Executive Director

Executive Director

Reports to:

Board of Directors, as a co-equal partner to the Producing Artistic Director, with dual accountability to the board Salary: $95,000 – 105,000/ annually Benefits:
Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO (see benefits for full detail)

Hours:

Full-time, Exempt, 40 hours, Monday - Friday flexible scheduling with regular weekend or evening events (as needed).

Location:

Portland, OR. Hybrid: must be comfortable with frequent or daily commute within the Portland metro area, with programming reach across Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Oregon Children's Theatre (OCT) creates welcoming, imaginative spaces for all children across Oregon and Southwest Washington. Through exceptional theatrical and educational programming, OCT inspires curiosity, resilience, and connection. OCT envisions a future where every child has meaningful access to the arts, helps shape vibrant communities, and experiences true belonging. For over 35 years, OCT has produced professional theatre for young audiences and delivered in-school and community education programming throughout the region.

OCT's work is guided by six core values: collaboration, inclusion and equity, excellence, centering youth, curiosity, authenticity, and honesty.

Organizational Context Oregon Children's Theatre is in an active rebuilding phase. In Spring 2025, due to budget constraints, OCT's board of directors made the decision to pause operations so that we could be intentional about our next steps as an organization. Since then, we have raised nearly $1 million and have been exploring new partnerships with other youth-serving organizations. As we move forward with renewed fundraising momentum, a clear vision for the future, and an engaged board, we seek an Executive Director to help drive our strategic plan forward and support OCT through this next phase of growth and sustainability.

We need to continue laying the groundwork for our internal operating systems, staffing infrastructure, and role clarity as we execute on the strategic vision.

As we work to execute and achieve our new strategic vision, we are seeking an operational executive (Executive Director) to partner with our Producing Artistic Director to provide a firm base for sustained growth and success. OCT is returning to a co-leadership model in which the Executive Director and Producing Artistic Director serve as equal partners, each reporting to the Board of Directors, and each bringing distinct but interdependent strengths to the organization.

The Executive Director provides business, financial, and operational leadership; the Producing Artistic Director defines artistic and programmatic vision. Both roles will be supervised by and report to the Board of Directors. This structure requires an Executive Director who is skilled at genuine partnership, comfortable with shared authority, and able to build a strong, trusting working relationship with the Producing Artistic Director, staff, board, and community from day one.

You are an experienced nonprofit executive who thrives in collaborative leadership environments and does not need sole authority to lead effectively. You bring deep experience in fundraising and donor cultivation, including renewing relationships that have gone dormant and converting one-time gifts into lasting, diversified support. You have direct experience in youth-serving, education, or arts organizations, and you understand what it means to lead in service of children and families.

You are a steady, direct communicator who builds staff stability through clarity, consistency, and follow through, especially with a small, deeply committed team. You bring an entrepreneurial spirit and working knowledge across many functional areas, comfortable rolling up your sleeves to fill a gap, take on an unfamiliar task, or handle whatever the organization needs in a given moment, and quick to recognize what needs attention before it becomes a bigger problem.

You bring strong business and financial acumen, including budgeting and oversight of complex funding streams, and you are confident partnering with a board to establish clear roles and boundaries. You are collaborative, confident, and skilled at aligning financial and operational realities to co-create a vision to bring theater experiences to youth and families.

Position Summary The Executive Director serves as the business and financial leadership partner to the Producing Artistic Director at Oregon Children's Theatre, with both roles reporting independently to the Board of Directors. The Executive Director provides administrative leadership in support of the mission and in collaboration with the Producing Artistic Director's artistic vision, ensuring a financially stable and operationally effective environment in which OCT's programming, artists, and staff can thrive.

The Executive Director oversees development, marketing, finance and administration, and operational staff, while the Producing Artistic Director oversees education…