Senior Director, Program Operations

This senior leadership role integrates strategic program management with operational excellence to drive organizational impact, equity initiatives, and systems change. The position provides critical support to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) while leading programmatic growth, team development, and cross-functional collaboration to advance health equity initiatives.

who we are and what we believe: 
 

Health Leads is an innovation hub that seeks to unearth and address the deep societal roots of racial inequity that impact our health.  We partner with local and national communities and health systems to address systemic causes of inequity and disease. We do this by removing barriers that keep people from identifying, accessing, and choosing the resources everyone needs to be healthy. Health Leads is fueled by a vision of health, dignity, and well-being for every person in every community.

The Senior Director of Program Operations will play a role in ensuring that every person has the agency to achieve health with dignity. Learn more at www.healthleadsusa.org.

Health Leads is dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce. We recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion are inseparable from our core values and key to inspirational leadership, effective teamwork, mutual learning, and an environment in which we celebrate each other’s differences. To learn more about our mission and vision, and approach to the work read on: https://healthleadsusa.org/about-us/vision/

what you’ll do: 

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Executive Leadership & COO Support (40%)

• Collaborate with the COO and broader C-Suite to maintain strategic alignment and coherence across the organization
• Enhance executive decision-making through prioritization, supplemental research, and effective management of action items
• Advise on strategic design and support organizational development initiatives
• Manage internal and external stakeholders with timely communications to enhance trust and transparency
• Maintain pulse on staff sentiment and contribute to building a high-performance culture of growth and innovation
• Support revenue activities through pitch development, prospecting, follow-up communication, and scope development
• Partner with the COO to shape short, mid, and long-term strategies and facilitate execution
• Act as a strategic advisor, confidant, and internal-facing proxy for the COO
• Prepare the COO for meetings through notes, prep work, slide development, and agenda creation
• Proactively identify ways to improve the COO's efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity
   
   

Program & Operations Leadership (40%)

• Lead the strategic growth of programmatic focus areas and strengthen advocacy efforts that leverage community-driven solutions toward systemic change for racial health equity
• Refine and co-lead a multi-year strategic plan for program growth and revenue support aligned with organizational strategy
• Support local and national funding and outreach in collaboration with Business Partnerships & Investor Relations
• Develop and manage relationships across government, community organizations, advocacy groups, and healthcare partners to improve community health outcomes
• Build and mentor high-performing teams through effective hiring, goal-setting, performance management, and inclusive leadership
• Display the skills, sensitivity, and coaching capacity to maximize each team member's contributions to the mission
• Advise partners on strategy and operations of community-driven initiatives
• Collaborate with the Executive Directors, Program Directors, and other teams to identify and share best practices nationally
• Ensure programmatic focus areas (e.g., maternal health) align with organizational learning strategy and goals
• Lead with an equitable lens in processes, planning, implementation, decision-making, and people management
• Act as a utility player supporting Program Team Leadership with development, monitoring, and management
• Lead special projects advancing organizational strategy, operations, and culture
• Assist with operational oversight including annual planning, quarterly refreshes, and bi-annual budget reviews
• Help prioritize and execute COO-sponsored special projects
   
   

Professional Development & Growth (20%)

who should apply: 

Those from underrepresented groups often only apply to jobs if they meet all of the qualifications. However, nobody ever meets 100% of the qualifications - if many of them describe you, we encourage you to apply!  Health Leads is committed to helping our staff gain the skills and experience that they desire and need to grow as professionals – we offer an annual stipend to each of our team members to spend on their professional development and cultivate excellent people managers so they can effectively help our staff grow as well.  This might be the right next role for you if you have the following qualifications:

• Proven experience in strategic program leadership and operations management
• Strong understanding of health equity issues and community-driven approaches
• Excellent relationship-building skills across diverse stakeholder groups
• Demonstrated success in team leadership and talent development
• Strategic thinking with ability to execute effectively
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal abilities
• Experience supporting executive leadership
• Commitment to equity-centered approaches and inclusive leadership
• Strong commitment to practicing cultural humility through continuous learning and by actively fostering an environment where all identities and perspectives are respected, represented and valued in every aspect of the work
• Approach the work with an awareness of systemic barriers and a consideration of varied experiences and the needs of others when making decisions and carrying out responsibilities
• Passion for the mission of Health Leads and commitment to Health Leads’ core values: shared leadership, justice through equity and inclusion, empathy and genuine relationships, and constant and courageous learning  
• An entrepreneurial spirit, strong appetite for handling a degree of ambiguity and ability to lead through change
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a proven ability to improve business processes and practices to increase efficiency
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• Emotional Intelligence: an ability to build and maintain strong and trusting relationships by accurately perceiving and interpreting one’s own and others’ emotions and behavior and able to effectively manage one’s own responses and reactions, a sense of humor, patience and takes joy and pride in your work 
• Constant and Courageous Learner: Brings passionate curiosity, reflection and humility to continuously build on what you have learned from your lived experiences and from others, seeks genuine feedback and new opportunities to learn and grow, able to receive and give multi-directional feedback and learn from feedback

working conditions:
 

• Operates remotely in a professional office environment with travel to local offices, community partners, and events as needed.
• Must be able to work within the continental US business hours and travel.
• Health Leads offers a competitive salary and a forward-thinking and comprehensive array of benefits, support services, and policies that embody our values and recognize the importance of our employees in the achievement of our mission. Benefits include but are not limited to: 
  • Sustainable Vacation Time (SVT). Our SVT Policy provides employees with flexible paid time off from work that may be used for such needs as vacation, short-term personal or family illness, doctor appointment, school, volunteerism, and other activities that nurture our employees’ whole selves.   
  • Alternate Fridays Off. Health Leads is closed every other Friday in order for our staff to have the time they need to rest, recharge, and care for themselves and their families.  
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance with wide in-network coverage, low co-pays and modest deductibles. 
  • Retirement - 401k plan
     
     

when/where:

Start date: Summer 2025

Location: Remote

how much

At Health Leads, we strive to offer competitive salaries.  The posted salary range is based on the market value for similar positions at similarly sized organizations and our salary band for the position level.  When determining salary offers, we take into consideration relevant years of experience, total years of work experience and internal benchmarking to maintain internal equity.  We define relevant years of work experience as experience in an equivalent role with similar levels of responsibility and work 

Salary Range: $105,000 - $140,000

Classification: This job is classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

interested?

Application Deadline: May 28, 2025

equal opportunity statement:
 

Health Leads is an equal opportunity employer and we encourage candidates of color, women, LGBTQ, low-income, and non-college degree holders to apply. Health Leads prohibits the unlawful discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, age, national origin, genetic characteristics, disability, status as a special disabled veteran or veteran, marital status, sexual orientation, sexual identity or any other basis prohibited by law.

Additionally, Health Leads adheres to the Americans with Disability Act requirements and reasonable accommodations, upon request and approval, will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship.