Senior Director of NYC Residential Programs

Senior Director Of NYC Residential Programs

Location:

Brooklyn/Queens, NY, with oversight of one Long Island program

Reports To:

Senior Vice President of Residential Programs

Department:
Residential Programs

Schedule:

Full-Time/Hybrid; regular travel and on-site presence required

$1,000 Hiring Bonus

Agency Background:

Mercy First is a not-for-profit human and social service agency serving children, youth, and families throughout New York City and Long Island. The agency provides foster care, residential, prevention, clinical, and family support services grounded in trauma-responsive, relationship-based care.

Position Summary:

The Senior Director of NYC Residential Programs provides operational and programmatic leadership for Mercy First's NYC residential programs and one Long Island program, including a Diagnostic Center and four Pregnant, Parenting, and Postpartum (PPP) Mother-Baby group homes.

The Senior Director is responsible for ensuring safe, consistent, trauma-responsive, and high-quality services across all assigned programs. Key areas of accountability include residential operations, case planning, family engagement, child and infant safety, staff development, regulatory compliance, quality improvement, and measurable program outcomes.

The position requires strong, visible leadership across sites (with exception of the LI program) and responsibility for translating program standards, policies, and evidence-informed practices into consistent day-to-day operations. The Senior Director will ensure quality treatment-team functioning by reinforcing universal safety measures, complete team integration, and a commitment to trauma informed practices in all homes.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership and operational oversight for all assigned residential programs and establish consistent expectations across sites.
• Maintain a regular on-site presence, including leadership rounds, staff coaching, review of high-risk routines, and follow-up on safety or operational concerns.
• Supervise and develop program leadership through coaching, performance management, reflective supervision, and clear accountability.
• Ensure compliance with OCFS, ACS, contractual, licensing, agency, and other applicable requirements.
• Oversee case work supervisors around effective case planning, family engagement, education, permanency, independent living, discharge readiness, and resident participation in treatment planning.
• Strengthen treatment-team functioning by ensuring clear participation, documented action steps, responsible parties, timelines, and follow-up.
• Ensure meaningful integration of clinicians, case planners, parent educators, YSCs, medical providers, and other multidisciplinary staff.
• Establish and monitor consistent infant and child safety practices, including safe sleep, body checks, feeding, bathing, diapering, supervision, environmental safety, and required documentation.
• Ensure that staff understand both their caregiving responsibilities and the expectations placed on young mothers for safe parenting and supervision.
• Lead implementation of trauma-responsive and evidence-informed practices, including Sanctuary commitments, Nurturing Parenting, Motivational Interviewing, and restorative approaches to incidents and behavior.
• Promote staff psychological safety, post-incident support, transparent communication, and learning-focused responses to serious events.
• Partner with Quality Improvement to monitor safety, clinical services, developmental screenings, treatment planning, documentation, training completion, incidents, and corrective actions.
• Ensure that identified deficiencies result in measurable corrective action and sustained improvement rather than policy or training alone.
• Oversee case work supervisors…