Director, Special Projects

DePelchin Children’s Center•Houston, TX

10d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Special Projects leads high-impact, cross-functional initiatives that strengthen Texans Together ability to serve children and families. This role drives strategic problem-solving, project execution, and stakeholder collaboration—translating complex policy and operational challenges into actionable solutions and measurable results. This position will drive strategic initiatives that improve operations, partnership, and child welfare outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in public administration, social work, public policy, or related field.
Five years experience in government, child welfare, social services.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
Comfort working in a fast paced, evolving startup environment.
Strong understanding of child welfare systems, policy, and practice.
Advanced problem solving and systems thinking abilities.
Expertise in implementation science and change management.
Ability to translate research and policy into practical, scalable solutions.
Skilled in data interpretation, performance measurement, and evaluation.
Exceptional communication skills for diverse audiences (executives, frontline staff, community partners, legislators).
Ability to navigate political, organizational, and community dynamics.
Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills.
Comfort with ambiguity and adaptive implementation.
Strong Analytical and problem solving skills; ability to break down ambiguous challenges

Nice To Haves

Experience in fundraising efforts, organization learning.

Responsibilities

Diagnose operational, policy, and programmatic challenges across the organization and our child welfare partners.
Conduct research, data analysis, and landscape assessments to inform decision making.
Develop frameworks, recommendations, and action plans for complex, cross functional issues.
Lead end to end execution of special projects that advance organizational priorities, from scoping to delivery.
Build project plans, define milestones, and manage timelines in a dynamic startup environment.
Coordinate across internal teams (Communications, Permanency Outcomes, Contracts, Human Resources, IT, Legal, Finance, and policy) to ensure alignment and accountability.
Pilot new initiatives, evaluate outcomes, and adjust quickly based on feedback and data.
Collaborate with government agencies, child welfare organizations, and community partners to understand needs and co design solutions.
Translate policy requirements and regulatory constraints into operational processes and child outcome improvements.
Support relationship management with internal stakeholders through clear communication, documentation, and follow through.
Synthesize complex information into clear, compelling presentations, memos, dashboards, and reports.
Communicate project progress, risks, and results to executive leadership, organization support teams, and government partners.
Develop materials that support transparency, accountability, and shared understanding across teams.
Identify opportunities to improve internal systems, workflows, and cross team collaboration.
Support strategic planning, fundraising efforts, and organizational learning.
Bring a startup mindset—experiment, adapt, and build scalable processes from the ground up.