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Description

OUR CULTURE:

Our mission and core values are brought to life through our culture. At the YMCA of South Hampton Roads, we strive to live our cause of strengthening communities with purpose and intentionality every day.

We are welcoming: we are open to all and create spaces where people can belong and become.

We are genuine: we value people and embrace individuality.

We are hopeful: we believe in the potential of people to grow, lead and become catalysts for change.

We are nurturing: we support individuals throughout their journey to reach their full potential.

We are determined: above all else, we are on a relentless quest to make our community stronger, beginning with our people.

Our culture is not a People & Culture initiative; it is how we lead, serve, develop talent, make decisions and deliver on the YMCA's mission.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer, the Senior Vice President of Education, Youth Services & Compliance provides enterprise leadership for the quality, safety, compliance, and continuous improvement of youth-serving programs across the YMCA of South Hampton Roads. The role connects educational excellence and operational strategy with rigorous child protection, licensing, accreditation, and organizational risk practices to ensure safe, consistent, high-quality experiences for children and families.

This highly visible leader sets association-wide standards for early learning, school-age care, camp, teen and other youth programs; leads Praesidium accreditation and child protection strategy; strengthens regulatory and operational consistency across sites; and partners with Operations and executive leadership to identify risks, improve systems, and advance sustainable growth. The SVP also builds external partnerships and develops leaders and staff to ensure safety, quality, and compliance are embedded into everyday operations rather than treated as separate initiatives.

Reporting to the Senior Vice President are the Vice President of Youth Development, Association Director of Youth Development, Association Director of Transportation, and the Youth Development Training Director.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS/STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:

Education & Youth Program Quality

• Provide strategic leadership for the quality, growth, and continuous improvement of early learning, preschool, school-age care, camp, and other youth development programs across the Association.
• Establish consistent educational and program-quality standards grounded in developmental research, YMCA practices, community needs, and measurable outcomes.
• Partner with operational leaders to strengthen program design, curriculum, participant experience, and site-level execution while balancing quality, accessibility, and sustainability.
• Use program, licensing, safety, and participant data to identify trends, address gaps, and guide continuous improvement across youth-serving programs.

Child Protection, Compliance & Organizational Risk

• Lead the Association's child protection and organizational risk strategy, proactively identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks that could impact participants, team members, volunteers, operations, or organizational assets.
• Provide executive oversight of state child care licensing, applicable health and safety requirements, YMCA standards, and other regulatory obligations across youth-serving sites.
• Lead the strategy, readiness, evidence collection, and continuous improvement required to maintain Praesidium accreditation and sustain a culture of abuse prevention.
• Standardize and continuously improve policies, procedures, safety protocols, screening practices, supervision expectations, and other controls that reduce site-to-site variability and strengthen organizational protection.

Safety Culture, Incident Response & Readiness

• Build and sustain a culture in which child safety is a shared leadership responsibility and team members and volunteers are equipped to recognize concerns, report risks, and act appropriately.
• Lead youth-related escalations and serious incident response, including coordination of internal reviews, mandated reporting, executive communication, and post-incident learning as appropriate.
• Advance prevention strategies addressing adult-to-youth and youth-to-youth abuse, bullying, boundary concerns, supervision, and other emerging safety risks.
• Ensure leaders and youth-facing staff receive practical, high-impact training and reinforcement in child protection, risk management, emergency response, regulatory compliance, and educational excellence.

Enterprise Partnership & Community Leadership

• Serve as a strategic advisor to the Chief Operations Officer and executive leadership on youth development quality, organizational risk, child protection, compliance, and emerging issues that may affect strategy or operations.
• Partner closely with Operations, People & Culture, Legal, Finance, and other functions to translate standards into sustainable practices, strengthen accountability, and address cross-functional risks. Maintain accountability for ensuring youth programs have appropriate staffing plans and capacity to meet required ratios, licensing and safety standards, and program needs, working across functions to develop solutions when staffing challenges arise.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with school districts, state and local regulatory agencies, child advocacy organizations, Y-USA, community partners, and other stakeholders that advance the YMCA's mission and strengthen youth-serving programs.
• Coach and develop leaders to strengthen decision-making, consistency, accountability, and ownership for program quality and safety across the Association.

Requirements

YMCA CAUSE DRIVEN LEADER COMPETENCIES:

• Change Leadership
• Communication & Influence
• Program/Project Management
• Functional Expertise

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree in Early Childhood Education, Youth Development, Public Administration, Organizational Risk, or a related field and 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in multi-site youth development, early learning, child care, risk, or related operations; equivalent combinations of education and directly relevant executive experience may be considered.
• Demonstrated senior-level experience leading across youth program quality, state licensing/regulatory compliance, child protection, accreditation, and organizational risk in a complex, multi-site environment.
• Demonstrated experience advising senior leaders, leading through high-risk or high-stakes situations, and translating regulatory, safety, and program-quality requirements into scalable operational practices.
• Working knowledge of mandated reporting, child abuse prevention, licensing requirements, incident response, and applicable youth-serving standards; Praesidium Guardian Certification required or obtainable within 90 days.

PREFERRED ATTRIBUTES:

• Strategic, enterprise-minded leader who balances program quality, safety, risk, compliance, and operational realities.
• Exceptional judgment and composure when navigating sensitive, high-risk, or time-critical issues.
• Demonstrated ability to influence, coach, and build trusted partnerships with leaders, regulators, community partners, and external stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, communication, facilitation, and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex requirements into clear expectations and action.
• Proven ability to lead change, strengthen systems, and create consistency across multiple sites and teams.
• YMCA Organizational Leader Certification preferred or obtainable within two years.

WORKING CONDITIONS AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

This position operates in a professional office and community-based environment and regularly interacts with team members, leaders, board members, vendors, and other stakeholders. The role requires use of a computer and other standard office equipment, prolonged periods of sitting or standing, and the ability to communicate and exchange information effectively. Occasional travel and flexible hours, including evenings or weekends, may be required based on organizational needs.

The YMCA of South Hampton Roads provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of the position, consistent with applicable law.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

Accountable for achieving assigned organizational and youth development goals as measured through program quality, safety and compliance outcomes, accreditation readiness, cause-driven measures, operating results, participant and team member experience, and supervisor evaluation.

Employment is contingent upon satisfactory performance and successful completion and maintenance of applicable position requirements, which may include background screening, driver's license review, CPS screening, drug and/or alcohol testing, or other screenings as required by the position or applicable law.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

Salary Range: $130,000 - $160,000 annually

The salary range provided reflects the YMCA of South Hampton Roads’ good-faith determination of the minimum and maximum starting salary for this position.

In addition to base compensation, the YMCA of South Hampton Roads offers a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees, including an employer-funded retirement contribution equal to 12% of eligible compensation, health and welfare benefits, paid time off, and other YMCA benefits.