NORTHERN COLORADO KIDS THRIVE
Director of Evaluation
Job Title: Director of Evaluation
Reports To: Chief Impact Officer
Job Location: Fort Collins, CO (Hybrid Remote; requires some in-office work) Work Schedule: Full-time; salaried (40 hours/week)
May require occasional evening or weekend hours
Hiring Range: $85,000-$105,000 annually depending on qualifications and experience Exemption Status: Exempt
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@nocokidsthrive.org. The position closes 6/1/2026.
OVERVIEW OF NORTHERN COLORADO KIDS THRIVE
Northern Colorado Kids Thrive (NoCo Kids Thrive) is an independent nonprofit organization and steward of significant public investment dedicated to ensuring every young child in our community has quality early childhood experiences so they thrive from day one.
As the administrator of significant public and private investment in early care and education, NoCo Kids Thrive supports families, child care providers, educators, and community partners through programs that expand access, strengthen the early childhood workforce, improve quality, and build a more coordinated early childhood system.
Through voter-approved early care and education tax funding and additional public and private investments, NoCo Kids Thrive oversees more than $20 million annually in public revenue, in addition to workforce supports, family tuition subsidies, and philanthropic funding. As administrator of these funds, the organization is entrusted with fiscal integrity, transparency, and long-term sustainability in service to children, families, educators, and taxpayers.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Director of Evaluation leads the design and implementation of Northern Colorado Kids Thrive’s evaluation and learning strategy, ensuring the organization can measure impact, inform decision-making, and demonstrate outcomes across all program areas.
This role is responsible for building and managing a comprehensive evaluation framework that tracks short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes, including longitudinal analysis of children’s progress from early childhood through K–12. The Director works closely with internal teams and external partners—including school districts and public agencies, to ensure data is collected, analyzed, and used to continuously improve programs and inform system-level change.
NORTHERN COLORADO KIDS THRIVE
Director of Evaluation
The Director also plays a critical role in supporting the sustainability of public
investment in early childhood, including providing the data, analysis, and evidence needed to inform future funding decisions and potential reauthorization efforts.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Evaluation Strategy & Framework
Design and lead a comprehensive evaluation strategy across Access, Workforce, and Consultation:
● Develop and implement an organization-wide evaluation framework aligned with NoCo Kids Thrive’s goals, funding requirements, and public accountability responsibilities
● Define key performance indicators, outcome measures, learning questions, and evaluation methods across major program areas
● Establish approaches for tracking short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes for children, families, providers, educators, and the early childhood system
● Ensure evaluation methods are rigorous, feasible, equity-centered, and aligned with county, state, and funder expectations
● Support leadership in using evaluation to guide program strategy, investment decisions, continuous improvement, and long-term sustainability
Longitudinal Outcomes & K–12 Alignment
Build the infrastructure and partnerships needed to understand long-term impact:
● Develop and implement a strategy for longitudinal tracking of children served through early childhood programs
● Establish partnerships with school districts and other K–12 entities to enable responsible data sharing and alignment
● Define indicators related to school readiness, attendance, early academic outcomes, social-emotional development, and longer-term student success
● Ensure longitudinal evaluation efforts comply with data privacy requirements, data-sharing agreements, ethical standards, and applicable regulations
● Use longitudinal findings to strengthen programs, inform public accountability, and build evidence for continued investment in early childhood
Research & Evaluation Partnerships
Build strategic partnerships that strengthen evaluation capacity, credibility, and rigor:
● Identify, cultivate, and manage partnerships with school districts, public agencies, higher education institutions, research organizations, and community partners
● Explore opportunities for third-party evaluation, applied research projects, graduate student partnerships, institutional research collaborations, and other external research support
● Coordinate data-sharing agreements, research partnerships, joint research
efforts, and external evaluation support that expand analytic capacity
● Ensure research partnerships align with organizational priorities, community needs, county/state/funder expectations, and public accountability goals
● Translate findings from research and evaluation partnerships into actionable insights for leadership, program teams, funders, policymakers, and the public
Data Systems Integration & Evaluation Infrastructure
Help build the data collection systems needed for meaningful evaluation:
● Partner with Programs and Operations to ensure new software platforms, including application, payment, and program systems, capture the data needed for evaluation
● Define key data elements, indicators, reporting requirements, and data definitions to be embedded within system design and workflows
● Ensure alignment between program implementation, data collection, evaluation goals, and reporting requirements from the outset
● Identify gaps in data collection and recommend solutions to improve data quality, completeness, consistency, and usability
● Support development of shared measurement approaches across programs so data can be used for both reporting and learning
Data Analysis & Insight Generation
Analyze program and system-level data to understand impact and guide decisions:
● Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses, including longitudinal and cohort-based analysis, to assess program effectiveness and outcomes over time
● Apply appropriate evaluation methods, such as comparative analysis, quasi-experimental approaches, contribution analysis, and mixed-methods evaluation, to understand impact
● Analyze trends, outcomes, gaps, and opportunities across programs and funding streams
● Translate complex data into clear, actionable insights for leadership, program teams, funders, policymakers, and external stakeholders
● Develop dashboards, data visualizations, and analytic products that support decision-making, communication, and accountability
● Identify what is working, for whom, under what conditions, and where additional support or adjustment is needed
Impact Measurement & Public Investment Sustainability
Support NoCo Kids Thrive’s ability to demonstrate impact and sustain public investment:
● Define and track outcome measures that demonstrate the value of early childhood investments for children, families, providers, educators, and the broader system
● Develop analyses that help show return on investment, long-term benefits, and community impact
