Sr Director of Strategy & Quality Practices, Positive Youth Development and Early Childhood Education - National Office (Remote)

YMCA of the USA•Chicago, IL

3d•$144,000 - $177,000•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Director of Strategy & Quality Practices, Positive Youth Development and Early Childhood Education provides enterprise leadership for advancing strategy, quality practices, and experience across the YMCA network. This role oversees a portfolio of national strategies and services designed to strengthen local Y operational excellence, elevate consistency and quality, and improve member and customer outcomes. In addition to leading early childhood education strategy and quality activation, the Senior Director directly supervises multiple Directors of Strategy and Quality Practices and serves as a senior connector between local Ys, service delivery partners, and Y-USA enterprise teams. This position operates as a system leader—shaping strategy, stewarding adoption, guiding continuous improvement, and building capacity across the Movement to support sustainability, relevancy, and impact. YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) embraces a remote-first working environment which means most employees work remotely from a home office within the continental United States.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or higher required in a relevant field such as Business, or related disciplines required.
Minimum of 12 years of experience required
Deep and expert functional skills, deep and expert industry knowledge and experience, expert managerial skills
Oversees multiple teams or functions
Ownership of short to mid-term execution of functional strategy and the operational direction
Internal and external communications, executive level, high influence on dept. and organization
Minimal supervision from manager, manages an area or team leads within a function/department

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide senior leadership for early childhood education strategy, quality practices, and initiatives that advance Y-USA organizational priorities and strengthen local Ys.
Translate national strategy and enterprise direction into clear, actionable frameworks, tools, and activation supports for local Ys, alliances, and service delivery partners.
Guide the evolution of leading practices to ensure they are practical, scalable, and responsive to changing local Y and community needs.
Directly supervise and coach multiple Directors of Strategy and Quality Practices, ensuring clarity of role, alignment of workplans, and accountability for outcomes.
Foster a high performing, collaborative team culture rooted in achievement, relationships, and belonging.
Provide strategic oversight across a portfolio of initiatives, ensuring prioritization, integration, and efficient use of resources.
Lead systemwide adoption and integration of leading practices, tools, products, and solutions.
Analyze data, signals, and industry trends to inform continuous quality improvement and innovation.
Strengthen alignment between Y-USA strategies, alliances, service delivery partners, and enterprise shared services.
Cultivate relationships with internal and external partners to advance innovation, policy alignment, and mission‑aligned outcomes.