Statewide Director - Regional Field Offices (Director DDSO)

NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

The NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities seeks a Statewide Director to provide executive leadership and strategic direction for regional field offices. You will ensure high-quality, compliant service delivery and advance DEIA principles across the system.

You will liaise between Central Office and five regional offices, translating policy into equitable practice, guiding workforce development, and fostering community partnerships for continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic planning and program implementation.
• Ability to lead diverse teams and manage large workforces.
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance and DEIA principles across services.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership, strategic direction, and oversight of regional field offices.
• Translate statewide policy into equitable, person-centered practice across all regions.
• Oversee compliance, patient-centered access, and service quality in service delivery.

Skills

Strategic planning

Policy implementation

Leadership

Workforce development

DEIA

Education

Bachelor's degree in mental hygiene/health administration or related field

Ten years of administrative/management experience

Job description

Duties Description

The Statewide Director, under the direction of the Associate Commissioner, Division of Service Access, Program Implementation and Constituents Supports provides executive leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight of OPWDD’s regional field offices statewide. This role ensures consistent, high-quality service delivery, regulatory compliance, and system performance across all regions while advancing OPWDD’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).

The Director serves as a key liaison between Central Office leadership and regional field office operations, translating statewide policy into equitable, person-centered practice. The role requires a strong focus on systems alignment, workforce development, community partnership, and continuous improvement, with intentional integration of DEIA principles into all operational decisions.

• Core competencies:
• Strategic planning, oversight and coordination of key initiatives
• Mission focused implementation of policies and procedures
• Risk management approach to operations.

• Administrative
• Responsible for ensuring appropriately resourced units within existing allocations.
• Supervise 5 Regional Field Office (RFO) Directors who have oversight of fidelity of program models regional office operations
• Monitor staff performance activities including regular training and support, performance evaluations to ensure a competent workforce.
• Monitoring of strategic initiatives to ensure alignment
• Assist in the direction and management of RFO staff that include approximately 800 professionals in five regions with 21 satellite offices across the State
• Oversee the authorization and system capacity with over 415 voluntary agencies statewide

• Service Access
• Ensure service access activities occur in an equitable and consistent manner in accordance with existing procedures
• Manage engagement activities with service recipients
• Oversight of implementation of the three-step process for eligibility determinations for OPWDD
• Oversight of seven key process steps related to the front door
• Ensure language access and plain language practices are implemented
• Monitor overall compliance monitoring with regulatory and operational practices.
• Manage service access and person-centered options for all New Yorker’s seeking OPWDD services through OPWDDs Regional Offices.
• Manage the creation of and timely access to OPWDD services for priority populations such as those aging out of residential schools both in and out of state, individuals who are dually diagnosed who remain in emergency or acute care hospital settings, and those who are moving out of institutional settings including developmental centers and skilled nursing facilities and ensure timely access to services.

• Service Authorization
• Ensure service authorization guidelines are applied consistently to ensure equitable access to services
• Manage eligibility timelines to ensure compliance with Eligibility Service Access Legislation (ESAL)
• Monitor engagement points to ensure consistent and accessible customer experience.
• Implement federal regulations for Home and Community Based settings rules which will have far reaching effects on many of the providers, requiring actions by the regional offices.

• Constituent support
• Manage processing of provider related requests for changes to existing capacity
• Manage crisis teams with complex cases and provider clinical consultations to ensure timely response and support.
• Lead the regional offices efforts with various individual and family advocacy groups including local councils and county based Mental Hygiene sub committees.
• Work with multiple voluntary and governmental agencies to coordinate and fund services
• Manage collaborative working relationships with local mental health providers to implement and further develop crisis intervention and prevention services.
• Manage auspice change and rate rationalization within the provider community
• Location and telecommuting to be discussed at interview.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nys-office-for-people-with-developmental-disabilities/posts/?feedView=all

Minimum Qualifications

A bachelor's degree in a mental hygiene discipline; hospital, business, or public administration; or other area closely related to health care, behavioral or social science, statistics, or quantitative, research; and ten years of administrative, management, or supervisory experience in a mental hygiene, health, or human services setting, five years of which must have been at a managerial level, including working at a leadership level with responsibility for fiscal and program administration.

