Director of Training and Quality Improvement

THE SELECTED CANDIDATE WILL BE OFFERED A SALARY BETWEEN $92,301 - $106,146.

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services, and provides subsidized child care vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement and programs for youth in the community.

ACS’ Division of Child and Family Well-being (CFWB) designs and executes strategies to support caregivers, children, and communities, so they can thrive and enjoy self-determination. A critical piece of CFWB’s portfolio is the operation of the City’s subsidized child care voucher system -- one of the largest child care assistance programs in the country. ACS providers vouchers to tens of thousands of low-income and child welfare-involved families, allowing parents and caregivers to access affordable child care at the provider of their choice while they pursue work, education, or training.

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer provides a range of resources to support the Division of Child and Family Well-being (CFWB), including leading efforts on administration, technology, and human resources. The Chief Operating Officer also leads interdivisional and interagency initiatives focused on providing high-quality, equitable and accessible child care for thousands of New York City families. This includes the recent launch of MyCity, the city’s first online application for child care assistance, and the redesign of nearly all of ACS’s public facing child care information and materials for families and child care providers.

While reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of Training and Quality Improvement will work closely with two other CFWB Units: (1) the Office of Child Care Operations (CCOPs), which provides a range of resources to support access to child care vouchers for eligible low-income families. These vouchers serve more than 35,000 families across New York City and are used at hundreds of community-based child care programs and providers, and (2) the Policy and Compliance Unit, which performs all tasks related to child care policies and procedures, ensures compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations that govern various funding streams, and provides quality assurance to proactively safeguard compliance and standards.

CFWB seeks a strategic, inclusive senior leader with substantive experience in training, coaching, and quality improvement to lead our newly formed Training Unit. The Training Unit will focus on three key priorities (1) developing and implementing in-person policy and practice specific trainings for staff within the Child Care Operations Unit, including onboarding trainings for new hires and issue-specific trainings for all staff (2) developing and overseeing all training materials, desk guides, and procedure manuals for the Child Care Operations Unit and (3) developing and implementing a quality improvement process to inform the need for additional trainings, desk guides, etc.

The Director of the Training and Quality Improvement will lead efforts on these three priorities, developing strategies to deliver high-quality, supportive, and individualized training sessions to staff and to internal and external strategic partners. This includes identifying training needs, resources, and opportunities, creating training policies and processes, using qualitative and/or quantitative research methods to evaluate programs and business processes, conducting research to evaluate the impact of training sessions, analyzing data to investigate performance, identifying targeted training needs for staff informed by both staff feedback and quality assurance data, coaching staff and leaders toward continuous growth and learning, and elevating systemic issues arising from conversations with internal and external stakeholders.

The Director of Training and QI will be responsible for building this office from the ground up and developing a cohesive, collaborative culture of quality improvement across the Division.

The role requires the ability to carry multiple priorities forward at once, to communicate effectively across internal stakeholders, present research in reports and present to different audiences, and to leverage patience, creativity, and team building to solve difficult or entrenched issues. A successful candidate will also have a solution-oriented mindset and a passion for process improvement and modernization to benefit the workforce and families across New York City. This position reports to the CFWB Chief Operating Officer.

The Director of Training and Quality Improvement asks and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

- Manage the Training Unit, developing a cohesive strategy of training across ACS units involved in child care assistance

- Enhance training strategies and operations, aimed at providing the highest-level support and guidance to Child Care Operations Unit staff

- Develop performance metrics to address performance concerns and implement systemic improvements to when and how staff receive training

- Conduct research to evaluate how well training programs are running and use mixed methods of data analysis to develop reports and implement improvements

- Collaborate with the Child Care Operations Unit and Policy and Compliance Unit to ensure that staff are aware of and trained on key policies and procedures, particularly when policies or operational processes change

- Collaborate with the Client Experience Unit to ensure that client-facing staff have the information they need to communicate effectively with families and providers

- Analyze data to investigate performance; manage research projects to evaluate and improve programs and business processes

- Advise on changes to operational processes and procedures that will enhance customer service and/or address systemic issues

- Serve as a senior advisor to the Associate Commissioner for Child Care Operations, Associate Commissioner of Policy and Compliance, and Executive Director of the Client Experience Unit



ADDITIONAL INFO:
Section 424-A of the New York Social Services Law requires an authorized agency to inquire whether a
candidate for employment with child-caring responsibilities has been the subject of a child abuse and
maltreatment report.


TO APPLY:
APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY USING ONE OF THE OPTIONS BELOW:

For current city employees, go to Employee Self Service (ESS), Recruiting Activities, Careers and search for Job ID# 636168.
For all other applicants go to www.nyc.gov/careers and search for Job ID# 636168. Click on the "Apply" button.

If you do not have access to a computer, most public libraries have computers available for use.

Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

1. For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.
To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:
1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
2. A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

NOTE:
Probationary Period
Appointments to this position are subject to a minimum probationary period of one year.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.