Strategic Projects Director

Company: David Lawrence Centers For Behavioral Health (DLC) Job Type: Full-Time & Salaried/Exempt Monday-Friday, Target Standard Business Hours Salary: Starting at $90,000 Hiring Incentives: Sign on Bonus, Immediate PTO Accrual, Full Benefits W/401k, Professional Development & Tuition Programs, EAP Job Summary: The Strategic Projects Director is a cross‑functional role responsible for bringing structure, coordination, and accountability to complex, multi‑departmental initiatives. This role serves as the organizational hub for project oversight, ensuring that every active initiative has clear ownership, defined timelines, and appropriate executive visibility. DLC is in a period of rapid, sustained growth—simultaneously opening and designing facilities, launching new programs, building organizational infrastructure, and developing leadership capacity. The Strategic Projects Director provides the connective tissue that holds these concurrent efforts together—reducing friction, preventing gaps, and enabling the executive team to remain focused on strategy and decision‑making rather than day‑to‑day project coordination. This position reports to the Vice President of Advancement, sits on the DLC Leadership Council alongside department directors and executive leadership, and has authority in project coordination across all functional areas. Key Responsibilities Cross‑Departmental Project Oversight Maintain/manage Cross‑Departmental Project Tracker as the single source of accountability/execution for all active, planned, and aspirational initiatives. Conduct structured intake meetings with project leads following supervisor and executive approval, completing all required tracker fields, including project lead, contributors, decision makers, dependencies, timeline, and EOS alignment. Facilitate regular status check‑ins with project leads across all timeline tiers, escalating at‑risk or stalled projects to the appropriate supervisor or executive. Ensure that every cross‑departmental project at DLC has a named lead, a clear decision authority, and an updated status. Executive Team Support & Reporting Prepare concise Go/No‑Go briefings for the executive team on all new project requests, including timeline, resource implications, dependencies, and EOS alignment. Deliver a monthly project status summary to the executive team, identifying projects at risk, upcoming activations, and decisions requiring executive input. Serve as the connective link between the executive team and director‑level project leads, reducing the need for executives to manage day‑to‑day project coordination. Support the executive team in distinguishing between decisions that require their direct involvement and those that can be delegated or resolved at the project lead level. Project Intake & Governance Own/enforce the project intake process: no cross‑departmental project enters the tracker without supervisor approval, a completed intake meeting, and an executive Go/No‑Go review. Lead the initial discovery process to capture all existing cross‑departmental projects currently underway that have not yet been formally logged or assigned. Ensure all projects are mapped to the appropriate EOS framework category, including the short‑ or long‑term issue they address and the V/TO goal they support. Maintain governance standards consistently, including archiving completed and canceled projects. Stakeholder Coordination & Communication Build productive working relationships across all DLC departments, serving as a trusted resource and partner to project leads and directors. Communicate clearly and diplomatically when projects are off track, when decisions are needed, or when competing priorities require executive arbitration. Represent the project management function at the DLC Leadership Council, contributing to organizational planning conversations and keeping the director‑level team informed of cross‑departmental dependencies. Develop and maintain consistent communication rhythms with project leads, including agreed‑upon check‑in schedules and status reporting formats. Identify patterns across projects, including recurring bottlenecks, common resource gaps, and structural inefficiencies, and bring recommendations to the executive team. Refine/improve project intake and tracking tools over time based on organizational experience and feedback from project leads and directors. Stay current with project management best practices and bring relevant ideas and approaches forward as DLC's organizational capacity matures. Qualifications Required Bachelor's degree in business administration, operations management, healthcare administration, nonprofit management, or a related field. Equivalent professional experience will be considered. A minimum of five years of professional experience in project coordination, operations management, or a role requiring sustained cross‑functional collaboration. Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent projects with competing timelines and stakeholders without losing accuracy or momentum. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with executive-level leadership and frontline staff. High proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Excel and Word, with comfort learning and adapting to new project management tools. Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail. A track record of building trust across departments and navigating complex organizational relationships with professionalism and discretion. Staying compliant on all trainings and immunizations = Required Ability to pass Level II DCF Mental Health Fingerprinting, Drug Screen and Local Criminal Check = Required Strongly Preferred Experience working in a nonprofit, healthcare, or behavioral health organization, or in another mission‑driven environment with complex stakeholder dynamics. Familiarity with the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) or other organizational management frameworks. Experience with project management platforms such as Asana or similar tools. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or coursework, or equivalent practical experience. Experience supporting or reporting to a senior leadership or executive team. Physical Requirements: This position requires a mix of physical activities throughout the workday. Duties involve periods of standing, sitting, and walking, often across various areas of the site. The role also includes tasks that may require bending, reaching, and other physical movements. Candidates must be able to occasionally lift and carry items weighing up to 50 pounds. A reasonable level of physical stamina and mobility is necessary to successfully perform the essential functions of this role. #J-18808-Ljbffr