satisfaction, and other outcomes, as well as tracking outreach and responsiveness to shape future direction of the TA activities. 
• In conjunction with the Deputy Director, refining the TA plan/strategy based on feedback from federal program officers, new research, changes in the policy landscape, etc.
• Ensuring that the design and execution of TA activities are tailored and responsive to and support state, territory, tribal, local, and early care and education program leaders (e.g., state/territory/tribal CCDF and PDG leaders, early childhood leaders in Head Start, child care centers, family child care, schools), and leverage existing tools and resources to fill gaps and support progress towards Center goals.
• Identifying and leveraging opportunities for TA to inform the Center’s research efforts and to build from the expertise and activities of all the Center’s partners to enhance the usefulness and quality of TA efforts.

Qualifications

We will consider exceptional candidates who demonstrate a strong combination of the specific qualifications and skills described below.

• Demonstrated experience working with communities, organizations, agencies, or institutions in designing, implementing, and managing technical assistance activities.
• Demonstrated deep knowledge of and experience with early care and education workforce policy and practice issues across settings and programs, including Head Start, center-based programs, family child care homes, school settings in states, territories, tribal communities, and at local-levels.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills with a proven track record of producing high-quality presentations and written products for diverse audiences.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, time management, project management, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to be a visionary and think strategically while managing details.
• Experience working in a state or local and/or child/family-serving agency/setting.
• Administrative and leadership experience that includes supervising and managing layers of teams to accomplish Center goals within resource boundaries and federal partner expectations.
• Experience providing leadership, working collaboratively, leveraging expertise and resources across multiple partners and stakeholders to implement TA initiatives and accomplish shared goals.
• Commitment to working collaboratively alongside Center and federal staff and individuals and organizations external to the Center to advance the National ECE Workforce Center goals.
• Strong understanding of research and a commitment to implementing evidence-based strategies.
• Existing partnerships/relationships with communities, organizations, agencies, or institutions.

• Experience applying for and winning funding for support of technical assistance activities a plus but not required.
• Experience communicating and connecting with federal agencies and staff a plus but not required (e.g., Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Office of Child Care, PDG B-5, Office of Head Start, etc.).
• Ability to travel – at least six times a year.
• 10-15 years’ experience working in early care and education or a related field (education, human services, health, etc.) and at least 5-8 years of managing multiple and highly complex projects.
• Master’s degree, in early childhood or a related field (e.g., education, human services, political science, or education) preferred.

Locations: Flexible Remote Work; Child Trends’ offices are based in Rockville, MD; Chapel Hill, NC; Minneapolis, MN. Many Child Trends staff work remotely, and while we are set up to hire remote staff in many states, we are not yet operating everywhere in the US and do not have any overseas operations. We are currently approved to hire full-time staff in