Chief Performance Officer

Child Care Associates; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Child Care Associates is seeking a senior leader to drive research, evaluation, and data use across the organization. You will guide a multi-year agenda and oversee rigorous program evaluations that inform strategic decisions and external positioning.

The role requires a master's degree with PhD preferred, and substantial experience leading research in large nonprofit or public sector settings. You will build dashboards, improve data governance, and mentor the team while communicating findings

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a relevant field with senior-level experience in research/evaluation.
• Experience designing and managing rigorous evaluations for complex nonprofit or public sector organizations.
• Strong ability to translate data into actionable insights for leadership and funders.
• Proficiency in quantitative and qualitative methods and data visualization.
• Experience with Head Start/Early Head Start standards and reporting preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and design a multi-year research and evaluation agenda for CCA.
• Oversee data collection systems, governance, and reporting to ensure accuracy and timeliness.
• Develop dashboards and insights for senior leadership, board, funders, and partners.
• Produce annual reports, funder reports, and external communications.
• Mentor staff and build internal capacity in research, evaluation, and data use.

Skills

Senior-level research leadership

Data visualization

Quantitative & qualitative analysis

Effective communications

Education

Master's degree required

PhD strongly preferred

Job description

Child Care Associates is an equal opportunity employer who offers equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, pregnancy, mental or physical disability, political affiliation, beliefs, protected veteran status in accordance with applicable federal laws, or any other protected class.

Key Responsibilities:

• Research, Evaluation & Evidence Strategy
• Develop and lead CCA's multi-year research and evaluation agenda.
• Design and oversee rigorous program evaluations, self-assessments, community assessments, stakeholder surveys, and mixed-method analyses that generate actionable learning.
• Ensure findings directly inform program improvement, strategic planning, and external positioning.
• Data Infrastructure, Collection & Governance
• Oversee high-quality data collection systems, data documentation, standard operating procedures, and cross-functional workflows that support accurate, timely, and usable information across the organization.
• Strengthen data governance, integrity, privacy, and usability.
• Build efficient systems that support both compliance and continuous improvement.

Compliance, Performance Management and Data Systems

• Oversee recurring compliance and performance reporting cycles, including Head Start/Early Head Start reporting, PIR, enrollment and eligibility documentation support, CLASS and child assessment reporting, self-assessment, community assessment, and board-facing performance updates.
• Analytics, Insights & Data Visualization
• Translate complex data into clear, compelling insights for leadership, board, funders, and staff.
• Develop dashboards, visualizations, reporting tools, and rapid-turnaround analyses that support timely decision-making for senior leadership, program teams, board committees, and external partners.
• Elevate organizational data literacy and evidence-informed practice.

Community Needs Assessment & External Analysis

• Lead community needs assessments and ongoing environmental scanning.
• Analyze demographic, economic, and early childhood system trends that shape CCA's work and strategy.
• Position CCA as a trusted source of data and insight for partners, policymakers, and funders.
• Reporting, Accountability & Impact Storytelling
• Oversee production of high-quality annual reports, impact reports, funder reports, board materials, compliance submissions, survey summaries, and public-facing publications.
• Ensure reporting meets external requirements while powerfully communicating CCA's results and value.
• Connect day-to-day performance metrics to long-term outcomes for children and families.

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Influence

• Serve as an active member of the senior leadership team, contributing to agency-wide strategy and culture.
• Partner closely with program, finance, development, and operations leaders.
• Mentor staff and build internal capacity in research, evaluation, and data use.
• Mentor staff, strengthen data documentation and training materials, and build internal capacity in research, evaluation, data systems, dashboard use, and evidence-informed decision-making.
• Serve as a primary data and performance point of contact for senior leadership, board committees, external evaluators, funders, public partners, and cross-functional program leaders.
• Master's degree required; PhD strongly preferred in early education, education, public policy, psychology, statistics, evaluation, public health, or a related field.
• Significant senior-level experience leading research, evaluation, and/or performance measurement functions, ideally in a complex nonprofit, public sector, or education organization.
• Demonstrated ability to design and manage rigorous evaluations and turn findings into practical recommendations.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative skills, with experience in data visualization and communicating complex information to diverse audiences.
• Advanced proficiency with data systems, business intelligence tools, and reporting platforms, with the ability to design dashboards, maintain data definitions, troubleshoot data quality issues, and translate operational data into decision-ready insights.
• Experience with Head Start/Early Head Start performance standards, Texas state prekindergarten, child care licensing, federal reporting requirements, eligibility and enrollment documentation, CLASS, child assessment systems, and continuous quality improvement processes strongly preferred.
• Proven capacity to work at both strategic and operational levels, delivering high-quality work on tight timelines.
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence across teams and build a culture of curiosity and evidence use.
• Passion for early childhood education and equity.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

• Must be able to frequently walk, sit and stand extended time periods.
• Repetitive use of hands; reaching and turning;
• Ability to lift up to 75 pounds;
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• Must be able to twist, turn, kneel, bend and stoop.