Chief States Officer

Job Summary

FCF is seeking a new Chief States Officer that will be a talented manager and leader whose approach is strategic, collaborative, and characterized by the ability to inspire, motivate, and empower others to achieve the goals of FCF. This is a highly-functioning “generalist” who is a thought leader and a self-starter. This individual will possess highly-developed fundraising and communications skills, be creative, curious, innovative, and possess a continuous improvement mindset that will advance the Theory of Change work.

Purpose

The Chief States Officer (CSO) will serve as a critical member of the executive management team. In collaboration with the CEO and Executive Team, the CSO will

• articulate and implement the strategic vision and leadership of FCF,
• supervise operations of FCF’s state offices and monitor financial performance, program management, human resources planning, and manage relationships of each division,
• provide mentoring, guidance, supervision, and professional development to State Office Division Directors,
• and enhance the structure of the organization by staying abreast of developments in the early care and education finance sector.

Key Performance Responsibilities

State Office Operations Management

• Directly supervises State Office Division Directors; develops a high-performance team culture focused on leadership and accountability, continuous learning, collaboration, and goal achievement.
• Monitors State Offices progression toward the organization’s strategic plan.
• Analyzes key performance indicators of State Offices and optimizes team structure and operations to continuously improve FCF’s customer and client experience; creates business plans for each State Office Division that align to the FCF strategic plan.
• Leads State Office Divisions’ advocacy strategies to secure access to capital for child care entrepreneurs and advocates for policies that benefit child care businesses.
• Collaborates with Chief Program Officer and Programs Team to implement programs, services, and products with fidelity.
• Collaborates with Chief Advancement Officer and Advancement Team to support fund development and communications efforts to ensure State Office Division Directors will meet resource development goals.
• Collaborates with the Chief Financial Officer and Finance Team to operationalize divisional financial information to monitor programmatic operations to ensure sound fiscal and system management.
• Collaborates with Chief Executive Officer and Chief Program Officer to expand the number of FCF State Offices; works closely with the Executive Team to plan for the successful launch of new State Office and manage growth of operations.

Leadership

• Promotes collaborative relationships between State Offices and other FCF divisions, ensuring that expectations of clients, customers, partners, funders, and other stakeholders are consistently met.
• Serves as a connector between clients, customers, partners, and funders and FCF’s resources, such as funding, expertise, relationships, and best practices, to build capacity for continuous success.
• Represents FCF on relevant committees and task forces, as well as at speaking engagements, conference panels, and national events.
• Develops and maintains a diverse effective organization through the selection, training, compensation, review, and motivation of State Office Division Directors.
• Develops and maintains a program for high performance standards and sound employee relations at all levels of the organization.
• Provides input into the strategic planning process.
• Provides positive guidance and direction to direct reports, assisting them in their professional development.
• Leads and implements major initiatives for the organization as directed by the CEO.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience, with a preferred emphasis on business management, nonprofit administration, or early childhood education.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of increasingly progressive work experience demonstrating competency in nonprofit administration, business management, or program management.
• Knowledge of child care and early education sector; experience in the business and finance side of child care is preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal, management, verbal, and written communication skills

• Demonstrated experience in program planning, development, facilitation, and evaluation.
• Demonstrated knowledge of community and economic development.
• Knowledge of current service trends and emerging models of early care and education.
• Competence in financial management, budgeting, planning, and goal setting.
• Familiarity with FCF’s Theory of Change, or a positive orientation to change and new ways of doing business, including the ability to innovate and implement continuous improvements.
• Proven track record of monitoring, managing, and analyzing program data and outcomes.
• A systems thinker that can maintain a big-picture focus while attending to detail.

Knowledge, Skills and Ability

• Excellent writing skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to promote a positive image of FCF and position FCF as a key resource in the field of early care and education.
• Demonstrated maturity, good judgement, and emotional intelligence.
• Ability to think conceptually, portray good analytical skills, and assertiveness to manage the scope of responsibilities.
• Ability to handle multiple demands and priorities and achieve organizational objectives.
• Ability to be flexible and work collaboratively with a diverse FCF staff, clients, customers, partners, and stakeholders.
• Open to learning, accepting positive and constructive feedback.
• Energetic, enthusiastic, with a can-do attitude.

Work Conditions

• Must be able to work on the computer for extended periods of time.
• Must be able to travel when needed.

Additional Notes

This job description represents the major functions of the position but is not intended to be all-inclusive. This position interacts with members of the Executive Team and Board of Directors in performing duties deemed necessary for FCF success.

Benefits

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life, disability insurance, holidays, paid time off, and paid family medical leave. Allowable travel costs are reimbursed.

Flexible work environment.

First Children’s Finance honors candidates’ time and effort in job-seeking by providing transparency regarding compensation. Creating transparency regarding salary information reduces the gender pay gap, and eliminates salary negotiation, which rarely benefits people of color or women. It is a value of our organization to support equitable hiring practices.

First Children’s Finance is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

To Apply

Please send a cover letter and a résumé by email to our search firm Cohen Taylor – beau@cohentaylor.com with “First Children’s Finance Chief States Officer” in the subject line.