Early Childhood Intermediary | Executive Director

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Greater Houston region has the scale diversity and public momentum to be a national model for early childhood system change. At the same time many families still struggle to find affordable high-quality childcare and local outcomes like school readiness remain uneven across communities.

The Early Childhood Intermediary (name TBD) is being designed as a locally owned neutral backbone organization that coordinates early childhood systems work across the Greater Houston region. The Intermediarys strategy spans from birth to five coordination to ensure children show up to school ready to learn. The Intermediary will help the regions many organizations work together by convening cross-sector partners bringing public and private resources to the same table strengthening shared measurement and family navigation and moving the region toward a shared north star goal.

A key initial priority for the Executive Director will be working closely with Early Matters Texas to establish and build out a local affiliate program connecting the Initiatives local work to Early Matters Texass broader network and statewide policy platform.

The Intermediary is a community-led effort. It will be housed at the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) which will serve as fiscal sponsor for an initial period of approximately two years with GHP serving as the employer of record for the Executive Director and the Intermediarys staff and providing benefits and back-office infrastructure. The initial phases of the work are funded by a group of Houston funders led by The Powell Foundation. The Executive Director will report directly to the Steering Committee of the intermediary.

THE ROLE

The Executive Director will provide the visionary leadership management and planning necessary to launch and lead the Intermediary beginning in its initial build phase. Based in Houston Texas the Executive Director will lead a lean start-up team and manage a start-up budget expected to be roughly $2.0M annually during the initial years.

This is a highly relational externally facing role. The Executive Director will serve as a neutral convener across philanthropy government early childhood school systems workforce partners community organizations business leaders and families. They will help the community define a north star goal and supporting metrics build shared infrastructure to track progress and translate alignment into action through early initiatives policy coordination and sustained investment. Above all this role calls for a leader with a strong bias for action: someone who listens well and then moves the community from conversation to visible results.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

As the Executive Director you will spend your time working with the Steering Committee Early Matters Texas and Community Partners to accomplish the following:

Leadership and organization management

• Support the launch of the organization including hiring and managing a strong results-driven team setting culture and executing early operating workplans
• Establish annual priorities and resource plans that translate strategy into execution and adjust course as the work evolves and community input deepens
• Provide leadership and staff support to the Steering Committee including setting agendas facilitating meetings running clear decision-making processes and ensuring follow-through on commitments

Ecosystem strategy convening and alignment

• Partner with the Steering Committee to consolidate the knowledge base across all regional efforts in the early childhood space in the Greater Houston region
• Identify a focused set of priorities and develop a 0-5 shared regional strategy across childcare Pre-K and the early childhood workforce with a long-term view toward seamless transitions into kindergarten
• Convene cross-sector stakeholders through an inclusive process to build alignment reduce duplication and accelerate progress on shared outcomes complementing rather than competing with existing organizations
• Design and manage the coalitions working structures including workgroups meeting cadence decision protocols and feedback loops so partners stay engaged and informed
• Establish and lead a Business Advisory Council of senior Houston executives and build strong relationships with the business community to advance shared early childhood goals and elevate early childhood as an economic and workforce priority

Data shared measurement and learning

• Advance and refine an emerging north star goal and a practical set of leading indicators such as kindergarten readiness and other key metrics that can anchor collective action
• Oversee the development of a practical regional dashboard that builds on existing data systems and platforms wherever possible including data-sharing relationships reporting cycles and a culture of continuous improvement keeping data in service of decisions and action
• Establish learning and evaluation processes to assess progress of the Intermediary support transparent communication to stakeholders and guide real-time improvements to strategy and investments

Family navigation and early initiatives

• Support the development of tools and partnerships that make it easier for families to identify and access childcare and early learning options building on existing platforms and trusted in-person channels with attention to usability language access and equity
• Move quickly from planning to implementation launching a focused set of partner-driven initiatives aligned with the regional strategy particularly where shared infrastructure and coordination are required

