Head Start & Early Childhood Programs Lead

Mathematica, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Mathematica seeks a Managing Consultant to lead and support projects focused on early childhood and human services programs, including Head Start initiatives. The role emphasizes team leadership, data analysis, and strategic problem-solving across federal and state levels.

You will guide multidisciplinary teams, manage complex tasks, and engage clients to deliver high-quality, policy-driven solutions, with an anticipated base salary in a competitive range for the sector.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in early childhood education, human services, public administration, or related field.
• At least 6 years of progressive professional experience directly related to early childhood programs.
• Experience with federal discretionary grants management, non-profit or for-profit program and/or financial management, and regulatory compliance monitoring and oversight.
• Demonstrated ability to lead activities, manage and coordinate work of multidisciplinary teams through the project lifecycle to deliver high-quality work to clients on time and budget.
• Demonstrated ability to aggregate, analyze, synthesize, and present data and evidence from multiple sources to support program monitoring, performance measurement, decision-making, and actionable recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to design and facilitate change management and/or continuous improvement processes that use participatory and human-centered design approaches.
• Demonstrated experience using a variety of web-based and off-the-shelf data management software packages.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to develop and review high-quality memoranda, presentations, correspondence, technical assistance materials, and other client-facing products.
• At least 2 years of supervisory experience preferred, including experience mentoring and developing staff.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification encouraged but not required.

Responsibilities

• Builds and maintains collaborative, trusting relationships with federal, state, and other clients and partners and works with them to identify needs, develop solutions, and strengthen program capacity.
• Collaborates with clients to develop and implement program improvement strategies and technical assistance plans based on data, evidence, and subject matter expertise.
• Leads and coordinates multidisciplinary teams to implement, monitor, and advise on federal and state policies and programs, including early childhood initiatives such as Head Start and Early Head Start.
• Supports federal discretionary grants management, program and financial management, regulatory compliance monitoring and oversight, and related technical assistance activities.
• Aggregates, analyzes, and presents information from multiple sources to assess program performance, identify trends and challenges, and develop actionable recommendations for clients and stakeholders.
• Applies change management, continuous improvement, participatory, and human-centered design approaches to develop solutions that address client and program needs.
• Plans and facilitates webinars, meetings, trainings, and small-group discussions with government clients, program staff, and other partners.
• Authors and reviews high-quality technical assistance and client-facing products, including memoranda, standard operating procedures, data dictionaries, implementation guides, presentations, and other materials.
• Uses web-based and other data management and project management tools to support project implementation, monitoring, analysis, and reporting.
• Supervises and mentors staff, delegates and reviews work, and supports the professional development of team members.
• Performs additional duties as assigned.

Skills

Team leadership

Data analysis

Project management

Communication (written and oral)

Strategic thinking

Client engagement

Education

Master’s degree in early childhood education, human services, public administration, or related field

Tools

Web-based data management software

Job description

Mathematica seeks a Managing Consultant to lead and support projects focused on early childhood and human services programs, including Head Start initiatives. The role emphasizes team leadership, data analysis, and strategic problem-solving across federal and state levels.

You will guide multidisciplinary teams, manage complex tasks, and engage clients to deliver high-quality, policy-driven solutions, with an anticipated base salary in a competitive range for the sector.