Director, Strategy & Research

at  NYC Careers

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of New York City’s children and families by providing child welfare, juvenile justice, and early care services. In child welfare, ACS contracts with private nonprofit organizations to support and stabilize families at risk of a crisis through preventive services and provides foster care services for children not able to safely remain at home. Each year, the agency’s Division of Child Protection responds to more than 50,000 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. In juvenile justice, ACS manages and funds services including detention and placement, intensive community-based alternatives for youth, and support services for families. ACS is also a key part of NYCs early childhood and education continuum, providing childcare assistance to thousands of child welfare involved and low-income children so they can access safe, affordable, quality care.
The Division of Child and Family Well-Being (CFWB) at ACS works to ensure families and children have the critical supports they need to thrive and enjoy self-determination. The Division focuses on leveraging concrete resources, stakeholder relationships, and community and family strengths to drive toward greater equity and social justice, reduce disparities and disproportionality - including in the child welfare system - and create conditions that foster well-being for all families across New York City.
The Office of Strategy, Research, and Provider Partnership (SRPP) is a new office in CFWB. It will consist of three units that support the expanding work of the division – Child Care Data Management (preexisting); Strategy and Research (SRT) (new); Program Sustainability and Improvement (PSI) (new). The office will lead the development of a quality assurance, continuous quality improvement, and sustainability process for the growing Family Enrichment Center continuum in NYC; support FEC program development and implementation in alignment with model fidelity; pursue workflow, user experience, and system modernization and improvement strategies for all CFWB program areas; and spearhead research and innovation efforts to advance CFWB’s programmatic areas that serve families.
The Research and Strategy team will provide strategic research, project management, and stakeholder engagement support to CFWB program areas for the purpose of creating new, or enhancing pre-existing, business processes, initiatives, and systems. Additionally, the unit will provide research and strategic support for the development and implementation of new programs that support children and families, including the expanding Family Enrichment Center continuum in NYC.

The Director of Strategy and Research will report to the Associate Commissioner of SRPP and will carry out various duties, including, but not limited to:

• In close collaboration with the leadership of other CFWB program areas, use an array of strategic research, project management, and stakeholder engagement frameworks to develop new or enhance preexisting programs, business process, policies, or systems.
• Manage a team of at least two, including regular and ongoing strength-based supervision and coaching, professional development, performance assessment, and thought partnership in alignment with a culture of psychological safety, trust, and values of equity, growth, and innovation.
• Oversee and facilitate the use of equity-centered methods to collect and analyze perspectives and data from diverse sources, including from families and community stakeholders that interact with CFWB child care subsidy or FEC programs.
• Implement frameworks and leverage digital platforms to translate qualitative and quantitative data into actionable insights, including through the creation of journey maps; interactive dashboards; service blueprints; personas; program or product requirements; communication plans; implementation plans; or policy memos.
• Use digital tools and platforms to project manage, analyze and visualize insights, and manage engagements with stakeholder groups, including, but not limited to, using Airtable, FIGMA, Miro, InDesign, and Google and Microsoft suites of tools
• Use data analysis and visualization methods and platforms, including Excel, Tableau, and/or PowerBI, to help people and teams better understand data, see and understand problems, create data-driven solutions, and measure results.
• Conduct literature reviews, analyze local, state, and federal policies, and write strategic memos for internal teams, partnering NYC agencies, or external oversight partners
• Regularly and consistently communicate, collaborate, and plan with CFWB program area teams, including the Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships and the Office of Child Care Operations
• Provide strategic and research support towards the development, implementation, and sustainability of CFWB programs, including the expansion of the continuum of FECs.
• Build strong knowledge in Federal, State, and City policies that shape the environment of CFWB’s work, including childcare, City/ACS procurement/contracting, government finance and budgeting, social/human service delivery.
• Plan and facilitate effective communication with internal and external stakeholders regarding CFWB’s portfolio of work and intersections between other critical programmatic and policy areas within ACS, other city agencies, and other local and national stakeholders.
• Build and maintain a knowledge management system of innovative research methods, best-practice, and innovative ideas that could advance CFWB’s portfolio of work.

Minimum Qualifications
1. For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master’s degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.
To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:
1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
2. A master’s degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to “1” or “2” above. However, all candidates must have at least a master’s degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in “2” above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in “1” and “2” above.

• In close collaboration with the leadership of other CFWB program areas, use an array of strategic research, project management, and stakeholder engagement frameworks to develop new or enhance preexisting programs, business process, policies, or systems.
• Manage a team of at least two, including regular and ongoing strength-based supervision and coaching, professional development, performance assessment, and thought partnership in alignment with a culture of psychological safety, trust, and values of equity, growth, and innovation.
• Oversee and facilitate the use of equity-centered methods to collect and analyze perspectives and data from diverse sources, including from families and community stakeholders that interact with CFWB child care subsidy or FEC programs.
• Implement frameworks and leverage digital platforms to translate qualitative and quantitative data into actionable insights, including through the creation of journey maps; interactive dashboards; service blueprints; personas; program or product requirements; communication plans; implementation plans; or policy memos.
• Use digital tools and platforms to project manage, analyze and visualize insights, and manage engagements with stakeholder groups, including, but not limited to, using Airtable, FIGMA, Miro, InDesign, and Google and Microsoft suites of tools
• Use data analysis and visualization methods and platforms, including Excel, Tableau, and/or PowerBI, to help people and teams better understand data, see and understand problems, create data-driven solutions, and measure results.
• Conduct literature reviews, analyze local, state, and federal policies, and write strategic memos for internal teams, partnering NYC agencies, or external oversight partners
• Regularly and consistently communicate, collaborate, and plan with CFWB program area teams, including the Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships and the Office of Child Care Operations
• Provide strategic and research support towards the development, implementation, and sustainability of CFWB programs, including the expansion of the continuum of FECs.
• Build strong knowledge in Federal, State, and City policies that shape the environment of CFWB’s work, including childcare, City/ACS procurement/contracting, government finance and budgeting, social/human service delivery.
• Plan and facilitate effective communication with internal and external stakeholders regarding CFWB’s portfolio of work and intersections between other critical programmatic and policy areas within ACS, other city agencies, and other local and national stakeholders.
• Build and maintain a knowledge management system of innovative research methods, best-practice, and innovative ideas that could advance CFWB’s portfolio of work