External relations and communications

• Launch the Intermediary publicly and lead the development of a shared communications and engagement strategy that builds public will reinforces neutrality and strengthens partner alignment
• Serve as the external face of the Initiative building trusted relationships across philanthropy public agencies providers and community leaders and ensuring stakeholders feel heard and meaningfully engaged

Fund development and resource stewardship

• Liaise with Early Childhood Funders Group to support core operating capacity of the Intermediary including exploring approaches to pooled funding and regranting as the model matures
• Cultivate new connections across private philanthropy corporate partners and public sector sources to expand and diversify the funding base
• Manage and steward resources from multiple funding streams ensuring alignment transparency and effective deployment across priorities

Early Matters Texas network leadership and advocacy

• Serve as the Greater Houston affiliate liaison to Early Matters Texas building a strong working relationship with network leadership and participating in shared learning and coordination on policy and advocacy priorities alongside other Early Matters regions
• Ensure the Greater Houston region is effectively represented in state and regional policy conversations leading with infrastructure efficiency and shared results and coordinating advocacy with Early Matters Texas and GHPs public policy team

Financial management and operations

• Oversee annual budgets and financial reporting in partnership with GHP as fiscal sponsor ensuring strong stewardship compliance and operational excellence
• Explore long-term governance and operating structures over time including options for continued fiscal sponsorship or potential spin-out to an independent entity

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

We are seeking a leader who combines credibility humility and urgency with the ability to build alignment in a complex system. Strong candidates will demonstrate the following:

• Commitment to improving outcomes for young children and families and a clear understanding of how early childhood systems connect to long-term economic mobility
• A strong bias for action with a proven ability to lead in ambiguous start-up contexts set direction make timely decisions and follow through consistently
• Gravitas and authority with the ability to command credibility in the room engage senior stakeholders productively and move groups from discussion to decisions
• Strong relationship-builder and strategic convener able to balance varying perspectives engage the right voices at the right moments and sustain progress and trust across constituencies with competing interests
• Demonstrated ability to approach decision-making with inclusivity using transparent criteria to set priorities and make tradeoffs without bias toward or against any stakeholder group and the independence to advocate for what the community needs even when that means pushing back
• Comfort using metrics evidence and shared measurement to shape strategy define success and make informed tradeoffs without letting data collection slow down action
• Experience fundraising with philanthropic partners including cultivating soliciting and stewarding foundation relationships and supporting multi-year sustainability planning
• Exceptional communicator and compelling public speaker with strong writing skills and the ability to translate complex issues and data into clear persuasive messages for diverse audiences
• Experience providing executive oversight of financial management ensuring disciplined use of resources aligned with strategic priorities
• Demonstrated experience managing people systems and processes with the operational discipline to build a new organization from the ground up
• Understanding of early childhood systems and policy or a demonstrated ability to learn them quickly and deeply; experience leading collective impact or cross-sector initiatives is highly valued
• Deep knowledge of the Greater Houston region or the ability to quickly build trust and credibility with its early childhood ecosystem; candidates from outside Houston are encouraged to apply and must be willing to relocate; knowledge of the Texas policy and funding landscape is a plus
• Experience working with business and civic leaders ideally including private-sector experience to build cross-sector credibility and engage business as a champion for early childhood
• Educational/Professional background: bachelors degree and 10 years of leadership experience

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates should apply here. Letters of interest will be accepted through November 6 2026. Applications will be reviewed as they are received so early applicants will get a priority review. We will contact those candidates who most closely match the requirements. We thank you in advance for your interest.

This position is based in Houston with a hybrid work schedule that includes up to two remote days per week.

As an employee of the Greater Houston Partnership the Executive Director will receive GHPs comprehensive benefits package including:

• Access to medical dental vision life and disability insurance
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) accruing from the first day of employment
• 12 paid holidays and holiday break (closed Christmas Eve - Jan 1)
• Paid parental leave
• A 401(k) retirement savings plan with 2% non-elective contribution to your salary and 100% match of your contributions up to the first 4%

The Greater Houston Partnership is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants and employees are treated without regard to such factors as race color religion sex national origin disability veteran status or any other reason prohibited by law.