Senior Director, Early Childhood

About the role

Afton Partners seeks a Senior Director to lead large strategic planning and systems design engagements with Early Childhood clients across the country. Afton's Early Childhood practice advises state and local governments, philanthropic funders, and other impact-focused organizations working to improve conditions for families with young children, with an emphasis on early childhood education and care (ECEC).

Senior Directors are engagement leaders. They own the delivery of our largest and most complex early childhood engagements, from shaping the initial problem to producing a final plan that clients adopt and put into action. Typical engagements include:

• Statewide or local early childhood commissions and task forces charged with setting long-term strategy
• Strategic plans for funder collaboratives and philanthropic initiatives
• Organizational strategic plans and business plans for system intermediaries, advocacy organizations, and early childhood providers
• Systems design work on governance, funding, quality, access and affordability, and workforce compensation and pathways

In this role, you are a trusted advisor to senior public officials, foundation leaders, and community leaders. You structure ambiguous problems, ensure comprehensive and meaningful stakeholder engagement, design and facilitate decision-making processes, build a compelling case for a path forward, and move diverse stakeholders to action. You lead project teams of Directors, Managers, and Associates and develop them through the work. You also partner with Managing Directors and Partners on business development and practice growth.

To succeed, the Senior Director has strong management consulting skills; knowledge of the federal, state, and local ECEC landscape; and the leadership skills to build and develop strong teams. While strong subject-matter or technical expertise is important, it is not enough for this role. You have demonstrated success in leading complex, multi-stakeholder strategic initiatives from start to finish.

This is a full-time, remote position within the United States, with up to 10% travel. Afton offers competitive pay and benefits, including health insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) with company match. The salary range is $160,000-$180,000 per year.

What you'll do

Lead Complex Engagements and Advise Senior Client Leaders

• Lead large, multi-workstream strategic planning and systems design engagements from start to finish, owning quality, timeliness, scope, staffing, and budget.
• Serve as the main advisor to senior public officials, foundation leaders, and community leaders, anticipating their needs and navigating sensitive political and stakeholder dynamics.
• Translate broad client goals into clear problem statements, hypothesis-driven work plans, and decision-support tools, such as options analyses and scenario frameworks, that help clients choose a path forward.
• Keep several concurrent engagements or workstreams on track under tight deadlines by proactively managing risks, dependencies, and changes in scope.

Build Consensus and Move Stakeholders to Action

• Design each engagement's phases, governance, stakeholder engagement, analysis, and decision points so the process builds consensus as it advances.
• Design and facilitate high-stakes meetings with commissions, advisory bodies, funder tables, and boards that move groups from divergent views to aligned decisions.
• Engage families, providers, community leaders, public officials, and funders so the strategies clients adopt reflect the people they serve and have the broad support needed to last.
• Own the storyline for major deliverables, such as strategic and business plans, commission reports, and legislative presentations. Confidently present to executives, legislators, funders, and community members using clear, evidence-based stories.
• Ensure all client-facing products meet Afton's standards for clarity, rigor, and polish.

Coach and Develop the Team

• Structure team roles for efficient, high-quality work, and provide Directors, Managers, and Associates with stretch opportunities in problem structuring, facilitation, and engagement leadership.
• Develop team members' consulting, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills through role modeling, project-based coaching, and clear, regular feedback against Afton's role expectations and skills framework.

Grow the Business

• Earn client trust and build a strong, diverse network in the early childhood field, leading to contract extensions, follow-on work, and referrals.
• Partner with Managing Directors and Partners to identify opportunities, shape proposals, and represent Afton's brand and thought leadership.

Qualifications

This position requires strong, demonstrated proficiency in consulting skillsets. That means structuring ambiguous problems, supporting decisions, managing stakeholders, facilitating, building storylines and narratives, managing projects, synthesizing information, and communicating with clients. You should have a track record of leading multi-stakeholder strategy engagements with senior public-sector or philanthropic clients. Effective project management, coaching, and team development skills are critical.

We've found that the following experience and skills prepare candidates for this work:

• Ten years of relevant experience in management consulting, public policy, government, or philanthropy, including substantial time leading client engagements or major strategic initiatives.
• Five years of relevant experience leading teams and managing and developing staff at increasing levels of responsibility.
• A record of leading multiple strategic planning processes, such as statewide or local commissions, funder strategies, or organizational strategic and business plans, from design through adoption.
• Strong problem-structuring and analytical judgment: you can break down a complex system problem, form and test hypotheses, and turn analysis into clear recommendations.
• Evidence of designing and leading processes that bring diverse, sometimes opposing, stakeholders toward consensus.
• Excellent storytelling, writing, and presentation skills, with the ability to build compelling narratives for senior and public audiences.
• Effective project management skills, including working independently and with teams to solve problems, manage several complex projects, and perform well under tight deadlines.
• Deep early childhood expertise, including programs (Head Start, state Pre-K, child care, home visiting), policy, funding, governance and oversight structures, and opportunities for system improvement at the state and local levels.
• Working fluency in core analytical methods, including qualitative, quantitative, policy, and financial analysis, and the ability to direct and quality-check team analysis.
• Team leadership and coaching: you develop others, lead teams well, and build capacity.
• Business development instincts: you build lasting client relationships and help shape new work.
• Experience working with programs and systems that serve diverse children and families, and a strong commitment to our clients' missions and communities.
• Alignment with Afton's core values.

Research shows candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often apply only when they meet every listed qualification. If most of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.