Assistant State Director, Texas (M1)

Summary

Save the Children’s U.S. Programs (USP) division is committed to ensuring that all children in rural America have a healthy, strong foundation to thrive as learners and in life. Our contribution to a full cradle-to-career continuum is focused on the early years, birth through elementary school; and our goals are to increase kindergarten readiness and grade-level literacy and math proficiency for children in under-resourced rural communities. Save the Children does whatever it takes to be there for children in. Always at the ready, we are among the first to respond and the last to leave, staying as long as it takes to help children and families recover from their losses, restore their lives and build resilience for years to come.

The Assistant State Director of Texas is responsible for meeting or exceeding annual program results targets for all programs delivered in the state.  As the Child Safeguarding Focal Point for the state, you will work to ensure all child safeguarding policies and protocols are properly implemented. You will oversee a team of Program and Community Lead Associates, and will be responsible for managing performance to ensure all programmatic and operational deliverables are met. You will also oversee all site- and district-level program partnerships, and will support the maintenance of key state-level partnerships, to advance Save the Children’s Education, Protection, and Resilience strategy. Working in close collaboration with and reporting to the State Director, you will support new initiatives and activities that promote the growth and sustainability of programs in the state.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Program Quality 30%

• Under the supervision of the Managing/State Director, the Assistant State Director is responsible for overall state program performance; ensuring high-quality program delivery and that annual state program results targets are met or exceeded.
• Ensure program enrollment goals are met and maintained across all partner sites.
• Serve as the Child Safeguarding Focal Point for the state, ensuring all staff, partners and volunteers are trained to prevent, identify and report incidents; monitoring reports and addressing incidents, and working with the SCUS Director of Child Safeguarding to implement updates and ensure effective application of policies and procedures.
• Conduct frequent program data reviews to ensure timely and accurate data entry, identify trends, and address gaps in program performance.
• Coordinate and support the delivery of partner program training, results-reviews and lessons learned meetings, and ongoing technical assistance.
• Work with Lead Associates and Advisors to collaboratively identify modified approaches and provide customized program interventions as needed.
• In the event Save the Children responds to a disaster in the state, collaborate with the U.S. Emergencies team and response team on the ground to support any response and recovery needs.
• Oversee a developing portfolio of community and cross-sector focused work.

Partnership Management: 30%

• Responsible for establishing, managing, and maintaining healthy relationships with program-delivery and emergency network partners across the state.
• In collaboration with the State Director, establish state-, district-, and site-level partnership strategies; building relationships with key stakeholders, conducting partner selection analyses, maintaining a prospective partner pipeline, and supporting the acquisition of funding for program expansion.
• Oversee the site-level annual Partner Planning and budget negotiation process across the state; ensuring partner plans and budgets are completed on time, and align with program strategy and donor requirements.
• Responsible for ensuring that all programs across the state start on time, are adequately staffed, and have all program supplies and resources needed for implementation across the program year.
• Troubleshoot partner issues requiring escalation and work collaboratively to resolve conflicts that could negatively impact programming and/or the partnership.

Management and Operational Excellence: 20%

• Support the development and management of state-level annual budget and plan; ensuring compliance with finance, operations and donor requirements.
• Work with State Director to oversee the state portfolio of partner sub-awards; ensuring efficient and allowable use of funds.
• Provide regular, timely communication to State Director and other key team members as needed with progress updates, partner/program concerns, and other key areas of operation.
• Responsible for ensuring state staff and partners have access to stro