Chief Programs & Impact Officer

Overview

The Chief Programs & Impact Officer is a grounded, team-first, action-oriented leader who turns strategy into daily practice. They ensure Drive Change’s programmatic efforts move forward with clarity, accountability, and care, knowing our work directly impacts justice-involved young adults, our community, and the NYC workforce.

The Chief Programs & Impact Officer supervises and develops managers, strengthens routines, builds alignment across teams, and ensures our programming reflects Drive Change’s values and our metrics are in line with our goals. They are decisive, collaborative, steady under pressure, and able to move fluidly between strategic thinking and day-to-day leadership. They communicate proactively, eliminate surprises, and support cross-team coordination so Programs, Drive Change Foods, Operations, and Development move in lockstep.

The Chief Programs & Impact Officer is responsible for program-level decisions, ensuring our work remains aligned with Drive Change’s vision, values, and program model, and that participants and staff experience consistency and care across all programs.

This person brings strong people leadership, clear and grounded communication, respect for lived experience, and deep understanding and commitment to the young adults we serve, the communities they come from and the team who supports them. They are a leader who makes impact tangible: both the visible, measurable kind reflected in outcomes and data, and the invisible, immeasurable kind reflected in trust, culture, and personal transformation.

The Chief Programs & Impact Officer will lead and support key organizational projects, including:

• Refining and operationalizing Drive Change’s logic model
• Strengthening data, outcomes, and evaluation routines in partnership with external evaluators
• Formalizing and stabilizing our Hospitality for Social Justice (HSJ) Program, including partner expectations and internal alignment
• Building structure, goals, and routines for the Alumni Program
• Clarifying CARE operations within the Programs department and supporting ongoing redesign efforts in partnership with the CEO and Drive Change Foods (DCF)
• Supporting strategic alignment between Programs and DCF
• Embedding clear communication practices, accountability structures, and team leadership norms

• Translate Drive Change’s strategic plan into clear programmatic priorities, program design, and workplans that ensure measurable, sustainable progress and growth
• Maintain organizational alignment across Programs, DCF, Operations, and Development
• Strengthen internal systems that ensure clarity, accountability, and communication across teams
• Partner with the CEO, COO, and CDO on cross-functional initiatives that require coordinated planning and decision-making
• Oversee programmatic budgets and ensure programs operate with financial discipline and compliance
• Designs program structures and systems that can scale with organizational growth while maintaining quality, equity, and consistency
• Contribute to the reports to current funders and the development of completing grant proposals to prospective funders and supporters; while ensuring programs team remain in compliance with grant deliverable. Maintain streamline communication with the Development team.
• Represent Drive Change at community events, workshops , trainings, conferences and other relevant meetings with external partners

• Lead and manage Drive Change’s program portfolio including:
  Fellowship, HSJ, Alumni Engagement, and oversight of CARE team and operations
• Ensure programs embody Drive Change values, uphold dignity and safety, and reflect best practices in youth and workforce development
• Build clear structures, tools, and routines that enable team members to execute with consistency, clarity, and confidence
• Strengthen documentation, SOPs, training materials, and internal communication
• Lead and support program managers during program-related crises
• Reinforce safety and crisis management protocols in partnership with the COO and Workplace Safety team
• Ensure programs team receives crisis management…