Director of Survivor Services

Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response®; Baton Rouge (LA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

STAR in Baton Rouge or New Orleans seeks an experienced, survivor-centered Director of Survivor Services to oversee advocacy, trauma therapy, survivor response, legal services, rural initiatives, and other programs, ensuring alignment with STAR's mission, funding obligations, and professional standards.

The Director will lead managers, coordinate program delivery, monitor outcomes, and ensure 24/7 service coverage, data-driven improvement, and strict confidentiality and reporting compliance

Qualifications

• Advanced degree and at least five years of progressively responsible victim services or related experience, including supervisory/leadership roles.
• Experience leading complex programs, using data, budgets, grants, and outcomes to improve services.
• Proven survivor-centered and trauma-informed practice, with strong communication and organizational skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a cohesive survivor-services strategy across programs and locations.
• Oversee service delivery, access, waitlists, referrals, and escalation with quality standards.
• Ensure compliance with confidentiality, privacy, reporting, licensure, accreditation, contracts, and grants.
• Supervise managers and staff, provide feedback, and support workforce development.
• Lead executive planning, budgeting, policy development, and partnerships with stakeholders.

Skills

Leadership

Data-driven

Budgeting

Communication skills

Education

Advanced degree in social work, counseling, public health, nonprofit management, law, human services, or a related field

Job description

STAR® is seeking an experienced, survivor-centered leader to serve as our Director of Survivor Services. This executive-level position is responsible for the quality, integration, accessibility, sustainability, and outcomes of STAR's survivor-facing services. The Director provides leadership across advocacy, trauma therapy, survivor response, legal services, rural initiatives, and other assigned programs, ensuring that services remain responsive to survivors and aligned with STAR's mission, funding obligations, and professional standards.

Location: Baton Rouge or New Orleans

Key Responsibilities

The Director of Survivor Services develops and implements a cohesive strategy for survivor services, establishing priorities, workplans, performance measures, and systems for accountability. The Director oversees coordinated service delivery across programs and maintains effective systems for survivor access, screening, referrals, waitlists, continuity of care, service coverage, and urgent escalation.

This position monitors service demand, caseloads, wait times, staffing capacity, geographic access, outcomes, and survivor feedback to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. The Director ensures consistent policies, protocols, and quality standards across programs and locations while maintaining compliance with VAWA confidentiality, privacy and privilege requirements, mandatory reporting, professional ethics, licensure, accreditation, contracts, and grant requirements.

The Director supervises assigned managers and staff, providing clear expectations, structured supervision, workload review, feedback, professional development, and performance accountability. In collaboration with other members of the executive team, the Director supports hiring, onboarding, retention, succession planning, staffing allocations, and workforce development. The position also helps ensure dependable 24/7 service coverage and participates in after-hours leadership escalation when necessary.

The Director uses program data, survivor feedback, staff experience, budgets, grants, and outcome measures to evaluate and strengthen services. Responsibilities include overseeing programmatic grant implementation, monitoring deliverables and deadlines, collaborating on grant proposals and budgets, and leading quarterly and semi-annual progress reporting for survivor-services grants.

As a member of STAR's executive team, the Director participates in strategic planning, budgeting, policy development, risk review, and organizational decision-making. The Director also represents STAR in coalitions, sexual assault response teams, funder meetings, and community partnerships with healthcare, law enforcement, courts, universities, government agencies, and other organizations.

Qualifications

Candidates must have an advanced degree in social work, counseling, public health, nonprofit management, law, human services, or a related field and at least five years of progressively responsible experience in victim services, behavioral health, legal services, nonprofit programming, or a related field, including at least three years of supervisory or program leadership experience.

Candidates should have demonstrated experience leading complex programs and teams and using data, budgets, grants, policies, and outcome measures to improve services. Working knowledge of survivor-centered and trauma-informed practice, confidentiality, crisis response, professional boundaries, and the dynamics and impact of sexual violence is required. Strong written and verbal communication, facilitation, conflict-management, interpersonal, and organizational skills are essential.

Preferred qualifications include direct experience in sexual assault or rape-crisis services; leadership of multidisciplinary, multi-location, or rural services; knowledge of Louisiana's victim-service and related systems; and experience with federal victim-service grants, VAWA confidentiality, accreditation, external monitoring, and multidisciplinary partnerships.

Regular travel and occasional evening, weekend, and after-hours availability are required.

STAR requires all employees to consent to and successfully complete a full background investigation, which includes a criminal history check and fingerprinting.