Director of Program Quality Improvement

About the Colorado LiftED Foundation

The Colorado LiftED Foundation is a long-term partner to youth. We believe that when we make a deep, long-term commitment to youth and their families, our whole community thrives. We walk side-by-side with youth and their families as they navigate school and life, offering academic, social, and emotional support as they learn, grow, and work toward their dreams.

No one should have to take this journey alone. Since our founding in 1988, we have leveraged proven methods to give youth equal access to the resources they need to succeed and ignite their innate potential. When we keep our promises, anything is possible.

Our Vision

A Colorado where every young person has equal access to educational and career opportunities that will ignite their innate potential.

About the Position

The Director of Program Quality Improvement leads the systems, structures, and people that ensure CLF’s afterschool and summer programs are consistently high-quality, research-aligned, and accessible to every young person we serve. 

This role sits at the intersection of data, coaching, and design — building and managing the quality improvement cycle across all sites, coaching Site Leaders and staff toward deeper practice, and translating evidence into program decisions that are grounded in youth voice and community context. 

As a senior organizational leader, you will steward relationships with school and district partners, serve as a thought partner to organizational leadership, and champion a culture of reflection and continuous growth. Across every part of this work, you will operate from the conviction that every young person CLF serves deserves a program experience that is accessible, culturally affirming, trauma-responsive, and healing-centered.

This role lives all five CLF values:

• A Seat at the Table: You will build feedback structures, constituent surveys, youth focus groups, and family input loops — that ensure the young people and communities CLF serves have a genuine voice in how programs are designed, evaluated, and improved.
• Once a Dreamer, Always a Dreamer: You will design quality systems with longevity in mind, creating tools, data practices, and coaching cultures that outlast any single program year — because our commitment to the youth we serve doesn’t have an expiration date, and neither should the infrastructure that supports them.
• An Inch Wide, A Mile Deep: You will invest with intensity in a focused portfolio of sites and staff — knowing each Site Leader by name and by their specific growth edge, coaching with the depth and consistency that allows them to do the same for every young person in their program.
• Whatever It Takes: When data reveals a gap, when a site is struggling, or when a staff member needs support that doesn’t fit a standard framework, you will find the way forward — resourceful, persistent, and creative in removing barriers to quality for the youth and families in CLF’s care.
• We Not Me: You will approach quality improvement as a collaborative enterprise — co-creating tools with site teams, partnering with curriculum and program design colleagues, and aligning with external evaluators and school partners — because the best systems are built together, not handed down.

Key Responsibilities

Program Quality & Continuous Improvement

• Design, implement, and monitor a comprehensive quality improvement system grounded in Positive Youth Development, equity, and research-based OST standards.
• Lead regular program quality cycles (observation, data collection, reflection, action planning) across all sites, ensuring every site team is known by name, by site context, and by their specific growth priorities.
• Develop and refine quality rubrics, tools, and protocols to ensure consistency across grade bands, program sites, and program models.
• Analyze program data and trends across sites (attendance, engagement, SEL indicators, academic supports, family engagement) to identify and drive strategic improvements — naming gaps plainly and acting on them with urgency.
• Facilitate cross-site learning structures, professional learning communities, instructional rounds, peer observations — that build a culture of shared reflection rather than compliance.
• Create meaningful opportunities for youth, families, and community members to shape program quality through surveys, focus groups, and feedback loops that are built into the quality cycle, not added as afterthoughts.

Coaching & Staff Development

• Coach Site Leaders, Directors, and instructional staff with depth and consistency — fully investing in each staff member’s development and knowing exactly where they are in their growth and what they need next.
• Build staff capacity in SEL, PBL, culturally affirming and trauma-responsive practice, and relationship-centered programming.
• Develop and deliver high-quality professional learning aligned to organizational goals and staff needs, including learning that honors long-term staff growth rather than one-time trainings.
• Support leaders in developing cascading coaching plans for their own teams, ensuring the culture of depth and investment moves all the way to the youth experience.

Program Design & Alignment

• Ensure program models are intentionally designed for each grade band and deeply responsive to what youth and families at each site actually need.
• Collaborate with curriculum and program design teams to integrate evidence-based practices, centering youth voice as a non-negotiable design input.
• Align afterschool programming with school-day priorities while preserving and naming OST’s distinct identity, relational culture, and strengths.

