Program Director

Join Pacific Quest and make a difference!

Pacific Quest provides licensed and accredited residential mental healthcare on Hawaii Island and is a leader in integrative, nature-based residential treatment for adolescents and young adults.

• Be part of a mission-driven team committed to fostering health, connection, and resilience
• Work in a collaborative, supportive environment where every role contributes to life-changing outcomes
• Enjoy competitive pay, great benefits

Location: Hilo, Hawaii (Reeds Bay) with cross-site oversight at 26th Street

Department: Program / Residential

Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt

Schedule: Monday–Friday; weekends and on-call as needed

Reports To: Executive Director

The Program Director (PD) is responsible for the execution, consistency, and overall health of residential programming at Pacific Quest. This role ensures program fidelity to Pacific Quest’s Treatment Framework while developing strong, accountable leadership across sites. The Program Director works in close partnership with the Executive Director to translate organizational priorities into effective program practice and to surface trends, risks, and system needs that inform executive decision-making.

• Ensure residential programming aligns with Pacific Quest’s Treatment Model, Developmental Framework, and Core Therapeutic Experiences.
• Maintain consistent standards related to professionalism, safety, language, media use, and resident engagement.
• Identify and correct program drift through coaching, training, and system improvement.
• Partner with Clinical, Medical, Quality Assurance, and Operations leaders to maintain alignment without role overlap.

• Directly supervise the Program Managers and Team Managers
• Establish clear expectations, accountability rhythms, and performance standards.
• Coach and develop leaders to function independently and effectively.
• Build leadership bench strength and support succession readiness.

• Maintain core program consistency across Reeds Bay and 26th Street while respecting developmental differences.
• Support the 26th Street Program Manager in adapting programming appropriately for young adults.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for program-level trends or risks, not daily operational issues.

• Oversee staffing models, ratios, and readiness relative to census.
• Partner with HR and Operations on hiring priorities, onboarding readiness, and retention trends.
• Ensure Program Managers and Team Managers execute scheduling and coverage appropriately.
• Identify staffing risks early and propose structural solutions.

• Until census and staffing allow for re-expansion of Program Manager capacity, the Program Director will support select PM-level functions at the Reeds Bay campus, including:
• Oversight of day-to-day program flow for the Adolescent population.
• Support to Team Managers in schedule execution, coverage coordination, and resident programming.
• Coordination of daily alignment with Clinical and Medical teams.
• Serving as the primary program escalation point for Reeds Bay.
• These responsibilities are temporary by design. The Program Director is expected to build systems and leader capacity that allow these functions to be delegated as the organization scales.

• This is a fully on-site, field-based leadership role. The Program Director is expected to maintain regular physical presence at Reeds Bay and consistent engagement at the 26th Street campus.
• This position is not remote.
• Visibility, in-person leadership, and real-time observation are essential to effective program leadership.

• While the Program Director is not a primary coverage role, organizational needs may occasionally require the PD to be present in the field to support coverage, continuity of care, or leadership stability.
• Field support is expected to be situational and time-limited, not routine.
• When providing coverage support, the PD maintains a leadership…