NORTHERN COLORADO KIDS THRIVE
Director of Workforce Stability
Job Title: Director of Workforce Stability
Reports To: Chief Program 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-$95,000 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 Workforce Stability leads Northern Colorado Kids Thrive’s workforce support portfolio, ensuring that investments, programs, partnerships, and services are aligned with the real needs of early childhood educators and child care programs across Larimer County.
Reporting to the Chief Program Officer, this role provides strategic leadership for workforce investments and supports. This includes salary subsidies, scholarships, professional development, benefits-related supports, quality and staffing grants, subpool supports, and other initiatives. Together, these efforts are designed to strengthen recruitment, retention, compensation, educator well-being, and program stability. The Director also plays a key role in strengthening workforce pipeline partnerships, including relationships with higher education, workforce development partners, and apprenticeship and career pathway programs.
The Director of Workforce Stability is responsible for setting the direction of the workforce portfolio, validating ongoing workforce needs with providers and
educators, aligning resources across multiple funding mechanisms, and ensuring workforce strategies are responsive, equitable, and effective. This role also represents NoCo Kids Thrive in state, county, and regional workforce conversations and committees, helping ensure local workforce realities inform broader policy, funding, and system-building efforts.
This is a strong fit for a strategic and collaborative leader who understands early childhood workforce challenges, public funding, program design, systems change, and cross-sector partnership. The ideal candidate is able to listen deeply to the field, make high-level portfolio decisions, guide implementation through staff delegation, and use data and feedback to continuously refine the organization’s workforce investments.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Workforce Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
Lead the overall strategy and direction of NoCo Kids Thrive’s workforce support portfolio:
● Develop and guide the organization’s approach to early childhood workforce recruitment, retention, compensation, professional growth, and educator well-being
● Set portfolio-level priorities across salary subsidies, scholarships, professional development, benefits, quality grants, subpool/staffing supports, and related workforce investments
● Ensure workforce supports are aligned with organizational priorities, county requirements, public funding expectations, and provider/educator needs
● Make high-level recommendations about how workforce resources should be allocated across programs, funding mechanisms, and emerging needs
● Ensure workforce strategies are designed to strengthen both educator stability and child care program sustainability
Ongoing Validation of Workforce Needs
Ensure workforce investments remain grounded in current provider and educator experience:
● In collaboration with the Evaluation Director, regularly gather and interpret feedback from child care programs, family child care homes, educators, Navigators, coaches, and community partners
● Identify emerging workforce challenges, including recruitment barriers, retention risks, compensation gaps, staffing shortages, professional development needs, and educator well-being concerns
● Use provider and educator feedback to validate whether current services are meeting real needs
● Recommend adjustments to workforce supports based on trends, gaps, utilization, and field experience
● Ensure workforce decisions are informed by both quantitative data and direct community voice
Workforce Investment Design & Oversight
Provide strategic oversight for workforce funding mechanisms and supports:
● Guide the design and refinement of workforce funding strategies in partnership with the Chief Program Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and others, including salary subsidies, scholarships, training incentives, quality grants, subpool grants, and benefits-related supports
● Ensure workforce investments have clear goals, eligibility criteria, participation requirements, and intended outcomes
● Partner with the Workforce Manager and other staff to ensure programs are implemented consistently and effectively
● Identify opportunities to simplify participation for providers and educators while maintaining accountability and compliance
● Ensure workforce supports are coordinated rather than fragmented across funding streams
State, Regional & Career Pathway Partnerships
Represent NoCo Kids Thrive in workforce-related policy, planning, partnership, and career pathway efforts:
● Participate in state, county, and regional workforce committees, coalitions, advisory groups, and planning efforts
● Bring local provider and educator needs into broader workforce conversations, including policy, funding, and implementation discussions
● Track relevant workforce policy, funding, credentialing, and implementation changes that may affect Larimer County providers and educators
● Build and maintain relationships with workforce partners, including county agencies, school districts, higher education institutions, community colleges, training organizations, workforce boards, apprenticeship partners, early childhood partners, and state-level entities
● Identify opportunities to align local workforce investments with broader public systems, funding opportunities, and educator career pathways
● Strengthen early childhood career pathways, including Child Development Associate (CDA) pathways, stackable credentials, degree programs, apprenticeships, practicum placements, and work-based learning models
● Partner with higher education and workforce development partners to identify barriers educators face in accessing training, credentials, and advancement opportunities
● Ensure scholarships, training incentives, professional development, and related workforce investments are aligned with career pathway opportunities and workforce needs
● Explore pipeline strategies that help bring new educators into the field and support current educators in staying, growing, and advancing over time
Cross-Functional Program Alignment
Ensure workforce supports are integrated across NoCo Kids Thrive’s broader
program model:
● Partner with Early Childhood Access to ensure workforce strategies support provider participation and stability in the tuition subsidy system
● Partner with Provider Services to align workforce supports with coaching, ECMH, OT, quality improvement, and consultation work
● Partner with Navigators to understand provider needs, participation barriers, and opportunities for stronger engagement
● Partner with Finance to ensure workforce payments, grants, and subsidies are structured for responsible fund management
● Partner with Evaluation/Impact to define outcomes, track utilization, and understand what is working
● Partner with Communications to ensure providers and educators receive clear, accessible information about workforce opportunities
Program Quality, Continuous Improvement & Compliance
Ensure workforce supports are high-quality, accountable, and continuously improving:
● Establish expectations for program quality, consistency, documentation, and participant experience
● Monitor workforce outcomes such as participation, retention, compensation, educator supports, and provider stability
● Use data and feedback to assess what is working, what needs refinement, and where additional investment may be needed
● Ensure workforce programs comply with funding requirements, documentation standards, and organizational policies
● Support continuous quality improvement across the workforce portfolio
Staff Leadership & Team Development
Lead the workforce function with clarity and accountability:
● Supervise and support the Workforce Manager and related workforce staff, as assigned
● Establish clear roles, decision rights, performance expectations, and accountability structures
● Support staff in managing complex programs, funding requirements, provider relationships, and implementation challenges
● Foster a collaborative, mission-driven, and learning-oriented team culture
● Model NoCo Kids Thrive’s values in daily leadership and decision-making
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:
● Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, public administration, nonprofit management, human services, workforce development, public policy, or a related field; Masters degree preferred
● 7–10 years of progressive experience in early childhood, workforce development, nonprofit program leadership, public systems, human services, or related work
● Experience designing, leading, or overseeing complex programs, funding initiatives, or service portfolios
● Experience supervising staff and supporting cross-functional teams
● Strong understanding of early childhood workforce challenges, including recruitment, retention, compensation, professional development, and educator well-being
● Strong project management, strategic planning, and organizational skills
● Ability to use data, feedback, and community voice to guide decision-making
● Strong communication and relationship-building skills
● Commitment to equity, access, public accountability, and continuous improvement
Desired Qualifications
The following qualifications are not required but are strongly valued:
● Experience with early childhood workforce initiatives, compensation strategies, wage supports, scholarships, professional development systems, or benefits-related supports
● Experience managing or supporting publicly funded programs or multi-million-dollar investment portfolios
● Experience participating in workforce committees, coalitions, advisory groups, or public planning
● Experience working with child care providers, family child care homes,
educators, training organizations, higher education, or workforce
development partners
● Experience designing grant, subsidy, scholarship, or incentive programs
● Experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities
● Familiarity with Colorado’s early childhood, workforce, and professional development systems
● Bilingual or multilingual skills
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.