Early Childhood Center Director

The Learning Experience•Bakersfield, CA

9h•Onsite

About The Position

The Early Childhood Center Director leads the center team in creating a nurturing, fun, and educational environment for children and families. The Director is responsible for the center’s business outcomes and for ensuring that front-of-house and back-of-house operations meet high standards. This includes achieving enrollment and profitability goals, maintaining a high-quality team, and upholding brand standards. The role oversees recruiting, onboarding, staff development, performance reviews, employee retention, and accountability. The Director also manages enrollment and retention efforts, marketing, family relationships, billing, tuition collection, budgets, and profitability. They ensure compliance with health and safety procedures, state and local licensing requirements, labor laws, health regulations, fire codes, and company policies. The Director maintains a safe, clean, organized, and tour-ready center; accurate records and files; center inventory; and timely, accurate payroll. The position is full-time, on-site in Bakersfield, California, with a stated annual salary range of $66,000–$78,000 plus performance bonus.

Requirements

High school diploma, GED, or equivalent.
At least one year of center management or people leadership experience.
At least 21 years of age.
Knowledge of state licensing rules and regulations.
Meet applicable background screening and state licensing requirements for the role.

Nice To Haves

Two or more years of center management or people leadership experience is highly preferred.
Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) or a related field is highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Meet or exceed school-level KPIs, including utilization, student retention, staff turnover, payroll percentage, and lead-to-tour conversion.
Prioritize recruiting, respond to applicants within one business day, and use the hiring and onboarding processes and tools to keep the center fully staffed with well-trained teachers.
Maintain a high-quality teaching team that demonstrates professionalism and upholds brand standards.
Lead by example and foster an enthusiastic center atmosphere and employee engagement.
Conduct and document monthly staff development meetings using provided content and training resources.
Ensure annual employee performance reviews are completed, submitted on time, filed, and uploaded into Paylocity.
Use available resources and strategic problem-solving to address challenges; prioritize employee retention and hold the team accountable with clear instructions and constructive feedback.
Promptly address and resolve parent and staff concerns at the center level.
Execute an ongoing marketing plan focused on enrollment and retention; track leads and improve lead-to-start conversion.
Meet or exceed the center’s active enrollment budget, forecast new starts and drops using available systems, conduct competitive shops at least twice a year, regularly post on social media, and secure positive customer reviews monthly.
Implement brand initiatives and promote family retention.
Work toward the center’s EBITDA profit-margin budget; understand budget goals and analyze the monthly P&L to investigate expenses and profit margin.
Maintain accurate family and agency billing, escalate billing errors or financial inquiries, collect tuition by due dates, and manage tuition discounts.
Uphold health and safety procedures and local and state licensing requirements, including supervision practices and compliance regarding medical conditions, allergies, dietary restrictions, medications, and accommodations.
Maintain a safe, organized, clean, clutter-free, and tour-ready center environment.
Keep student and staff files organized, secure, and compliant; maintain accurate TLE- and state-required records.
Stay current with and comply with state mandates, labor laws, health regulations, fire codes, and TLE policies.
Manage and replenish inventory within the center’s budget.
Prepare and process payroll accurately and on time.
Use required software, web platforms, and proprietary TLE processes and systems to support operational efficiency.
Take initiative, work autonomously, meet deadlines, respond promptly, and exercise sound judgment in managing people, customers, and business operations.