Director of Operations

The Carying Place; Cary (NC); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

The Carying Place seeks a Director of Operations to lead essential infrastructure, including facilities, IT, compliance, and volunteer programs. This senior role ensures budget stewardship and seamless execution of the approved plan while supporting the Executive Director and Board.

You will supervise three direct reports, collaborate with the CFO and Development to align operations with fundraising goals, and help grow organizational capacity for mission delivery.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of operations or administrative leadership experience, preferably in a nonprofit setting.
• Demonstrated experience managing a volunteer program — intake, onboarding, deployment, and stewardship systems.
• Experience with budget stewardship, grant compliance coordination, or working alongside finance partners in a nonprofit environment.
• Experience overseeing facilities, property management, or capital asset coordination.
• Experience with leading stakeholder/fundraising events.
• Familiarity with nonprofit compliance requirements — state registrations, IRS filings, and licensing.
• Comfortable managing technology vendors and overseeing basic IT operations.
• Strong organizational and project management skills; experience with Asana or a similar platform is a plus.
• Genuine warmth and relational instincts — this role interfaces regularly with volunteers, board members, landlords, vendors, and finance partners.
• Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, business, public administration, or a related field preferred — equivalent experience considered.
• Interest and noted ability in the potential future leadership of Human Resources Management for the organization.

Responsibilities

• Oversee properties and facilities and ensure assets are safe, maintained, and responsibly managed.
• Oversee office management and day-to-day administrative operations.
• Coordinate with the Facilities & Properties Committee of the board.
• Own budget stewardship after board approval, monitor variances, and coordinate grant financial compliance.
• Lead or support fundraising events and work with communications staff for event marketing.
• Manage volunteer lifecycle from intake to deployment and ongoing stewardship.
• Provide oversight of volunteers working on TCP properties and coordinate with the Property Management Coordinator.
• Liaise with the Director of Development to transition volunteers to financial supporters.
• Oversee IT systems with a volunteer IT lead and external IT partner.

Skills

Operations leadership

Volunteer management

Budget stewardship

Facilities management

Event leadership

Nonprofit compliance

IT oversight

Asana

Education

Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management or related field

Job description

The Director of Operations owns the infrastructure that supports TCP’s mission — volunteers, properties, technology, compliance, and financial stewardship — and makes sure it all runs reliably. This is a senior leadership seat: the person who ensures the approved plan executes, the systems hold, and the team has what it needs to do mission- facing work without friction.

This role is accountable for Property Management, Office Management & Licensing, IT, Volunteer Intake & Deployment, leadership of the Annual Fundraising Gala Operations, and works closely with the Facilities & Properties Committee of the board on capital asset management. The Director of Operations also serves as the primary liaison to TCP’s fractional CFO, owning budget stewardship and financial operations after the board-approved budget is set.

This role reports to the Executive Director and is supported by an experienced Impact Director and a fractional CFO — a deliberate structure designed to set the incoming director up for success from day one. This role is a vital member of communication and completing strategic work alongside the agency’s Executive Director and Board of Directors so will be expected to attend all scheduled Board (quarterly) and Executive Board (monthly) meetings.

Position Title: Director of Operations

Reports To: Executive Director; Supported by the Impact Director

Classification: Full-Time Salary Exempt

Essential Functions – What You’ll Own

Essential functions, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, may include the following tasks, knowledge, skills and other characteristics. This list of tasks is illustrative ONLY and is not a comprehensive listing of all functions and tasks performed by positions in this class. It does not imply that all positions within the class perform all the duties listed, nor does it necessarily list all possible duties that may be assigned.

Properties & Facilities

• Serve as the staff partner to the Facilities & Properties Committee of the board.
• Ensure TCP’s housing units and physical assets are safe, maintained, and
  responsibly managed.
• Oversee property management operations with the support of the Property
  Management Coordinator.
• Manage landlord relationships, unit readiness, and capital asset maintenance.

TCP is supported by a fractional CFO and bookkeeper. Budget development and financial strategy remain with the Executive Director and Board of Directors — this seat owns execution and monitoring of the approved plan.

