FeaturedSenior Director of Programs and Engagement

Solid Ground; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Solid Ground in Seattle seeks a Senior Director of Programs and Engagement to lead the quality, relevance, and impact of its programs and the agency’s engagement with the communities it serves. The role oversees residential services, youth development, wraparound and related supports.

Reporting to the CEO, the SDP sets program standards, guides strategy, evaluates performance, and fosters community partnerships while ensuring compliance and responsible funding alignment.

Responsibilities

• 25% Program Leadership and Quality: Provides executive leadership for all programs in scope through the program directors; ensures programs are trauma-informed, culturally relevant, and delivered consistently across sites; conducts program area audits and ensures compliance with standards.
• 20% Program Strategy, Design, and Growth: Sets strategy within the agency plan and translates it into annual goals; designs program models and pilots; leads youth development programming and partners with departments.
• 15% Participant, Community, and Partner Engagement: Establishes feedback systems across programs; oversees volunteer services; builds community partnerships and aligns with the strategic plan.
• 15% People Leadership and Program Capability: Supervises program directors; sets expectations and evaluations; coordinates training and hiring with HR.
• 10% Program Performance, Evaluation, and Reporting: Defines outcomes, ensures data quality and reporting; leads needs assessment and presents results to CEO and stakeholders.
• 10% Program Compliance and Funding Alignment: Ensures compliance with grants and contracts; supports proposal development and funder reporting; coordinates with grants and philanthropy.
• 5% Executive Leadership and Governance: Participates in Senior Leadership Team; supports budget and Board relations; represents the agency in community functions.

Job description

Senior Director of Programs and Engagement

Ensure the quality, relevance, and impact of Solid Ground's programs and the agency's engagement with the people and communities it serves.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Senior Director of Programs (SDP) is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and is accountable for the quality, relevance, and impact of Solid Ground's programs and for the agency's engagement with the people and communities it serves. The program scope includes residential services, stabilization and supportive services, food access and education, youth development, wraparound and resident services, and the behavioral health and well-being partnership, delivered through the program directors. Programs delivered on a fee basis, including services offered to participants beyond Solid Ground housing, remain within this scope. The engagement scope is program-facing: participant voice and feedback, volunteer services, and the community partnerships and relationships that deliver or shape programs.

Throughout this role, the SDP sets program standards and reviews program performance; department directors and their teams deliver services and author their own program materials, plans, and reports within those standards. The SDP works as a peer with the Chief Operating Officer, who holds the agency's operating platform: enterprise systems, compliance standards and tracking, information technology and data systems, housing operations and facilities, and administration. The SDP does not oversee finance and accounting, human resources, grant writing, fundraising and donor stewardship, advocacy, or the operations functions, and does not supervise any other Chief-level position. Working relationships, consultation requirements, process ownership, and priority project sequencing are set out in the attached Executive Roles Addendum.

Essential Responsibilities, Duties and Tasks

25% Program Leadership and Quality: Provides executive leadership for all programs in scope through the program directors. Ensures programs are sound, trauma-informed, culturally relevant to the communities served, and delivered consistently across sites regardless of which staff are present. Sets program standards including enrollment targets by population served, staffing ratios, schedule stability, and service consistency, and holds directors accountable to them. Conducts a comprehensive audit of each program area twice per year, drawing on the quarterly program walkthroughs submitted by directors and the monthly team audits completed by managers. Ensures programs meet contractual, regulatory, and quality standards, in partnership with the Chief Operating Officer, who holds agency-wide compliance standards and tracking.

20% Program Strategy, Design, and Growth: Within the agency's strategic plan, sets program strategy and translates it into annual program goals and outcomes. In conjunction with the CEO, develops long-range growth and development plans for the agency's programmatic work and coordinates implementation with the appropriate departments. Determines program models and service design, including whether services are delivered directly, through partners, or purchased, and evaluates those choices against participant need, program budget, and use of agency staff and space. Leads the design of youth development programming as a distinct program area. Coordinates the development of new program ideas and pilot projects and integrates successful pilots into the program portfolio. Ensures program design follows a justice-based co-creation model with the communities served.

15% Participant, Community, and Partner Engagement: Establishes the participant feedback system across programs: an agency family survey administered three times a year covering all programmatic offerings, and a short program survey administered by department leads at the start and end of each program to capture what participants hoped for and whether it happened. The SDP reviews the results, identifies patterns across programs, and directs program adjustments in response. Ensures every program has a feedback mechanism that reports at least quarterly. Oversees volunteer services, including recruitment, placement, and volunteer experience, with screening completed under the agency's compliance standards. Builds and maintains the community partnerships and relationships that deliver or shape programs, including wraparound service partners, ensuring partnerships align with the strategic plan and are covered by current agreements. Serves as the agency's executive relationship holder for program-delivering partners.

15% People Leadership and Program Capability: Supervises the program directors and the leaders of the engagement functions. Sets clear expectations, completes timely performance evaluations, and ensures directors and managers do the same for their teams. Coaches direct reports and supports a culture of coaching across program teams to ensure consistent leadership performance. Defines the program practice training required for program and volunteer roles, including trauma-informed practice, positive youth development, cultural competence, and safeguarding; departments author and maintain their training materials, which are held in the agency's central training library. Partners with Human Resources on hiring, onboarding, retention, and employee relations.

10% Program Performance, Evaluation, and Reporting: Defines the outcome and impact measures for programs and ensures each program produces reliable, reconciled data on whom it serves and what it achieves. Ensures program statistics and required reports are compiled accurately and submitted on deadline. Analyzes program results and directs corrective measures for continuous improvement. Leads the Community Needs Assessment: the community engagement, methodology, and analysis, and the translation of findings into program decisions. Presents program outcomes and impact to the CEO, funders, committees, elected officials, and the Board of Directors as requested.

10% Program Compliance and Funding Alignment: Works with the Senior Leadership Team and the Chief Operating Officer to ensure programs are designed and delivered to meet grant, contract, and state, city, and federal requirements. Ensures program directors complete their compliance requirements within the agency's compliance system. In partnership with Grants and Contracts and Philanthropy staff, owns the program design and program content of funding pursuits, including responses to government requests for proposals (RFP) and requests for applications (RFA): determines what the agency proposes to deliver, for whom, and at what scale, so that funded programs reflect what the agency can deliver and intends to build. Those departments write, assemble, and submit proposals within the submission process maintained by the operations function, and hold funder reporting and donor stewardship.

5% Executive Leadership and Governance: Serves on the Senior Leadership Team and participates in agency decision making. Manages the budgets of the departments within the program scope in partnership with Finance; agency-wide budget development, forecasting, financial reporting, and fiscal controls are held by Finance. Supports the CEO in Board relations through the Senior Leadership Team and attends Board meetings as requested by the CEO to present program reports. Represents the agency at community functions and on community boards and committees; representational commitments, meaning standing bodies where the SDP present as Solid Ground's representative rather than to do the role's own work, are agreed with the CEO and scheduled so they do not displace program duties. Stays current with social justice, youth development, and homelessness prevention trends.

Women, people of color and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Solid Ground is an equal opportunity employer committed to workplace diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, race and color, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status.