Director, Texas Child Mental Health Programs

University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 114,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary commensurate with experience

Job summary

University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School invites an experienced leader to direct Texas Child Mental Health Programs, shaping statewide behavioral health initiatives for children and families. The role oversees clinical, educational, research, and workforce programs, with a multidisciplinary team and a multi‑million dollar budget.

You will report to the Senior Director of Operations and Strategy, guiding complex portfolios, expanding initiatives, and ensuring compliance and impact across

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Education, Health Science, or a related discipline.
• At least six years of high‑level leadership experience, including supervision of staff.
• Experience substituting education and experience when appropriate.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for a portfolio of child and adolescent behavioral health programs from planning to implementation.
• Establish program priorities aligned with the school’s mission and statewide behavioral health objectives.
• Lead development and expansion of statewide initiatives like TCHATT, CPAN, CPWE, and fellowship programs.
• Oversee portfolios ensuring adequate human, financial, and operational capacity to meet objectives.
• Build and sustain partnerships with healthcare, academic, governmental, and community organizations.

Skills

Strategic agility

People leadership

Financial acumen

Executive communication

Education

Master’s degree in Education or Health Science

Job description

Job Posting Title:

Director, Texas Child Mental Health Programs

Hiring Department:

Department of Psychiatry

Position Open To:

All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

FLSA Status:

Exempt from FLSA

Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

Position Duration:

Expected to Continue Until Aug 31, 2027

Location:

AUSTIN, TX

Job Details:

Director, Texas Child Mental Health Programs

The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School is advancing a bold vision for improving the mental health and well-being of children, adolescents, and families across Texas. Through innovative partnerships spanning academic medicine, healthcare systems, schools, state agencies, and communities, Dell Med is helping transform how behavioral health services are accessed, delivered, and strengthened across the state.

At the center of this work is a portfolio of major statewide initiatives supported by the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium (TCMHCC), created by the Texas Legislature to leverage the expertise and capacity of Texas health-related institutions to address critical mental health needs. Dell Medical School serves as one of the Consortium’s designated health-related institutions.

Dell Medical School is seeking a Director, Texas Child Mental Health Programs to provide strategic, operational, and programmatic leadership for this growing portfolio of child and adolescent behavioral health initiatives.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Operations and Strategy, the Director will oversee complex clinical, educational, research, and workforce development programs; lead a multidisciplinary team; manage significant financial and operational resources; and build partnerships that expand access to high-quality behavioral health services throughout Texas.

This is an opportunity for an experienced leader to help shape programs that directly affect children, families, clinicians, educators, healthcare organizations, and communities across the state.

Why Join Us

At Dell Medical School, our work extends beyond traditional academic medicine. We are committed to redesigning healthcare around better outcomes, greater access, stronger communities, and new models for addressing some of the most pressing health challenges facing Texas.

The Texas Child Mental Health Programs represent that mission in action.

The portfolio includes:

• Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT), providing school-based behavioral telehealth services to children and adolescents.
• The Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN), providing telehealth-based consultation and training to primary care providers.
• Community Psychiatry Workforce Expansion (CPWE), strengthening the behavioral health workforce through academic psychiatric leadership and resident rotations in community mental health settings.
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship initiatives designed to expand fellowship positions and training programs.
• Statewide research networks focused on improving the delivery of child and adolescent mental health services.

As Director, you will have the opportunity to lead across this interconnected portfolio while helping Dell Med expand innovative models of care, strengthen the behavioral health workforce, advance research and evaluation, and improve access for underserved populations across Texas.

What You’ll Do

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for a portfolio of complex child and adolescent behavioral health programs, guiding initiatives from planning and development through implementation, evaluation, expansion, and continuous improvement.
• Establish program priorities aligned with Dell Medical School’s mission, institutional requirements, funding commitments, and statewide behavioral health objectives.
• Lead the continued development and expansion of major statewide initiatives, including TCHATT, CPAN, CPWE, fellowship programs, research networks, and related behavioral health efforts.
• Oversee clinical, educational, research, and workforce development portfolios while ensuring programs have the human, technical, financial, and operational capacity required to achieve their objectives.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of operational, administrative, program, and data professionals, creating an environment of accountability, collaboration, professional growth, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with clinical and academic leaders on workforce planning, recruitment, selection, and onboarding to ensure programs have the expertise and resources necessary to meet statewide needs.
• Build and sustain relationships with healthcare systems, educational institutions, government agencies, community organizations, and other partners critical to successful statewide program implementation.
• Represent Dell Medical School and its child mental health programs in cross-institutional, cross-agency, and community forums.
• Provide financial stewardship for a significant program portfolio, including budget planning, resource allocation, contracts, provider effort, purchasing, and compliance with institutional and funding requirements. The role typically oversees an annual operating budget of approximately $5 million to $15 million.
• Oversee communications and stakeholder engagement strategies that strengthen awareness, participation, and visibility across programs.
• Support research, evaluation, and knowledge dissemination by overseeing data collection and analysis and translating findings into reports, presentations, publications, and recommendations for continuous improvement.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting to funding agencies, institutional leadership, government partners, and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate site visits, audits, and responses to legislative or regulatory inquiries while maintaining compliance with state, federal, consortium, and institutional requirements.