• Own budget stewardship after board approval — monitoring actuals vs. budget and flagging variances.
• Coordinate grant financial compliance and reporting in partnership with the fractional CFO.
• Ensure financial inputs into board reporting packages are accurate and current.
• Responsible for revenue metric tracking and reporting in the internal leadership meetings.

TCP relies on skilled volunteers to serve families while in transitional housing and after graduation. We are fortunate to have hundreds of volunteers, and it is their exceptional experience that allows us to achieve the outcomes we are committed to every day.

• Own the full volunteer lifecycle — intake, onboarding, training, deployment, and ongoing stewardship.
• Build and maintain systems for volunteer tracking, scheduling, and recognition.
• Create a volunteer experience that retains people year over year, including celebrations and engagement touchpoints throughout the year.
• Provide direct oversight of volunteers working on TCP properties, in coordination with the Property Management Coordinator.
• Coordinate with the Director of Development, who shares volunteer stewardship and transitions them to financial supporters of the organization.

TCP has access to volunteer IT professionals who help implement new systems. This role stewards those systems to make sure they continue to run smoothly and are adopted by
the team.

• Serve as the internal point of contact for technology questions and needs.
• Liaise with the board-appointed lead IT volunteer to implement and update systems as needed.
• Oversee the IT partner that manages firewalls, internet, and related infrastructure.

Compliance & Office Operations

• Ensure TCP maintains all required nonprofit registrations, licenses, and filings with
  direct oversight of the office manager.
• Oversee office management and day-to-day administrative operations.
• Maintain organizational compliance with applicable regulations, including HIPAA.
• Leads the volunteer committee for the planning and execution of the annual fundraising gala; works with agency communications staff for event marketing.
• Works alongside the Development Director, who owns the acquiring of sponsorships and attendee recommendations for the gala.

What We’re Looking For

You are a systems-builder and a reliable operator. You get satisfaction from the fact that things work — that volunteers show up prepared, that properties are maintained, that the budget is tracking, and that the team has what it needs. You don’t need to be the face of the organization; you need to be the reason it runs.

You take volunteer management seriously as a professional discipline. You understand that a great volunteer experience is built through good systems and genuine relationships — and that retention is the result of both. You’re as comfortable planning an end-of-year volunteer appreciation event as you are building a deployment tracking system.

You’re financially fluent enough to work alongside a fractional CFO as a peer. You don’t need to be an accountant, but you understand the difference between restricted and unrestricted funds, you know what a budget variance conversation looks like, and you take grant compliance seriously.

You’re a confident manager of people and will have three direct reports. You delegate well, follow up consistently, and know how to hold a team accountable without micromanaging.

You’re ready for a senior leadership role — and you’re motivated by the opportunity to grow into broader organizational responsibility over time alongside an Executive Director who is invested in your development.

Experience & Qualifications

Qualifications are a combination of education, related experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The judgment of an acceptable equivalent combination of qualifications is the responsibility of management.

• 5+ years of operations or administrative leadership experience, preferably in a nonprofit setting.
• Demonstrated experience managing a volunteer program — intake, onboarding, deployment, and stewardship systems.
• Experience with budget stewardship, grant compliance coordination, or working alongside finance partners in a nonprofit environment.
• Experience overseeing facilities, property management, or capital asset coordination.
• Experience with leading stakeholder/fundraising events.
• Familiarity with nonprofit compliance requirements — state registrations, IRS filings, and licensing.
• Comfortable managing technology vendors and overseeing basic IT operations.
• Strong organizational and project management skills; experience with Asana or a similar platform is a plus.
• Genuine warmth and relational instincts — this role interfaces regularly with volunteers, board members, landlords, vendors, and finance partners.
• Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, business, public administration, or a related field preferred — equivalent experience considered.
• Interest and noted ability in the potential future leadership of Human Resources Management for the organization.

Working at The Carying Place

TCP is a small, mission-driven team doing work that matters. We are building an internal operating system that creates clarity, alignment, and a sustainable path forward — anchored by a long-term vision that is both ambitious and grounded in the communities we serve. If you want a senior role where operational excellence is genuinely valued, your work directly enables mission delivery, and there is a real path to broader organizational leadership, this is it.

The Carying Place is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an "at will" relationship.