Substitutions: a master's degree in one of the above fields may substitute for one year of general experience; and a license to practice medicine in New York State or Canada may substitute for two years of general experience described above.

Preferred Qualifications

This position requires a person with demonstrated ability to plan and execute strategic decisions, implement critical management and business practices, and deliver the outcomes expected by the individuals we serve. Experience with the developmental disabilities service system, project management skills and tools, knowledge and experience of public and/or private sector programs, services and state regulations are required. Highly developed organizational, leadership and communication skills, both written and oral are essential. Must be able to communicate clear, complex messages at all levels of the organization consistently, accurately and in a timely manner.

Additional Comments

• If you are currently a New York State employee serving in a permanent competitive qualifying title and eligible for a transfer via Section 70.1 of the Civil Service Law, you may be appointed to this title as a permanent competitive employee.
• Preference will be given to OPWDD employees impacted by closures. If you are being impacted by closure, please indicate this on your resume.
• All OPWDD employees must be eligible and maintain eligibility for full and unconditional participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Continued employment will depend on maintaining eligibility.
• If you are employed by state government you may be able to receive loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF). The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments have been made under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. For more information on PSLF, please visit www.studentAid.gov/publicservice.
• Employees on long term leave can bid on positions but must be able to report to work within fourteen (14) days and be able to perform the essential functions of their positions with or without reasonable accommodation (RA).
• If an employee or job applicant believes that they need a reasonable accommodation, they should contact the Reasonable Accommodation Unit at [phone] or email [e-mail] to obtain information and RA forms.
• Savings programs such as the U.S. Savings Bond and the College Savings Plan.
• Voluntary pre-tax savings programs such as Health Care Spending Account and the Dependent Care Advantage Account offer employees options to pay for uncovered health care expenses or dependent care expenses.
• Access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) an assessment and referral service that connects employees with local service providers and support services to address their personal needs.
• Life insurance and Disability insurance.
• The New York State Deferred Compensation Plan is a voluntary retirement plan that offers employees the option to invest a part of their salaries for retirement on a tax-deferred basis.
• Paid Holidays and Leave:

Paid Holidays and Leave

• Thirteen (13) paid holidays each year.
• Thirteen (13) days of paid vacation leave initially.
• Five (5) days paid personal leave each year.
• Paid sick leave each year, which may carry over from year to year.

Health Care Coverage

Employees and their eligible dependents can choose from a variety of affordable health insurance programs. Employees are provided family dental and vision plans at no extra cost.

Paid Parental Leave

Paid Parental Leave allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave at full pay for each qualifying event. A qualifying event is defined as the birth of a child or placement of a child for adoption or foster care.

Retirement Program

Participate in The NYS Employees’ Retirement System (ERS), which is recognized as one of the best-managed and best-funded public retirement systems in the nation.

Professional Development and Education and Training

NYS offers training programs and tuition assistance to eligible employees to maintain and increase their professional skills and prepare them for promotional opportunities. For more information, please visit https://oer.ny.gov/training-and-professional-development.

Public Service Workshops Program (PSWP)

Additionally, the Public Service Workshops Program (PSWP) offers certain professional training opportunities for PEF represented and M/C designated employees that may grant continuing education credits towards maintaining professional licensure. For more information, please visit https://oer.ny.gov/public-service-workshops-program-pswp.

Equal Opportunity / Affimative Action Employer

OPWDD is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer dedicated to creating and sustaining a culture of inclusion. We believe that we are most effective in managing and improving our service system with a diverse team of employees. With such a large workforce, we rely on the collective individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, ideas and talent that our employees bring to their work. This speaks to our culture and is a key part of our successes. As we continuously recruit people for our team, we welcome the unique contributions that applicants bring in terms of their education, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation and beliefs.

***All people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.***