Senior Manager of Behavioral Health

Build•Chicago, IL

2d•$78,000 - $81,400

About The Position

BUILD is seeking an experienced, collaborative Senior Manager of Behavioral Health to lead, manage, and oversee behavioral health services across School-Based Mental Health, Community Mental Health, and other assigned initiatives. The role directly supervises the Manager of School-Based Mental Health Services and the Manager of Community Mental Health, providing day-to-day operational guidance on staffing, performance, problem-solving, quality improvement, and service delivery. The Senior Manager works closely with the Director of Mental Health & Therapeutic Services to ensure services are appropriately staffed, meet performance expectations, respond to participant needs, and align with BUILD’s strategic priorities. A major initial responsibility is leading the development and implementation of PYO-TREAT, a SAMHSA-funded initiative to prevent overdose and expand substance use prevention, treatment, recovery support, education, and behavioral health services for youth and young adults ages 10–25. During initial development and launch, approximately 50% of the role is allocated to PYO-TREAT and 50% to School-Based and Community Mental Health programs. Once PYO-TREAT is fully operational, the anticipated allocation is approximately 20% to PYO-TREAT oversight and 80% to broader behavioral health program management and leadership. Allocation may change according to program needs, grant requirements, staffing, organizational priorities, and direction from the Director. The Senior Manager serves as a bridge between program management and departmental leadership, strengthening communication, accountability, staff development, interdisciplinary coordination, compliance, quality assurance, and consistency across BUILD’s behavioral health services. The role supports program performance and quality, staff and manager development, grant and budget oversight, partner coordination, strategic planning, and sustainability. The position also represents Mental Health & Therapeutic Services in meetings as assigned and performs other work-related duties assigned by the Director.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy, Public Health, Behavioral Health, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated experience managing or supervising behavioral health, mental health, clinical, youth-development, or community-based programs.
Demonstrated experience supervising managers, supervisors, clinicians, or multidisciplinary behavioral health teams.
Strong understanding of trauma-informed, culturally responsive, youth-centered, and community-based behavioral health practices.
Experience supporting individuals, youth, and families affected by trauma, community violence, behavioral health challenges, substance use, or systemic inequities.
Demonstrated ability to translate grant requirements and strategic priorities into effective program operations, workflows, staff responsibilities, and measurable deliverables.
Experience monitoring program performance, caseloads, documentation, productivity, service utilization, participant outcomes, and quality indicators.
Experience working with program budgets, grant expenditures, staffing allocations, and resource planning.
Strong leadership, supervision, coaching, conflict-resolution, communication, and performance-management skills.
Ability to address complex programmatic, personnel, partnership, and service-delivery challenges with sound judgment and professionalism.
Demonstrated ability to develop productive relationships with schools, healthcare providers, community organizations, government agencies, behavioral health providers, and other external partners.
Strong organizational and project-management skills, including the ability to manage multiple programs, deadlines, priorities, and competing responsibilities.
Ability to analyze program data and use findings to support quality improvement, staffing, training, and strategic decision-making.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including preparing professional reports and communicating effectively with staff, senior leadership, funders, and community partners.
Commitment to BUILD’s mission and to accessible, equitable, culturally responsive, high-quality behavioral health services for youth, families, and communities.

Nice To Haves

Clinical licensure or eligibility for clinical licensure in Illinois, such as LCSW, LCPC, LMFT, or another applicable behavioral health credential.
Knowledge of substance use prevention, treatment, recovery support, harm reduction, and overdose prevention practices.
Experience managing government-, foundation-, or otherwise grant-funded programs.
Experience with SAMHSA-funded programming, GPRA/SPARS, or similar federal reporting and performance requirements.
Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC), Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), or another relevant behavioral health credential.
Training in Motivational Interviewing, Trauma-Informed Care, Recovery Coaching, or related evidence-based practices.

Responsibilities

Directly supervise, coach, and support the Managers of School-Based Mental Health Services and Community Mental Health, including regular individual supervision and leadership meetings.
Set expectations, priorities, deliverables, and performance measures for assigned managers and programs; support managers in addressing performance, staffing, service-delivery, case, partner, and participant concerns.
Promote consistent management, supervision, and accountability practices across behavioral health services.
Monitor caseloads, staffing capacity, service utilization, productivity, documentation, participant engagement, and program outcomes; provide leadership oversight for therapists, clinical interns, and other behavioral health staff through program managers.
Ensure services are trauma-informed, culturally responsive, youth-centered, ethical, and responsive to individuals and families affected by trauma, violence, and systemic inequities.
Strengthen coordination among behavioral health programs, schools, families, mentors, case managers, outreach teams, community partners, and other BUILD departments.
Lead the development, implementation, and launch of PYO-TREAT, translating grant requirements into workflows, procedures, responsibilities, timelines, deliverables, and performance expectations.
Establish processes for PYO-TREAT outreach, referrals, screening, assessment, treatment connections, recovery support, education, care coordination, engagement, and retention.
Coordinate substance use prevention, treatment, recovery support, overdose prevention, education, and behavioral health services for youth and young adults.
Develop and maintain relationships with treatment and healthcare providers, schools, behavioral health providers, community organizations, government entities, and other stakeholders.
Coordinate overdose-prevention education, naloxone distribution, psychoeducation, outreach, and community engagement associated with PYO-TREAT.
Oversee PYO-TREAT data collection, evaluation, performance measurement, GPRA/SPARS responsibilities, compliance, and grant reporting.
Coordinate workforce training related to substance use prevention and treatment, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, recovery-oriented practices, and other relevant approaches.
Monitor PYO-TREAT implementation, outcomes, expenditures, barriers, and emerging needs; update departmental leadership and participate in sustainability planning.
Establish quality and performance expectations across assigned programs and review dashboards, reports, documentation, service hours, caseloads, productivity measures, participant outcomes, and other data.
Use data to identify strengths, service gaps, trends, training and staffing needs, and opportunities for continuous quality improvement.
Support internal audits, quality assurance, corrective action plans, and compliance monitoring; ensure programs follow BUILD policies, grant and contractual requirements, professional standards, and applicable regulatory expectations.
Coach managers and support their professional development in supervision, communication, conflict resolution, accountability, performance management, staff development, and team leadership.
Identify staff development needs and coordinate training; assist managers with employee engagement, professional growth, recruitment, and retention strategies.
Support onboarding and development of managers, supervisors, clinicians, and behavioral health program leaders; promote a collaborative, ethical, supportive, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive workplace.
Serve as a leadership liaison between Behavioral Health and other BUILD departments and programs; participate in interdisciplinary, departmental, clinical, program, grant, community, and agency-wide meetings as appropriate.
Represent Mental Health & Therapeutic Services in internal and external meetings as assigned by the Director.
Support managers in monitoring budgets, grant expenditures, staffing allocations, contractual deliverables, and resources; partner with the Director, Finance, Development, and program managers to align expenditures with budgets, priorities, and funding requirements.
Monitor for underspending, overspending, performance risks, staffing shortages, and barriers to grant or contractual commitments.
Assist with grant proposals, renewals, reports, budgets, program development, and sustainability planning as requested.
Support strategic staffing and resource-allocation decisions based on participant demand, service capacity, program requirements, and available funding.
Maintain communication with the Director regarding staffing, performance, accomplishments, risks, compliance concerns, and emerging needs.
Participate in organizational strategic planning, special initiatives, community events, and fundraising activities as appropriate.
Assume additional program oversight, projects, meetings, and leadership responsibilities as needs evolve; perform other work-related duties assigned by the Director.