Lead, Direct Care Workforce Development

Join Our Mission. Shape the Future.

At NCOA, we are on a mission to create the conditions for all to age well in America—today and into the future. Every day, we work to improve the lives of millions of older adults through innovative programs, trusted advocacy, and meaningful partnerships that advance health, economic security, and equity.

We are seeking a dynamic and strategic Lead, Direct Care Workforce (DCW) Development to bring their expertise, vision, and passion to help drive our mission forward. This leader will play a pivotal role in advancing innovative workforce strategies, strengthening cross-sector partnerships, and expanding technical assistance that improves job quality and strengthens the direct care workforce nationwide.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished workforce development leader who thrives on building collaborative partnerships, translating complex workforce challenges into practical solutions, and driving initiatives that create lasting systems-level impact. They will embrace and exemplify NCOA's core values of Caring for All, Collaboration, Innovation, Integrity, and Respect, fostering a culture of excellence while helping ensure that every older adult has the opportunity to age with dignity, purpose, and security.

If you are ready to make a lasting difference while leading with purpose, we invite you to join our team.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Lead, Direct Care Workforce Development provides day-to-day project leadership and support for the Direct Care Workforce (DCW) Strategies Center, supporting the delivery of technical assistance (TA) to states and the development of tools and resources that elevate promising practices, share lessons from states, and support efforts to strengthen the direct care workforce nationwide.

In this role, the Lead supports the design, coordination, and delivery of a multi-state technical assistance portfolio, while helping to coordinate and mobilize a national network of partners, Advisory Committee members, and subject matter experts. The Lead translates lessons from state technical assistance and national expertise into practical resources and learning opportunities, including webinars, reports, briefs, one-pagers, toolkits, presentations, and other resources that elevate promising practices and emerging strategies.

A strong candidate will bring experience or expertise in one or more areas relevant to strengthening the direct care workforce and caregiving systems, including direct care workforce policy and practice, home and community-based services, aging and disability, health care, Medicaid, workforce and economic development, education and training, career pathways, labor and employment, state systems and cross-agency collaboration, national technical assistance and capacity building, systems change, cross-sector partnership development, or coalition building.

Positions at this level typically report to a director or senior director and require deep subject matter expertise, advanced knowledge and experience, as well as the ability to independently lead complex or high-impact work. Incumbents are required to exercise independent judgement within their scope of work and require minimal oversight. These roles often serve as recognized subject matter experts and may represent an area of specialization across the organization.

Incumbents generally have five or more years of experience in their discipline and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent, as well as substantive experience at this level.

Graduate level degrees may be considered in lieu of experience.

* This grant-funded position is a short-term, temporary position that is currently funded through September 30, 2027, and designed to be filled by a W-2 employee.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the execution of the technical assistance (TA) strategy across modalities (e.g., direct TA, webinars, web-based workshop series); oversee development of tools and resources, ensuring high-quality, timely deliverables.
• Oversee the development of high-quality, public-facing deliverables (e.g., presentations, briefs, reports, e-newsletters) tailored to diverse audiences, ensuring clarity, consistency, and strategic alignment.
• Manage relationships with Strategies Center partners, including subcontractors, vendors, subgrantees, subject matter experts (SMEs), and Advisory Committee members; oversee coordination of contracts, POs, invoicing, and partner communications.
• Represent the Strategies Center at convenings and conferences.
• Monitor federal and state policy developments, workforce and industry trends, and emerging practices, including innovations in workforce development, caregiving, and technology and AI; translate relevant developments into actionable insights that inform technical assistance, resources, and broader Strategies Center priorities.
• Support the preparation of funder and program reports by synthesizing technical assistance activities, state accomplishments, partner contributions,…