Who You Are

The ideal candidate is a strategic and operational leader who understands that large-scale behavioral health transformation requires more than strong program management. It requires the ability to bring people, resources, institutions, and priorities together around a shared mission.

You are comfortable navigating complexity and leading multiple high-profile initiatives simultaneously. You can move between strategy and execution, understand the importance of financial and regulatory stewardship, and build trusted relationships with stakeholders who may have very different perspectives and priorities.

You are equally invested in people and performance. You know how to build strong teams, develop talent, establish accountability, and create the organizational capacity necessary for programs to grow successfully.

Most importantly, you are motivated by the opportunity to improve access to behavioral healthcare for children, adolescents, and families and understand the potential for academic medicine to create meaningful change at a statewide level.

You bring:

• Strategic agility and the ability to anticipate future needs, assess implications, and position programs for sustainable growth.
• Demonstrated success leading complex programs or initiatives across multiple organizations, disciplines, or stakeholder groups.
• Strong people leadership and experience developing high-performing multidisciplinary teams.
• Exceptional planning and execution skills with the ability to translate broad objectives into actionable plans.
• Strong financial acumen and experience managing significant budgets and allocating resources strategically.
• The ability to build productive relationships across academic, clinical, governmental, educational, and community environments.
• Sound judgment and the ability to balance competing priorities while maintaining focus on organizational and statewide objectives.
• Strong written, verbal, and executive communication skills.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Education, Health Science, or a related discipline.
• At least six years of high-level leadership experience, including direct supervision of staff and demonstrated success managing within complex organizations.
• Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Six or more years of professional leadership experience supporting regional or statewide initiatives.
• Experience administering mental health, behavioral health, healthcare, or education initiatives.
• Experience working with complex state, federal, consortium, or grant-funded programs.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and managing large-scale program operations.
• Experience building partnerships across healthcare, academic, governmental, educational, and community organizations.
• Experience supporting or co-authoring grant applications, research initiatives, or scholarly publications.
• Familiarity with The University of Texas at Austin policies, procedures, and systems.

Additional Information

This position is supported by the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium and currently has an end date of August 31, 2027, with the potential for renewal based on funding availability, performance, and progress toward program goals. Funding is expected to continue. A flexible work arrangement may be available based on program needs and supervisor approval, with occasional on-site or field-based work required.

SUPERVISION Title this job reports to and job titles supervised:

• Direct reports: Assistant Director of Operations, Project Managers, Executive Assistants, Designated Healthcare Interpreters, Administrative Associate
• Indirect reports: Program Manager, Data Analysts, Data Management Technician Outreach Administrator, Communication Program Coordinators, Outreach Program Coordinator

BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY

Typical operational budget oversight: $5 million – $15 million annually (excluding overall organizational compensation costs).

Includes:

• Salaries for department team (direct and indirect reports)
• Technology and software costs (telehealth platforms, data systems)
• Training and professional development programs
• Administrative expenses (supplies, travel, communications)
• Program expansion costs (new sites, equipment, outreach)

DECISION-MAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Autonomous Decisions:

• Hiring and performance evaluations for direct reports
• Allocation of resources within approved budget
• Setting program priorities and timelines
• Developing stakeholder engagement strategies.

Requires Higher-Level Approval:

• Significant changes to organizational structure or reporting lines
• Budget increases beyond approved limits
• New program launches requiring additional institutional funding
• Major contractual agreements with external partners.

SALARY

$134,580 + depending on qualifications

WORKING ENVIRONMENT/EQUIPMENT

• Standard office equipment
• Repetitive use of a keyboard
• May be exposed to such occupational hazards as communicable diseases, blood borne pathogens, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, hazardous medications and disoriented or combative patients, or others.

Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.