Director of Contracted Slots Program

Hively•Oakland, CA

16d•Onsite

About The Position

Hively's mission is to build meaningful connections with families and communities, ensuring access to resources every child in Alameda County needs to thrive. Our vision is to transform the lives of children and families to benefit all communities and ensure a promising future for generations to come. We believe that through subsidized child care, mental health support, and community services centered in families of all types and backgrounds, we can profoundly impact the communities we serve. The Contracted Slots program is designed to expand access to high-quality, subsidized child care by funding openings, also called “slots,” at licensed centers and Family Child Care providers (FCCs). This program is anticipated to have an annual budget of $35 million and support new subsidized child care slots for an estimated 1,400 children, from birth to age five, across Alameda County. As a core leader of this new initiative, the Contracted Slots Program Director will be accountable for spearheading the launch of this initiative, which will include an intensive ramp-up period for 6+ months, as the team grows and early pilots are conducted. In addition, the Director will be responsible for the continuous improvement of the program as it grows over time. This includes overseeing the child care provider and family experience from outreach and enrollment through eligibility determination, placement, contracting, slot utilization, payment, compliance, renewal, and exit, as well as liaising with partner organizations and community groups. The ideal candidate is an experienced public-program leader who can operationalize complex policy into clear, equitable, and workable systems. They are equally comfortable working at the strategic level with public sector and community partners and in the operational details required to administer a high-volume, high-accountability funding program.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Business, Social Services, or related field (Master’s preferred).
10+ years of progressively responsible experience managing complex public-sector, nonprofit, early childhood education, subsidy, or benefits programs.
Experience leading and developing large, diverse teams while fostering an inclusive and high-performing environment.
Direct experience with California state child care subsidy mechanisms, including: CalWORKs, CAPP CCTR and CSPP Title 5/Title 22 licensing standards.
Strong understanding of program operations, financial controls, compliance, risk management, and audit processes.
Experience translating complex policies, regulations, or funding requirements into practical operational systems and procedures.
Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, dependencies, and competing stakeholder needs.
Demonstrated commitment to equity-centered program design, including experience developing accessible, service-delivery processes for diverse, multilingual, and historically under-resourced communities.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to exercise sound judgment, navigate ambiguity, identify risks, and make timely decisions in a complex and evolving program environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience providing strategic leadership, aligning teams with organizational goals, and leading change.
Flexible, curious, and entrepreneurial mindset.
Experience administering or implementing technology platforms used for grants, benefits, case management, eligibility determination, or other public programs.
Knowledge of Alameda County’s early care and education ecosystem, First 5 Alameda County, and key systems and partners.
Experience administering programs involving child care slots or vouchers, paid by subsidy/alternative payment sources.
Experience working with multilingual communities and designing culturally responsive provider engagement strategies.
Experience administering publicly funded programs subject to rigorous audit, documentation, privacy, and reporting requirements.

Responsibilities

Lead the implementation, scaling and refinement of the Contracted Slots program, which will add approximately 1,400 subsidized slots to the Alameda County early child care landscape.
Translate contractual and implementation requirements and guidance from First 5 Alameda County into clear program policies, workflows and standard operating procedures.
Establish clear decision-making, escalation, and accountability structures for the Contracted Slots program.
Lead and develop a team of program staff, fostering high performance, accountability, and professional growth while overseeing priorities and resolving complex operational issues.
Oversee the full slot lifecycle, including family and child care provider outreach, eligibility, enrollment, placement, contracting, compliance, appeals, renewal, and closeout.
Develop and execute the initial slot allocation strategy as defined by the contract.
Ensure allocations and enrollment strategies advance priority populations, including infant and young toddler care, children with disabilities, after-hours/non-traditional care, families experiencing homelessness, and families involved with child welfare systems.
Support the development and management of subcontracts with Alternative Payment (AP) agencies and technology partner(s).
Support the design of an accessible, equitable, and low-barrier provider experience that accommodates differences in language, abilities, technology access, and digital literacy.
Identify and oversee the long-term implementation of complementary training and technical assistance offered to providers, in support of the program.
Partner with Finance, Compliance, and program leadership to establish strong fiscal controls, accurate payment processes and audit-ready documentation.
Oversee budget tracking, forecasting, reconciliation, and expenditure monitoring for Contracted Slots funds.
Ensure compliance with applicable First 5 requirements, Hively policies and procedures and contractual obligations.
Track slot allocation alongside Program Area 2 (Operating Grants) to ensure total implementation fits overall budget thresholds
Establish processes to ensure Measure C contracted slots are used as “funding of last resort” after existing state and federal subsidized funding sources have been exhausted.
Partner with internal teams and an external technology partner to establish secure, reliable, and timely data flows supporting eligibility, utilization, payments, compliance, and reporting.
Report against a First 5-provided Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework to assess program performance and inform continuous improvement.
Analyze and report program outcomes across relevant dimensions, including geography, provider type, language, and other appropriate demographic or equity indicators.
Participate in user testing, workflow integration, and eventual transition of family matchmaking processes to the third-party CEE system.
Support program communications, in collaboration with Hively’s Marketing, Communications and Development team and in accordance with First 5 communications guidance.
Build strong working relationships with community-based organizations, child care providers, government partners, and other interest groups.
Represent Hively in workgroups, planning sessions, provider meetings and convenings, public forums, and other external settings.
Develop strategies for obtaining provider and community feedback, and incorporating meaningful insights into program design and continuous improvement.