● Support leadership in preparing data and evidence for future funding
decisions, public funding renewals, potential reauthorization efforts, and
other sustainability strategies
● Ensure evaluation outputs are credible, clear, and useful for funders, policymakers, community partners, and the public
● Partner with Communications and leadership to translate evaluation findings into compelling, accessible narratives
Cross-Team Collaboration
Embed evaluation into organizational planning, implementation, and learning:
● Partner with Programs teams, including Access, Workforce, and Consultation, to define meaningful outcomes and strengthen data collection practices
● Coordinate with Finance and Operations to align evaluation with reporting, compliance, funding requirements, and system implementation
● Work with Communications to translate data into clear, compelling, and accurate public-facing materials
● Support the Strategy team in evaluating new initiatives, system-level strategies, and emerging opportunities
● Ensure evaluation is integrated early into program design, grant development, implementation planning, and continuous improvement efforts
Reporting & Accountability
Lead reporting that demonstrates impact, supports compliance, and builds trust:
● In partnership with Communications, develop clear, accurate, and compelling reports for the county, funders, board, leadership, public partners, and other stakeholders
● Ensure reporting reflects both implementation progress and meaningful outcomes, including who is being reached, what is changing, where gaps remain, and what the organization is learning
● Maintain documentation of methodologies, data sources, assumptions, limitations, definitions, and analytic decisions so findings are transparent and defensible
● Partner with Finance, Programs, Grants/Compliance, and Communications to ensure reporting connects funding, implementation, outcomes, and stories in a coherent way
● Identify reporting gaps, risks, or inconsistencies early and work with internal teams to strengthen data quality and readiness
Continuous Improvement & Learning
Build a learning culture where data is used to improve practice and increase impact: ● Facilitate regular learning conversations with program, operations, communications, strategy, and leadership teams to reflect on findings and identify needed adjustments
● Help teams move beyond compliance reporting toward meaningful learning about implementation, participant experience, outcomes, and system-level change
● Develop feedback loops that incorporate quantitative data, provider and
family voice, staff insight, partner feedback, and community experience
● Support continuous quality improvement processes, including defining learning questions, testing improvements, reviewing results, and adapting practice
● Ensure evaluation findings inform program design, resource allocation, communications, funder engagement, and long-term strategy
● Build staff capacity to understand, interpret, and use data with confidence, curiosity, and appropriate caution
● Stay current on best practices in early childhood evaluation, longitudinal research, mixed-methods evaluation, participatory evaluation, implementation science, and public systems accountability
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE IN THIS ROLE?
Northern Colorado Kids Thrive is committed to delivering high-quality, responsive work so that all young children can thrive from day one. Success in this role means consistently embodying our five core values in daily leadership and decision-making.
● Collaboration: Builds strong, respectful partnerships across teams and with diverse community stakeholders. Actively seeks input and works across differences to advance shared goals.
● Recognition: Values the contributions of others, seeks feedback, and fosters a culture of appreciation and continuous growth. Strengthens the organization’s reputation as a trusted community partner.
● Accountability: Takes ownership of outcomes, follows through on commitments, and connects daily work to the organization’s mission, vision, and public responsibilities. Demonstrates a commitment to ongoing learning, including growth in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
● Excellence: Leads with integrity, embraces learning, and strives for high-quality results. Balances ambition with sustainability and models healthy boundaries and professional standards.
● Joy: Finds purpose in the work and creates space for celebration, connection, and meaning within the team and the broader community.
EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
● 7+ years of experience in evaluation, research, or data analysis, preferably in early childhood, public health, education, or human services
● Masters Degree in a related field (evaluation, public health, public administration, or similar)
● Experience designing and implementing evaluation frameworks across complex programs or systems
● Experience working with longitudinal data and/or education systems (K–12 strongly preferred)
● Experience developing data-sharing partnerships with public agencies or school districts preferred
● Experience supporting policy, public funding, or taxpayer-funded services analysis preferred
● Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with ability to interpret complex
data
● Experience translating data into actionable insights for non-technical audiences
Desired Qualifications
The following qualifications are not required but are strongly valued:
● Doctoral degree (PhD or equivalent) in a relevant field, particularly with a focus on evaluation, education, early childhood, or longitudinal research
● Experience designing and implementing longitudinal evaluation frameworks, including tracking outcomes across systems (e.g., early childhood through K–12)
● Experience working with K–12 systems, including school district data and data-sharing practices
● Experience supporting public funding, policy, or ballot-related efforts through data analysis or evaluation
● Strong quantitative and/or mixed-methods analysis skills, including experience translating complex data into actionable insights
● Experience working across sectors (nonprofit, government, education) and partnering with external stakeholders
Note: Research suggests that women and BIPOC individuals may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage anyone who believes they have the skills and the drive necessary to succeed here to apply for this role.
JOB BENEFITS
NoCo Kids Thrive offers a comprehensive benefits package, including PTO, paid holidays, health, vision and dental, and retirement benefits. For more information on our benefits package, click here. As 501c3, NoCo Kids Thrive is currently an eligible employer for public service loan forgiveness. See more information here.
NoCo Kids Thrive enhances diversity through inclusion of individuals reflective of characteristics including, and not limited to, race, ethnicity, age, culture, different ideas and perspectives, disability, first generation status, familial status, gender identity and expression, geographic background, marital status, national origin, religious and spiritual beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and veteran status. Discrimination based on physical traits that are associated with a person's race or ethnicity, including hair texture, type, style and headwear is prohibited in the State of Colorado by the Crown Act of 2020.