All Save the Children employees are required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 unless otherwise required by law. All new employees hired to Save the Children will be required to submit proof of vaccination as part of their onboarding process. Failure to provide proof of vaccination may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. Save the Children complies with federal, state and local laws with regard to accommodations related to this policy.

Summary

Save the Children’s U.S. Programs (USP) division is committed to ensuring that all children in rural America have a healthy, strong foundation to thrive as learners and in life. Our contribution to a full cradle-to-career continuum is focused on the early years, birth through elementary school; and our goals are to increase kindergarten readiness and grade-level literacy and math proficiency for children in under-resourced rural communities. Save the Children does whatever it takes to be there for children in times of crisis. Always at the ready, we are among the first to respond and the last to leave, staying as long as it takes to help children and families recover from their losses, restore their lives and build resilience for years to come.

Save the Children is seeking a Lead Associate, Early Childhood. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring programs are implemented effectively and achieve results for the youngest children we work with, prenatal to age five. Working on-site and remotely, you will provide training, technical assistance, and management support to a portfolio of program partners. This includes overseeing program implementation, monitoring, and evaluation at your assigned partner sites. You will report directly to the Assistant State Director and will work collaboratively with state and national colleagues to continuously improve our programmatic work across the state.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Program Implementation: 55%

• Provide support to home visitors and KR ambassadors to ensure high quality implementation of programs according to established standards. This will be conducted through in-person and remote training; maximizing the use of technology to do so.
• Train program staff in various areas including child development, observation and assessment, data collection, and home visiting.
• Visit each assigned site in compliance with the program model to conduct observation, coaching, and mentoring. Complete site visit reports.
• Play a lead role in developing/providing appropriate follow-up materials, reflective conversations, and other necessary support to Early Childhood Coordinators (ECC) through distance technologies between site visits.
• Ensure accurate and up-to-date data collection and reporting for each assigned site.
• Consult with the Regional Advisor about program questions and needs.
• Regularly communicate with the State Director about program implementation challenges and successes and how to resolve complex issues.

Partner Operations and Management: 20%

• Support the State Director with partner management including but not limited to annual partner planning, sub award budget and spending, grant budgets and reports, annual district/site stakeholder meetings, partnership performance management, sponsorship, and emergency/disaster communication and reporting.
• Meet regularly with each site supervisor to provide updates on their program’s progress.
• Ensure timely and accurate incident reporting and necessary follow-up.
• Provide new sites with start-up support including but not limited to hiring and training program staff, technology and program materials, and Partner Portal usage.

Local and State Relationships/Advocacy: 10%

• Support the State Director and program partners, as appropriate, with local, regional, and state community engagement activities, community partnerships/coalitions, and state level relationships.
• Support the program team with local, regional, and state program presentations.
• Support program partners with media opportunities to highlight Save the Children programs.

Program Knowledge, Visibility and Other Initiatives: 15%

• Stay current on relevant national standards and best practices. Share knowledge and experience with the national program team and program specialist colleagues.
• Participate in national program team projects and USPA work groups.
• Provide stories from the field to national staff.
• Support State Director with Save the Children priorities and initiative, VIP visits and other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a High School Diploma or equivalent, plus at least 3 years of relevant experience
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining and environment of diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Experience working in culturally and demographically diverse communities with limited resources.
• Willingness and ability to travel at least 50% to assigned sites throughout the state in personal and state assigned vehicles.

This position may require the incumbent to operate a motor vehicle to fulfill certain essential functions of the job.  The incumbent should maintain a valid driver’s license and remain in compliance with any Save the Children policies pertaining to the safe operation of motor vehicles.

Preferred Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree in a field related to early childhood development and education with an emphasis on infant/toddler development.
• Home visiting experience with families with infants and toddlers.
• Experience in training, coaching, and mentoring others in-person and remote/virtual.

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 2-Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $65,300 – $67,500 base salary.

• Geo 3-Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $54,400 – $60,800 base salary.

Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here). Employee may be eligible for an incentive program.  Save the Children also offers paid vacation, accrued at least 12 days a year, depending on paygrade and length of service, paid safety and wellness leave of at least 1 day per month worked for a full time employee which is pro rata reduced for employees working less than a full time schedule, and at least 10 paid holidays a year. Employees may be eligible for additional bonus compensation. Save the Children US also offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, a retirement savings plan with employer contribution, family leave, paid parental/adoption leave of 60 days, commuter benefits, paid caregiver leave days, 1 paid volunteer day a year, paid critical child illness leave days, dress for your day, and much more.

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more. 

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an accountant, a writer, a data analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond.  As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.