Child Care Center Director

About the role

We are seeking an experienced, confident leader to oversee the day-to-day operations of a large, established early childhood education program. This position requires someone who can successfully lead adults, manage operations, maintain regulatory compliance, support enrollment and family relationships, and build a healthy, accountable workplace culture. While knowledge of early childhood education is important, this is first and foremost a leadership and management position.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, develop, and hold accountable the center's leadership team and teaching staff.
• Maintain adequate staffing and ensure classrooms remain within required ratios.
• Develop schedules and make staffing adjustments based on enrollment and operational needs.
• Address attendance, call-outs, performance concerns, policy violations, and employee relations issues promptly.
• Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and retention efforts.
• Conduct regular leadership meetings and employee performance conversations.
• Ensure licensing, health, safety, supervision, documentation, and training requirements are consistently followed.
• Maintain readiness for Tennessee DHS inspections at all times.
• Review incidents, supervision concerns, complaints, and regulatory issues and ensure appropriate follow-up.
• Oversee enrollment, tours, family communication, retention, and customer service.
• Monitor classroom quality and work collaboratively with instructional leadership to improve teaching practices.
• Ensure center policies and procedures are implemented consistently.
• Monitor overtime, staffing efficiency, enrollment, attendance, and other key operating indicators.
• Identify operational problems before they become emergencies and develop solutions without depending on ownership for routine decisions.
• Maintain professional boundaries while building a positive, trusting workplace culture.
• Communicate significant risks, trends, staffing concerns, compliance concerns, and business needs to executive leadership.
• Leads instead of simply reacts.
• Addresses problems early rather than allowing them to continue.
• Delegates effectively instead of personally doing everything.
• Sets clear expectations and follows through.
• Coaches employees while still maintaining accountability.
• Remains calm and professional during conflict.
• Makes thoughtful decisions without needing constant approval.
• Understands that employee morale and employee accountability must coexist.
• Maintains visibility throughout the center.
• Builds relationships with families without allowing individual requests to override policies.
• Understands how staffing decisions affect both quality and financial performance.
• Takes ownership of the overall success of the center.

Requirements

• Meet all current Tennessee Department of Human Services licensing qualifications to serve as a Child Care Center Director.
• Be at least 21 years of age.
• Have a minimum of 3 years of supervisory, management, or administrative leadership experience.
• Have at least 2 years of direct responsibility for supervising employees, including coaching, performance management, scheduling, accountability, and conflict resolution.
• Demonstrate experience managing daily operations in a fast-paced organization.
• Have experience implementing and consistently enforcing policies and procedures.
• Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Be comfortable handling difficult conversations with employees and families in a professional and solution-focused manner.
• Possess strong organizational, prioritization, delegation, and follow-through skills.
• Demonstrate sound judgment and the ability to make independent operational decisions.
• Be comfortable using technology for scheduling, documentation, communication, enrollment, reporting, and general business operations.
• Classroom teaching experience alone does not satisfy the management experience requirement.

Qualifications

• Preference may be given to candidates who have:
• 3–5+ years of management or administrative leadership experience.
• Experience supervising 30 or more employees.
• Previous experience managing a large child