Director, Educator & Family Services

Nova Scotia; Halifax; Hybrid; CAD 5,113,000 - 6,391,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career development

Engaging workplace

Dynamic client-focused environment

Job summary

Nova Scotia’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development seeks a Director, Educator and Family Services to lead a broad provincial portfolio of educator- and family-facing programs. You will manage high-volume services, ensure equity and client-centred delivery, and align operations with legislation and policy.

You will report to the Executive Director and supervise managers and staff, driving modernization, digital tools, and improved service channels while coordinating with

Qualifications

• Experience leading programs or services with high-volume, client-facing delivery.
• Ability to balance legislation, policy, program requirements, privacy and public expectations.
• Experience providing strategic and operational advice to senior leaders.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for provincial educator and family services.
• Establish priorities, service standards, and performance measures for service delivery.
• Direct managers and staff to ensure responsive, accurate, and respectful services.
• Ensure escalation pathways and risk controls are in place for sensitive files.
• Advise senior leadership with decision-support, briefings, and recommendations.

Skills

Leadership experience

Strategic planning

Policy interpretation

Program management

Education

Bachelor's degree in public administration or related field

senior leadership experience in public sector

Job description

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Department:Education & Early Childhood Development

Location:HALIFAX

Type of Employment:Permanent

Union Status: Exclusion - Non Union - NSPG

Closing Date:29-Sep-26 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) is leading the transformation of the early years and public education system in Nova Scotia. We are doing this by designing an innovative curriculum, facilitating excellence in teaching and learning, ensuring an inclusive education experience, and working closely with our partners in early learning and education. This will provide children, students, and families with a strong foundation for success. This department is a perfect fit for those that want to be part of the future of early learning and public education in the province by supporting student learning in a progressive and responsive policy environment.

The Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) branch regulates, funds, and supports early learning and child care providers and sector partners across Nova Scotia. As the sector continues to evolve within a publicly funded early learning and child care system, the department is strengthening how it works with operators to support sustainability, monitor public investment, and help funded organizations meet evolving expectations.

About Our Opportunity

The Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) sector continues to grow and mature as part of Nova Scotia’s publicly funded child care system. This transformation has increased the scale, complexity, and visibility of services that support families, early childhood educators, child care operators, and sector partners across the province.

As Director, Educator and Family Services, you will provide strategic leadership, operational oversight, and accountability for a broad provincial portfolio of educator- and family-facing programs and services, leading managers and staff responsible for visible, high-volume, client-facing services that support families seeking child care, educators seeking classification, operators managing enrolment and workforce needs, and the broader public. This includes the Child Care Subsidy Program, the Child Care Registry and waitlist, the early childhood educator registry, educator classification, professional development validation, bursary and reimbursement programs, digital service delivery, and high-volume educator and family inquiries.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Early Learning and Child Care, you will work closely with ELCC program areas, policy, finance, legal, privacy, digital delivery partners, service delivery partners, and sector stakeholders. Your work will support consistent, transparent, efficient, equitable, and client-centred services that are aligned with legislation, policy, program requirements, government priorities, and the department’s strategic direction.

Primary Accountabilities

As the Director, Educator and Family Services, you will:

• Provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for provincial educator and family services, including the Child Care Subsidy Program, family registry and child care waitlist, early childhood educator registry, educator classification, professional development validation, bursary and reimbursement programs, and related service channels.
• Establish priorities, service standards, performance measures, risk controls, and reporting mechanisms to support effective service delivery, client satisfaction, program integrity, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Lead and direct managers and staff responsible for day-to-day program operations, application processing, client support, issue resolution, quality assurance, service delivery, and program administration.
• Ensure staff have clear direction, tools, training, escalation pathways, and performance expectations to deliver responsive, accurate, respectful, and consistent services to families, educators, operators, and sector partners.
• Provide senior-level guidance and decision-making on complex, sensitive, or time-sensitive files where facts may be incomplete, expectations may conflict, and decisions may have financial, service, policy, privacy, equity, reputational, or political implications.
• Ensure escalated inquiries from elected officials, senior officials, families, operators, educators, and the public are assessed, coordinated, and resolved in a timely, professional, and risk-informed manner, with appropriate escalation to senior leadership as required.
• Provide expert advice, briefing materials, decision-support documents, analysis, and recommendations to the Executive Director, Deputy Minister, Minister, senior leadership, and other government officials on program delivery issues, service pressures, emerging risks, policy gaps, operational impacts, and opportunities to improve access to early learning and child care.
• Lead continuous improvement and modernization of educator and family service delivery, including improvements to business processes, digital tools, data quality, service channels, communications, operational policies, and client experience.
• Work collaboratively with departmental colleagues, technology partners, policy teams, program areas, and service delivery partners to ensure new or revised programs, processes, and systems are implementable, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of families, educators, operators, and staff.
• Monitor service volumes, trends, risks, backlogs, operational issues, and performance data, and use this information to strengthen service planning, accountability, decision-making, and continuous improvement.
• Support workforce development and system planning by contributing operational insight into educator needs, training pathways, service pressures, access issues, digital service requirements, and client experience.
• Promote a respectful, inclusive, service‑oriented, and accountable work environment that supports staff, strengthens public trust, and contributes to a sustainable early learning and child care system.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful in this role, you have a bachelor’s degree in public administration, business administration, or another related field, plus several years of progressively responsible leadership experience in a public sector, education, early learning and child care, human services, regulatory, workforce development, or client‑service environment. An equivalent combination of training and experience may be considered.

