Lead Program Support Specialist

The Lead Program Support Specialist serves as the senior operational and grants management advisor supporting the Office of Head Start (OHS) Regional Office(s). This position provides technical leadership for discretionary grant administration, program oversight, compliance monitoring, recipient engagement, and customer service activities supporting Head Start, Early Head Start, and Early Head Start–Child Care Partnership grants. The Lead Program Support Specialist coordinates complex grants management activities, provides technical guidance to project staff, supports continuous quality improvement initiatives, and serves as a senior resource to Federal staff on grant administration, program performance, and operational priorities.

Responsibilities:

• Provide senior-level grants management and programmatic support for Head Start and Early Head Start grants.
• Coordinate daily operational support activities for assigned OHS Regional Office(s).
• Review and analyze grant applications, supplemental funding requests, budget modifications, and change-in-scope requests.
• Support grant award processing, post-award administration, and grant closeout activities.
• Conduct analyses of program performance reports, monitoring findings, Quality Improvement Plans, and recipient documentation.
• Monitor recipient performance and identify programmatic, fiscal, operational, and compliance risks.
• Prepare reports, memoranda, correspondence, presentations, and analytical products.
• Provide technical assistance to grant recipients and Federal staff.
• Participate in monitoring reviews, risk assessments, onsite visits, and follow-up activities.
• Support national initiatives including FEI, Change in Scope, under-enrollment, and child incident activities.
• Develop training materials, SOPs, and process improvement recommendations.
• Mentor Program Support Specialists and ensure compliance with HHS, ACF, OHS, and contract requirements.

Qualifications:

• At least 5 years of progressive professional experience directly related to early childhood programs, with a preference for Head Start/Early Head Start programs.
• Experience with federal discretionary grants management, non-profit or for-profit program and/or financial management, and regulatory compliance monitoring and oversight.
• Demonstrated ability in utilizing a variety of web-based and off-the- shelf data management software packages.
• Demonstrated ability to aggregate, analyze, and present data gathered from multiple sources.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly, both orally and in writing, and produce high-quality written products such as memoranda, presentations, and correspondence.
• At least 2 years supervisory experience preferred.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting OHS or ACF.
• Experience with HSES, AMS, GrantSolutions, and Smartsheet.
• Experience supporting Head Start monitoring reviews, FEI, Change in Scope, and technical assistance.
• Experience developing training and process improvements.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education, Human Services, Public Administration, or a related field from an accredited college or university.