Blue Cross NC Foundation: Director, Youth Mental Health

Blue Shield of North Carolina • Durham, NC

12d • Hybrid

About The Position

Leads the strategy and implementation of initiatives to ensure children and youth in North Carolina grow up in strong and supportive communities that provide them and their families with the best opportunity to be mentally healthy and thrive across prevention, early intervention, and care systems that span schools, communities, and health care. The Director will work closely with other senior leaders to create an enterprise-wide strategy, partnering with internal teams and external organizations to make a meaningful impact on youth mental health through activities that both leverage the tools of the business and demonstrate a high value for prevention and promoting resilience and well-being at the community level. The Director will oversee grantmaking efforts, manage a team, facilitate enterprise-wide and cross-sector collaborations to achieve the organization's goal of improving youth mental health. This role has up to 10% blended responsibilities working within Blue Cross NC Corporate Social Responsibility.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with advanced degree preferred; 10 years of work experience in a philanthropic, nonprofit, social services, communications, project management, or health-related field, with at least five years of leadership experience.
• In lieu of degree, 12+ years of experience in related field
• Foundation and/or public health knowledge or experience is required.
• Systems-oriented leader with deep youth mental health expertise.
• Entrepreneurial builder mindset, able to move from strategy to action by piloting, adapting, and scaling ideas; comfortable testing new approaches, navigating ambiguity, and learning in real time.
• Leadership experience managing teams, programs, and multi-stakeholder collaborations.
• Background in grantmaking, public health, policy change, health promotion, or community health strongly preferred.
• Ability to translate between community context, policy, and business strategy.
• Knowledge of mental health care delivery system/health care financing.
• Experience in a corporate environment or working with the private sector.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing cross-department or cross-sector initiatives or strategies.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills.
• Strong strategy and project management skills.
• Ability to clearly communicate strategy, insights, and decisions to varied audiences, including senior executives and community partners.
• Outstanding judgement and independent decision making.
• Must live in or relocate to North Carolina.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred.
• Background in grantmaking, public health, policy change, health promotion, or community health strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement a stakeholder-informed and purpose-driven strategy that leverages tools of the Foundation and company including grantmaking, convening, partner development, and business levers to improve youth mental health and resiliency in NC.
• Partner with leaders across Blue Cross NC to inform and support an enterprise-wide, purpose driven strategy that leverages all assets of the company, including data, reputation and leadership, volunteerism, and products and services, to improve youth mental health and wellbeing.
• Serve as a subject matter expert, applying deep understanding of child and youth mental health systems, best practices, and emerging evidence to inform strategy, guide investment decisions, and demonstrate leadership and influence the field.
• Exercise strategic judgment in deploying grantmaking, contracts, and partnerships to advance systems-level outcomes—balancing rigor, learning, risk-taking, and relationship-based philanthropy.
• Implement feedback loops and learning practices that inform real-time strategy adjustments, support grantee success, and generate insights for enterprise and field-wide learning.
• Manage grantmaking activities and contracts across a diverse portfolio, including designing relevant funding opportunities and soliciting, reviewing, and awarding and managing grants to organizations aligned with strategic priorities.
• Engage directly with grantees to support their work through capacity building, thought partnership, connections to resources, and facilitating introductions to support their goals.
• Convene and facilitate enterprise-wide councils to inform strategy, clarify priorities, and identify, track and report on KPIs and other accountability metrics.
• Partner with leaders in the business to identify where philanthropic and community insights and business capabilities can be mutually reinforcing. This can include advancing pilots, learning agendas, or product and service improvements that advance youth mental health leveraging data, product design, delivery models, and workforce as well as philanthropic tools.
• Build and leverage cross-sector relationships with community and state leaders including potential applicants, grantees, advocates, policy makers, and other funders working in the field to identify and advance solutions collaboratively.
• Represent the organization at community events, conferences, and other forums through speaking engagements and written pieces to advance our mission to improve health for all.
• Develop project plans and recommendations in support of enterprise and Foundation objectives.
• Lead implementation and track and report on the status of projects.
• Manage and support a small team of direct reports, providing guidance, mentorship, and professional development opportunities to ensure success in meeting organizational goals.
• Oversee the budget and policy compliance for assigned program strategies, ensuring efficient allocation of resources and adherence to financial guidelines and policies.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage along with numerous health and wellness programs
• Parental leave and support plus adoption and surrogacy assistance
• Career development programs and tuition reimbursement for continued education
• 401k match including an annual company contribution

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director