You bring senior‑level experience leading programs, services, or operational teams in a complex and changing system. You understand how to balance legislation, policy, program requirements, service delivery realities, financial accountability, privacy, equity, client experience, and public expectations. You are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, managing competing priorities, and providing practical advice on sensitive or high‑profile matters.

You have experience leading managers and staff, setting strategic and operational priorities, managing workloads, supporting performance, strengthening accountability, and guiding teams through change. You can identify service risks or gaps, resolve complex issues, and develop practical solutions that improve consistency, timeliness, accuracy, transparency, and user experience.

Other required qualifications

You also have experience:

• Leading complex programs or services that involve application review, eligibility, assessment, classification, certification, validation, subsidy, bursary, reimbursement, registration, waitlist, or other structured decision‑making processes.
• Interpreting and applying legislation, regulations, policies, procedures, program criteria, service standards, privacy requirements, or fiscal parameters.
• Providing strategic and operational advice to senior leaders, including briefing materials, decision notes, reports, correspondence, issue analysis, and recommendations.
• Managing high‑volume, visible, client‑facing services that require strong service standards, quality assurance, performance monitoring, escalation processes, and risk controls.
• Leading service delivery improvements, including business process redesign, digital service implementation, data quality improvements, workflow changes, service channel improvements, or client experience enhancements.
• Working with internal and external partners to clarify requirements, resolve complex issues, coordinate service delivery, and support implementation of new or revised programs, policies, processes, or systems.
• Using information, data, and service trends to monitor performance, identify risks, assess operational impacts, and support evidence‑informed recommendations.
• Communicating clearly and professionally with staff, senior leaders, elected officials’ offices, partners, stakeholders, service users, and the public, including when issues are sensitive, urgent, or complex.
• Managing confidential and sensitive information with sound judgement, discretion, and respect for privacy and program integrity.

You are a strategic and collaborative leader, strong communicator, and practical problem solver. You bring sound judgement, professionalism, adaptability, and a client‑centred approach to your work. You can strengthen accountability while building positive relationships across a complex service system.

Assets

The following would be considered assets but are not required:

• Knowledge of Nova Scotia’s early learning and child care sector, including child care subsidy, child care access, family registry and waitlist services, educator classification, professional learning, bursary and reimbursement programs, and sector sustainability.
• Experience leading services that support families, educators, child care operators, regulated service providers, or other public‑facing client groups.
• Experience with educator certification, classification, credential assessment, registration, licensing, subsidy, bursary, reimbursement, waitlist, or similar assessment‑based services.
• Experience leading modernization or digital service delivery initiatives, including online applications, registries, portals, case management systems, workflow tools, reporting platforms, or client‑facing service channels.
• Experience developing or monitoring service standards, performance indicators, dashboards, operational reports, risk controls, quality assurance processes, or continuous improvement plans.
• Experience working with post‑secondary institutions, training providers, professional learning organizations, sector partners, community organizations, service delivery partners, or regulated service providers.
• Experience managing issues involving elected officials, senior officials, media or public attention, privacy, equity, financial accountability, or reputational risk.
• Bilingualism in English and French.

Equivalency

We welcome candidates with diverse and transferable experience. Applicants who do not meet the exact education requirement may still be considered if they clearly demonstrate an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.

Equivalent experience should show substantial depth in program leadership, service delivery, operational management, policy application, client service, public administration, workforce development, early learning and child care, education, human services, regulatory services, or a closely related area. Applicants relying on equivalency must clearly explain in their application how their background gives them the leadership, judgement, service delivery, accountability, and relationship‑management experience needed for this role.

Based on the employment status, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan , Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short and Long Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. For information on all our Benefit program offerings,

What We Offer

• Career development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career
• Engaging workplace: our employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in, we have forward‑thinking policies and strategies
• Countless career paths
• A Dyanamic, client‑focused office environment where service excellence and teamwork are our focus.

Pay Grade:EC 13

Salary Range:$4,322.15- $5,402.66Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement: Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians, Persons of African Descent, Racialized Persons, Persons with Disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ Persons and Women in occupations or positions where they are under‑representated. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self‑identify on your electronic application.

Accommodation Statement: We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Candidates may request accommodations based on any grounds protected by the Human Rights Act.If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process, please contact us at [e-mail].

Current government employees may access this posting through the link below:

PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.

If you are receiving a pension from the Nova Scotia Public Service Superannuation Plan (PSSP) or any related plans, you cannot receive pension payments while contributing to the same plan. If you accept a position that requires PSSP contributions, your pension payments must be stopped. Please contact the Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation for more information.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concernsmay be directed [e-mail].