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Director, Child Welfare Compliance Office

County of Santa Clara · View all jobs

Santa Clara, California, United States (On-Site) · Posted 23 days ago

$182k–$234k / yr

Job Function Other

Job Type Full-Time

Salary $182,574.00 - $234,222.00

Salary - Type Yearly Salary

About this role

Advance System Excellence. Elevate Child Welfare Practice.

We are seeking an accomplished, strategic leader to serve as the Director, Child Welfare Compliance Office. This is a rare, blank-canvas opportunity to build a critical county office. As the inaugural leader, you will not just lead an office—you will shape its vision, establish its strategic framework, and design the compliance systems that ensure the safety, equity, and well-being of children.

Key Requirements

Your Mission
Develop, lead, and refine the County’s child welfare oversight function by guiding a comprehensive, independent program focused on quality, accountability, and practice excellence. In this role, you will partner with County leadership to ensure that critical child welfare decisions are consistently aligned with policy, best practices, and the highest standards of child safety. You will oversee a multifaceted oversight operation responsible for targeted audits, case and incident reviews, policy fidelity assessments, and systemwide quality improvement efforts. Through impartial analysis and actionable recommendations, you will help elevate practice and support safe, effective services for children and families.
What Makes This Role Unique
Architect of New County Office: You will shape the vision, build the operational framework, and design quality-assurance processes to identify and evaluate systemic trends, compliance risks, and practice gaps.
Independent Oversight with Systemwide Reach: You will lead an accountability function that provides impartial review of high-stakes child welfare decisions across the Department of Family and Children’s Services, ensuring consistent application of policy and best practice.
Critical Influence on Child Safety: You will guide audit, review, and analysis activities that directly support safe placements, informed case transitions, and strengthened decision-making for children and families—bridging regulatory mandates with human-centric outcomes.
High-Visibility Leadership: You will advise County Administration and provide regular updates to the Board of Supervisors, offering clear, data-informed insights on system performance, compliance trends, and opportunities for improvement.
Unique Structural Independence: Positioned within the Social Services Agency to allow full access to confidential child welfare records and reporting directly to the County Executive, you will operate with the level of independence necessary to provide rigorous, unbiased oversight of child welfare practice and decision making.
What You Bring
Progressive leadership experience in child welfare or human services programs, including management, administration, compliance, auditing, investigations, or related regulatory oversight.
Deep knowledge of child welfare mandates, laws, regulatory frameworks, case review methodologies, safety and risk assessment tools, and federal/state monitoring processes.
Demonstrated ability to lead complex reviews with independence, neutrality, and sound professional judgment.
Expertise in systemic analysis, corrective action planning, performance measurement, and continuous quality improvement.
Exceptional communication skills and the ability to translate highly complex findings into clear, actionable information.
Political acumen, situational judgment, and resilience when navigating complex organizational dynamics, media or public attention, and high visibility accountability processes.
Strong leadership capability in building analytical teams, developing staff, and establishing high standards for evidence-based decision-making.
Application Process and Key Dates
This recruitment will be open on a continuous basis until the position is filled. The first review of applications will be on Monday, November 2, 2026.
For the full job description, go to: https://direc.to/pzGP
To learn more about the County’s generous executive leadership benefits, go to: https://bit.ly/ExecBenefitsSCC
Questions regarding this Executive recruitment may be directed to:
Kendra Conrad, Executive Services at kendra.conrad@esa.sccgov.org
Stay on top of the County of Santa Clara’s leadership career opportunities by subscribing to our Executive Leadership Career Newsletter

Job ID: 86349882

About the company

County of Santa Clara

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