Director of Technical Assistance
Afterschool for Children and Teens Now Coalition (ACT Now)
Position Title: Director of Technical Assistance
Location: Illinois
Job Type: Full-Time
Overview
The Director of Technical Assistance is a cross-cutting leadership position responsible for overseeing technical assistance (TA) and programmatic efforts across two of ACT Now’s core projects: Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) State Scaling and Teen REACH. This role is responsible for ensuring high-quality technical assistance implementation strategies and resource development that support ACT Now’s grantees, partners, and broader coalition goals. This role is integral in strategic alignment, impact storytelling, and accountability done through consistent intra and inter departmental collaboration. This position reports to the Deputy Director of Training and Technical Assistance.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategy and Implementation
- Lead and continuously improve ACT Now’s technical assistance strategy to ensure alignment with grant deliverables and project frameworks for both Full-Service Community Schools and Teen REACH.
- Support site visit efforts to ensure high-quality TA delivery and data collection to tell the impact story of community schools and afterschool in Illinois.
- Collaborate across teams and departments to analyze field trends, identify support gaps, elevate promising practices and improve service activities to ensure continuous quality improvement.
- Lead efforts to organize and disseminate high quality field resources
Grant and Project Management
- Lead and coordinate grant continuations and proposal writing, in partnership with the Deputy Director of Training and Technical Assistance and other relevant staff
- Design, maintain and refine internal project management and technical assistance tracking systems to ensure grant deliverables are met successfully across projects.
- Support reporting efforts by providing data insights and narrative contributions in collaboration with the Director of Data and Evaluation
- Monitor and track programmatic spending in collaboration with the Deputy Director of Training and Technical Assistance and Director of Statewide Initiatives.
Supervision, Support, and Partnerships
- Manage a team of Technical Assistance Specialists which includes coaching and day-to-day support
- Coordinate professional development opportunities for staff to improve team competencies and service delivery
- Work with external partners to ensure alignment, satisfaction, and support
- Engage in networking and professional development opportunities to elevate ACT Now’s technical assistance approach and philosophy.
Qualifications & Skills
- Undergraduate or graduate degree in child and youth development, education, public administration, social work, or a related field.
- Experience in the afterschool, out-of-school time, and/or youth development field.
- Strong understanding of the community school model, afterschool systems, and statewide coalition-based work.
- Experience leading large and diverse teams through equity-centered and supportive approaches
- Experience with grant writing, budget oversight, and compliance monitoring preferred.
- Familiarity with Microsoft, Google Suites, learning management systems and customer relationship management (CRM) such as Salesforce preferred.
- Experience leading trainings preferred.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including comfort with presenting to diverse audiences.
- Ability to travel across the state as needed.
- Equity mindset
Compensation:
Salary is commensurate with experience and ranges between $80,000 and $88,000. ACT Now offers a generous benefits package, including health, dental, and disability insurance, parental leave, and paid time off.
Application Process:
Interested candidates should submit a resume with education and relevant work experience; cover letter, and three professional references to Chelsea Corbett, Deputy Director of Training, Technical Assistance and Support, at corbettch@actnowillinois.org by August 15th, 2025. Please include “Director of Data and Evaluation Position” in the subject line. Please ensure to specify your available start date. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. This position is to be filled as soon as possible, and early applications are encouraged.
ACT Now is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We encourage individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to apply and help us create positive changes in education for all children and youth across the State of Illinois.