Foster America believes that, together, we can transform family-serving systems that today fall short of providing parents and children with the support they need and deserve. Every day, in communities across the nation, Foster America works alongside bold, innovative leaders in pursuit of a reality where:
- Parents facing hardship know where to go for help – and the resources to help them raise their children are plentiful and provided equitably.
- Child welfare systems are far smaller and placing children in foster care is incredibly rare, so families are free from unnecessary and harmful involvement in the child welfare system.
- All children and families can thrive in safe and supportive communities that sustain their wellbeing.
In pursuit of that future, Foster America is:
- Working with those who have experienced the child welfare system firsthand, so they can lead the way in creating its replacement.
- Accelerating transformation by building capacity in places that are ripe for change, through dedicating our team to advance local efforts and by developing the skills of local leaders.
- Testing, refining, and scaling transformative new approaches to caring for families.
ROLE OVERVIEW
Foster America seeks an experienced executive to serve as Vice President of Programs — a senior leader who believes the child welfare system can and must be fundamentally different and who will help drive the next chapter of a dynamic, systems-change nonprofit at a time of strategic growth.
The VP of Programs will be an engaged leader: present to the work, the teams implementing it, and the partners driving transformation in sites around the country. This senior leader will guide a diverse portfolio of place-based and capacity-building initiatives, including the OPT-In for Families partnership, place-based engagements in Colorado and Washington, fellowship circles and leadership development cohorts, and an emerging consultative practice. They will manage a high-performing team, enabling quality and consistency across the portfolio by serving as a thought partner and problem-solver. Further, the VP of Programs will actively cultivate relationships across the country, forming partnerships with communities, government partners, and peer organizations where Foster America’s skills and experience can amplify local efforts to meaningfully advance change.
The VP of Programs will report to the Executive Director and will serve as a key member of Foster America's executive leadership team. They will play a central role in translating Foster America's new strategic plan and theory of change into operational reality — by building from current strengths, refining what works, testing what's new, and sustaining the rigorous partnerships that systems transformation requires.
The right candidate has a track record of developing innovative approaches and securing the resources to sustain them. They bring knowledge of the inner functioning of government — and know how to show up as a credible, trusted external partner. They center impacted community members as designers of solutions and bring that same grounded approach to advising child welfare directors, and examining fiscal policy. The VP of Programs brings deep child welfare expertise, an unwavering belief that the families closest to the system deserve better, the influence to drive change, and the humility to keep learning.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Program Strategy & Implementation (30%)
- Drive Execution: Lead the execution and continuous refinement of Foster America's full program portfolio, ensuring efforts impactfully advance our strategy
- Operationalize Innovation: Translate strategic priorities into clear programmatic approaches, tools, and ways of working that teams can execute with both consistency and contextual judgment
- Co-Design: Ensure our work integrates those with lived child welfare experience as essential co-creators, collaborators, and decision-makers alongside public sector and community leaders
Team Leadership & Development (25%)
- Performance & Accountability: Set clear direction, build accountability structures, and develop measurement approaches to create conditions for high performance across a diverse portfolio
- Growth-Oriented Coaching: Invest in the development of team members, helping them learn and operate at their highest potential
- Strategic Thought Partnership: Stay close to the work, contributing to the scope and content of deliverables while entrusting teams to drive execution
Stakeholder Stewardship & Partnership Development (25%)
- Partnership Strategy & Lifecycle: Oversee the end-to-end partnership lifecycle—from initial exploration and site assessment to contract negotiation and renewal—ensuring engagements are structured for impact
- External Influence: Identify and cultivate trusting relationships with state and county child welfare directors, community leaders, and national collaborators in jurisdictions where conditions for change are ripe
- Revenue Generation: Secure grants and contract agreements that support long-term financial sustainability
Organizational Leadership (20%)
- Executive Collaboration: Serve on Foster America's executive leadership team, partnering closely with the Executive Director, three other executives, and the governing board on strategy, field positioning, and organizational health
- Development Alignment: Collaborate with the Development and Communications teams to ensure programmatic insight is captured in external narratives and messaging, extending the organization's influence and impact
- Operational Partnership: Partner with Finance and Operations on personnel matters, annual planning, technology, and budget — contributing to organizational systems that shape how the team works and grows
CAPABILITIES & QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate will demonstrate:
- Deep expertise in crafting community-based solutions to family needs, leading place-based work, and/or guiding systems transformation
- Operational acumen to promote consistency and quality across a diverse portfolio while supporting context-specific approaches
- Ability to translate strategy into executable programs, clear ways of working, strong deliverables, and well-structured funding agreements
- Skill in leading effective teams, building cultures of collaboration, continuous learning, and results
- Sound judgment across the decisions that define this work — knowing when to standardize and when to adapt, when to move quickly and when to slow down, and when to bring others in and when to act
- Credibility and effectiveness across a wide range of relationships — comfortable with child welfare directors, community members, parent leaders, and program officers
- Strength as a collaborator and communicator, able to synthesize complex ideas and facilitate productive dialogue across difference
- Fluency in the disciplines that place-based systems change requires — co-design with impacted communities, racial equity practice, and collective impact approaches
- Comfort engaging with data, learning systems, and fiscal strategy as tools for program quality and accountability — not just as back-office functions
- Clarity and conviction in complex, ambiguous environments, with the range to hold long-term transformation goals and day-to-day actions simultaneously
- Enduring commitment to social justice, with a track record of including impacted people in designing equitable solutions
Qualified Candidates will also Model Foster America’s Orientations
Our core values—Equity, Self Determination, Learning, Belonging and Generational Change—are translated into practice in our orientations. The VP of Programs will lead with:
- Curiosity: Demonstrating openness to learning, inquiry, and new ideas that advance innovative approaches to systems transformation.
- Support: Creating an environment where staff, partners, and communities feel empowered, valued, and equipped to contribute their expertise.
- Solutions: Driving innovative strategies that address complex challenges within child-and family-serving systems and translating ideas into actionable initiatives.
- Collaboration: Building strong partnerships across teams, jurisdictions, and sectors to align stakeholders and advance shared goals.
- Integrity: Leading with transparency, accountability, and ethical decision-making while advancing equitable and just systems for children and families.
- Assets: Recognizing and elevating the strengths of communities, partners, and lived experts, ensuring their leadership informs program design and implementation.
BACKGROUND & EDUCATION
Successful candidates are likely to have more than a decade of experience in child welfare or related fields, including at least five years of managing people, departments, and budgets. A bachelor’s degree is required. An advanced degree is strongly preferred, particularly in fields related to public policy, social work, public administration, public health, education, nonprofit management, or a related discipline.
Salary is commensurate with experience in the range of $160,000 - $210,000. Foster America offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical insurance, paid vacation, paid parental leave, paid holidays, commuter benefits, participation in a retirement plan, paid sick time, and professional development opportunities.
WORK LOCATION & CONDITIONS
This position is fully remote and based within the United States.
The role requires regular computer-based work and may include up to 40% travel to support partnerships, program initiatives, and organizational priorities.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY & EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
Foster America is committed to building a leadership team that reflects the communities most affected by the systems we work to transform. We believe that diversity of lived experience, professional background, and perspective is essential to our work.
We are an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. For this role, we are looking for a leader with a demonstrated record of impact. We recognize that strong leaders have arrived at this work through many different paths. If you see yourself in this role description and meet most of what we're looking for, we hope you'll apply.