Chief Programs & Impact Officer

Summary

At Drive Change, our mission is to support justice-involved young people by providing culinary and hospitality training, social support, and pathways to advance their economic mobility and overall well-being. We work to create systemic change and sustainable impact through unapologetically reimagining what’s possible for the food and hospitality industry.

Our Values:

Education: I am committed to my own growth and education. I commit to learning about the issues, systems, historical and current, that affect the food system and American Legal System.

Innovation: I continually look for ways to approach our work through innovation and
creativity. I bring new ideas, question the status quo and am committed to being part of
the solution.

Hospitality: I approach all members of our DC community with care, empathy and a
desire to connect and meet them where they are at.

Courage: I am committed to taking action in order to center equity and justice in our
work and collective mission.

Collective Accountability: I give and ask for feedback consistently and with an open
mind. I understand that feedback is a gift and investment in personal and professional
growth. I hold myself and others accountable to our values.

About the Role
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 refl ected in outcomes and data, and the invisible, immeasurable kind refl ected in trust, culture, and personal transformation.

First Year Priorities
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

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in nonprofit, government, and/or workforce development settings working with justice-involved and/or system-impacted young adults
• 7+ years at senior level, managing and supervising large teams managers and leading them through growth and change
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into actionable, sequenced work and build systems that keep teams aligned
• Experience strengthening programs, clarifying operations, and building cross-department coordination
• Skilled communicator with emotional intelligence, strong judgment, and a grounded, steady presence
• Experience with data use and evaluation coordination
• A deep commitment to equity, dignity, lived experience, and second chances
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, values-driven environment
• Passionate about food justice, food security, and structural inequality

Duties

Strategic & Organizational Leadership

• 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

Program Leadership

• 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 confi dence
• 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 and anti-violence, training, coaching, and support
• Promote a calm, values-aligned approach to crisis response

Evaluation, Data & Outcomes

• Serve as the internal lead for evaluation readiness and coordination
• Align internal practices, data systems, and routines with the expectations and methods of external evaluation partners
• Tell the story behind the data in clear, accessible ways that illuminate progress, challenges, and impact
• Disseminate data internally so all teams operate with the same up-to-date information, eliminating silos and discrepancies
• Create simple, reliable systems for making program metrics readily available to staff, leadership, and stakeholders
• Ensure data informs decision-making, team coaching, program improvements, and alignment across all verticals
• Support team in understanding how their work contributes to outcomes and how to use data to strengthen practice
• Prepare internal updates and funder-ready summaries that translate data into compelling narrative
• Support timely reporting of outcomes to the CEO, COO, CDO, and key stakeholders

Cross-Team & External Coordination

• Ensure alignment between Programs and DCF regarding fellow experience and expectations, communication and handoffs, alumni employment pipelines
• Collaborate with Development on grant language, reporting and site visits
• Intentional and focused engagement with external partners, ensuring representation aligns with Drive Change’s organizational priorities

May be assigned other responsibilities as determined by the Executive Director.