Partnerships & External Engagement

• Strengthen and steward relationships with school and district partners, ensuring shared goals, clear roles, and the kind of communication that makes partnership feel like a genuine “We” rather than a transaction.
• Represent CLF with external partners — research institutions, funders, and national OST networks — amplifying CLF’s model and contributing to the broader field.
• Share promising practices through conferences, publications, and sector presentations, contributing to a collective “We Not Me” vision for quality in OST programming.

Data, Research, & Evaluation

• Oversee data systems for program quality, youth outcomes, and staff development, ensuring data is used ethically, equitably, and with youth dignity at the center.
• Partner with external evaluators or research organizations to document impact and position CLF as a national model for deep, long-term investment in youth.
• Translate data into actionable insights for leaders, staff, and partners — making the numbers tell the story of real young people, not just trends.
• Build constituent voices into the data ecosystem — ensuring surveys, focus groups, and community feedback have a clear line from collection to organizational decision-making.

Organizational Leadership

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to senior leadership on program quality, staffing, and long-term vision.
• Develop, implement, and lead the annual Quality Improvement (QI) plan alongside organizational leadership, using data to drive strategy and remaining persistent and creative when the path forward is unclear.
• Anticipate and manage conflict or challenges within school-based teams, supporting clarity, communication, and shared purpose.
• Champion a culture of learning, reflection, and continuous improvement across the organization — modeling what it looks like to stay curious, stay committed, and stay in it for the long haul.

Skills & Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Education, Business, Social Work, Counseling, Human Services, or a related field (Required).
• Experience: Preferred five years of experience in quality management, program evaluation, and/or program leadership within nonprofit, government services, out-of-school time organizations, or K-12 experience. 
• Belief System: An unwavering belief that all youth can achieve and be successful — and a track record of building systems that reflect that belief, not just name it.
• Equity & Inclusion: A demonstrated record of building organizational cultures that center equity, inclusion, and belonging — including in how quality is defined, measured, and acted upon.
• Youth & Community Voice: Proven ability to design and sustain feedback structures that give youth, families, and community members a genuine seat at the table in program decisions.
• Depth in Coaching: Demonstrated capacity to invest deeply in a defined group of leaders and staff — knowing each person’s growth edge, coaching with consistency, and building the kind of trust that produces real change.
• Long-Term Orientation: A practice of building systems, relationships, and culture with longevity in mind — because once a dreamer, always a dreamer.
• Technical Knowledge: High proficiency in qualitative and quantitative analysis, project management, and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Communication: Exceptional written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex data into stories that move people to action.
• Local Knowledge: Experience working with community partners in the Denver Metro area.

Requirements

• Ability to pass a criminal background check.
• Experience: At least three years coaching and facilitating professional learning within the scope of youth-serving organizations. 
• Technical Knowledge: Understanding of research-based OST quality improvement tools and assessments, constituent perspective surveys and data, and the quality improvement cycle.
• Values Alignment: Demonstrated belief in and lived practice of CLF’s core values: A Seat at the Table, We Not Me, Whatever It Takes, An Inch Wide / A Mile Deep, and Once a Dreamer, Always a Dreamer — with a track record of translating those values into role-specific decisions.

Compensation & Benefits

• Employment Status: Full-Time (1.0 FTE), Salaried/Exempt.
• Salary Range: $85,000 – $100,000 per year.
• Health Benefits: Comprehensive Health, Dental, and Vision insurance.
• Additional Benefits: Life insurance and 401(k) matching program.
• Time Off: Paid time off, holidays, and birthdays off.
• Professional Growth: Dedicated professional development opportunities.

Commitment to Equity

Colorado LiftED Foundation is dedicated to equal employment opportunities and fair labor practices. We provide equal employment opportunities to all individuals based on job-related qualifications and the ability to perform a job without regard to race, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religious creed, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, legally protected medical condition, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other basis made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. Our policy is to maintain a non-discriminatory environment free from intimidation, harassment, or bias. We invite all qualified candidates who share our mission to apply.