Managing Director, Early Childhood Quality Assurance

ICF seeks a Managing Director, Early Childhood Quality Assurance to work for the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance (NCECQA) to provide management of a team of Senior Technical Assistance Consultants. Technical assistance is focused on strategies that impact the quality of care such as health and safety, licensing, and quality improvement systems. The Managing Director will serve as a manager for a team as well as serve as subject matter expert related to licensing and health and safety of child care programs. The Managing Director will provide strategic guidance of all individualized, targeted and universal technical assistance focused on licensing and child care and Development Fund (CCDF) health and safety requirements.  The Managing Director could be assigned as a point of contact for federal regions.

This position is home based with approximately 25% travel required to provide technical assistance across the 10 ACF Regions, and to attend related conferences and meetings.

Technical assistance (TA) is defined as both onsite and off-site activities, such as consultation, meeting/conference presentation and facilitation, support of peer-to-peer opportunities, information gathering, review of materials, participation in and leadership for work groups, strategic planning, and training design and delivery in a wide range of content areas including early education policy and systems building efforts, health and safety standards and monitoring, program quality improvement, professional development systems and workforce, infant and toddler care initiatives, and other key areas. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership, direction, and supervision for a cadre of technical assistance consultants.
• Manage team workflow, assist staff with managing their work, facilitate team building and communication, and participate as part of the project Leadership.
• Support the evaluation of individualized technical assistance and reporting TA progress to the client.
• Collaborate closely with peers and federal staff in the provision of training and/or TA to CCDF grantees and other primary audiences.
• Provide and/or coordinate technical support and/or training to States and Territories at the request of CCDF Administrators and regional office staff members.
• Provide support as requested in the development and implementation of the Office of Child Care (OCC) TA plans to support CCDF grantees.
• Research and develop timely responses to state, territory, or Tribal requests and create written documents in approved formats.
• Support OCC designated priorities and special projects, including development of TA materials and respond to requests for reference material, training sessions, conference calls, information sharing, and frequently asked questions. 
• Develop and facilitate peer linkages between States and/or Territories.
• Build strong, positive relationships with project staff for ongoing communication, collaborative planning, and shared problem solving to meet the needs of clients, states, and territories.
• Stay abreast of the latest research, tools, and resources that support the activities of NCECQA.
• Serve as a liaison with federal government, other organizations with government-funded technical assistance contracts, and other stakeholders.  
• Build strong, positive relationships across the Child Care Technical Assistance Network (CCTAN) and additional partners for ongoing communication, collaborative planning, and shared problem solving to meet the needs of clients, states, and territories, including participation in national workgroups and task forces as assigned.   
• Support OCC designated priorities and special projects, including development of TA materials and respond to requests for reference material, training sessions, conference calls, information sharing, and frequently asked questions. 
• Participate in regular team meetings and calls.   
• Leverage specialized depth and breadth of expertise and apply a broad perspective to identify solutions to complex tasks and deliverables on multiple ECE topics and activities.     
• Participate in presentations at national meetings and conferences. 
• Ensure contract TA activities are documented in the Technical Assistance Tracker database. 

Basic Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, education, public policy, public administration, or management.
• 12+ years’ experience with staff management and supervision using a strength-based approach to assigning work and managing workflow.
• 12+ years’ experience with the development and delivery of targeted technical assistance to child care system leaders and implementors.
• 5+ years of relevant experience that may include work within the child care technical assis