Director of Volunteer Services

Job Description

Job Description

Help Build the Funding That Changes Lives

Behind every life-changing program is someone who made it possible.

At Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT) , we're creating opportunities for transition-age foster youth to build stable, connected, and thriving futures.

We're looking for a Director of Volunteer Services who can build the relationships, systems, and culture that make JIT's volunteer community thrive. This is a strategic leadership role for someone who enjoys building a strong volunteer network, partnering across teams and throughout our broader ecosystem, and creating meaningful, values-aligned experiences for volunteers and participants. The Director will work closely with JIT's Co-CEOs and Executive Team to grow our volunteer community across digital and physical platforms, embed the JIT Mental Model across the organization, and bring the Coach Approach to life in how we support and engage our people.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who leads through empowerment, serves as a trusted thought partner to staff, and isn't afraid to roll up their sleeves to solve problems alongside the team.

Location: San Diego, CA
Status: Full-Time, Exempt
Salary: $105,000-150,000

What You'll Do

You'll own the strategy, systems, and relationships that make JIT's volunteer community thrive, from building a strong volunteer pipeline to creating meaningful, lasting connections between volunteers and young people.

Your work will include:

• Leading and developing the Volunteer Services team, setting clear goals and using data and continuous improvement to strengthen performance and impact

• Building a comprehensive volunteer engagement strategy that attracts, activates, supports, and retains volunteers throughout their journey with JIT

• Partnering with executive leadership to shape organization-wide volunteer strategy and ensure volunteer engagement is central to JIT's growth and impact

• Establishing clear standards, expectations, and practices for volunteer roles across JIT programs

• Working closely with Youth Services and frontline teams to ensure volunteers are thoughtfully matched, well-prepared, and supported throughout their engagement with young people

• Building and strengthening partnerships with corporations, community organizations, civic groups, and other San Diego institutions to expand JIT's volunteer pipeline and reach

• Creating meaningful training, tools, and resources that bring JIT's Mental Model and Coach Approach to life across staff and volunteer interactions

• Developing strategies to support volunteer wellbeing, including resources and responsive support for volunteers navigating complex or challenging participant situations

• Using Salesforce and other digital platforms to strengthen volunteer recruitment, training, communication, engagement, and retention

• Establishing meaningful metrics and feedback systems to understand what's working, identify opportunities, and continuously improve the volunteer experience

• Designing creative strategies to recognize, celebrate, and steward the people who give their time and energy to JIT's mission

• Collaborating with Development to explore volunteer-driven fundraising and donor engagement opportunities

• Managing the Volunteer Services budget and making thoughtful recommendations about resources needed to support team capacity and organizational growth

• Representing Volunteer Services across the organization and in the broader community as a trusted voice, partner, and advocate

Your work will help create the conditions for volunteers to build the deep, consistent relationships that help young people leaving foster care thrive.

We're Looking For Someone Who...

You're a strategic relationship-builder who understands that great volunteer programs are about much more than recruitment. You know how to build systems that work while never losing sight of the people at the center of them.

You likely bring:

• 5+ years of progressive experience in volunteer engagement, community outreach, business development, or a related field, including at least 3 years in management or strategic leadership

• A track record of personally cultivating, training, supporting, and stewarding a large network of volunteers and community partners

• Experience designing and managing a full volunteer engagement cycle—from recruitment and onboarding through engagement, recognition, and retention

• Strong experience leading teams, setting priorities, establishing accountability, and developing people without micromanaging

• Experience creating and delivering training for adult audiences, with strong public speaking and facilitation skills

• Experience using data, feedback, and evaluation to make decisions and improve programs

• Strong CRM experience; Salesforce experience is strongly preferred

• Comfort working across digital platforms including Microsoft 365, Zoom, Google Workspace, and online community tools

• Experience with fundraising, donor relations, or nonprofit development is strongly preferred

• Familiarity with the San Diego nonprofit, civic, and philanthropic landscape is a plus

• The confidence and interpersonal skills to represent JIT with volunteers, youth, staff, community partners, and other external stakeholders

Experience in child welfare, youth development, or a related mission-driven environment is valuable, but we're equally interested in people who bring strong community leadership skills and a deep commitment to our mission.

You'll Thrive Here If You...

• Love building relationships and creating communities where people feel valued, supported, and connected

• Enjoy balancing big-picture strategy with hands-on problem-solving

• Are energized by bringing people and teams together around a shared purpose

• Think beyond your department and consider how decisions affect volunteers, young people, staff, and community partners across the ecosystem

• Ask thoughtful questions before jumping to solutions

• Use data and feedback to learn, adapt, and make better decisions

• Can navigate ambiguity and changing priorities with creativity, curiosity, and composure

• Believe leadership means empowering people, not micromanaging them

• Are comfortable being both a strategic thought partner and someone who rolls up their sleeves alongside the team

• Lead with authenticity, inclusion, collaboration, innovation, inquiry, inspiration, and ownership

• Care deeply about creating meaningful, dignified opportunities for young people leaving foster care to thrive

Why Join Just in Time?

When you join JIT, your work directly contributes to helping transition-age foster youth build stable, connected, and successful futures.

You'll work alongside passionate teammates who believe in innovation, collaboration, and putting young people first. Every grant secured creates more opportunities for housing stability, education, employment, lifelong connections, and brighter futures.

If you're looking for a role where exceptional writing meets meaningful impact, we'd love to meet you.

Apply today and help create opportunities that last a lifetime.

Just In Time is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. We encourage qualified individuals of all backgrounds to apply.

Compensation Range: $105K - $150K