Secure Detention Superintendent

Overview

The Juvenile Detention Center Superintendent provides executive leadership and operational oversight of secure juvenile detention facility, ensuring the safety, dignity, and developmental needs of justice‑involved youth. This role is responsible for managing daily operations, staff performance, regulatory compliance, and programmatic services while advancing a trauma‑informed, developmentally appropriate, and rehabilitative approach to juvenile detention.

Creates, changes, and updates program and policies; prepares budget estimates; sets goals for managers and employees; reviews contracts; advises and plans for in‑service training and orientation sessions for staff members; approves training schedule.

• Bachelor's degree in criminal justice, social work, or related behavioral science field
• Minimum of 7-10 years of progressively responsible experience in juvenile justice, detention, corrections, or youth‑serving systems
• Three to five years of senior management or supervisory experience in a secure juvenile facility or comparable setting
• Demonstrated experience implementing or overseeing trauma‑informed, developmentally appropriate, or rehabilitative programs for youth
• Master’s degree in related discipline strongly preferred

• Preferred: certification or advanced training in crisis intervention, restorative practices, or adolescent behavioral health

• Strong understanding of adolescent brain development, trauma and its impact on behavior, and evidence‑based juvenile justice practices
• Budgeting
• Processes and procedures of various Court Services units such as intake, probation, and parole
• Knowledge of juvenile detention standards, accreditation requirements and legal matters
• Proven ability to lead organizational change and improve culture in complex institutional environment

• Assigning, scheduling, and reviewing work
• Communicating with various internal and external departments
• Composing and implementing new solutions
• Developing policies and procedures
• Hiring and recruiting new employees
• Managing the day‑to‑day operations of a detention facility
• Program management within a secure detention facility, including the maintenance
• Excellent written and oral communication

• Trauma‑informed Leadership
• Youth Development & Rehabilitation
• Ethical Decision‑Making
• System Collaboration
• Staff Development & Accountability
• Cultural Responsiveness
• Exercise independent judgment

• Experience reducing reliance on isolation, restraints, or punitive discipline in detention settings
• Experience working with diverse youth populations, including youth with mental health needs, disabilities, or histories of abuse and neglect

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Prospective and current employees are invited to discuss accommodations.

The working conditions may include regular exposure to environmental hazards such as disruptive people, imminent danger, and threatening environment; and occasional exposure to hazardous physical conditions such as mechanical parts, electrical currents, vibrations, etc.; atmospheric conditions such as fumes, odors, dusts, gases, and poor ventilation; hazardous materials such as chemicals, blood and other bodily fluids, etc.; extreme temperatures; inadequate lighting; work space restricting movement;

intense noise; and travel outside the organization’s locations.

Due to the nature of work assignments, incumbents must be able to perform detailed work on multiple concurrent tasks, with frequent interruptions and under time constraint. The essential duties of this classification may require the ability to regularly finger, talk, hear, and see; and occasional climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, reach, stand, walk, push, pull, lift, grasp, feel and perform repetitive motions.

The working conditions may include environmental hazards. In terms of the physical strength to perform the essential duties, this classification is considered to be light work, exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.