Early Years Strategy Specialist

Position Details

• Job Status: Permanent Full-Time
• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Union: Non-Union
• Number of Positions: 1
• Hours of Work: 35
• Location: Health & Family Services Building
• Closing Date: September 16, 2026 at 11:59pm EST

Job Description

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has an opening for a permanent full-time Early Years Strategy Specialist in the Child Care & Early Years division.

The Early Years Strategy Specialist is responsible for enhancing the capacity of the early years sector to deliver high-quality programs that meet both local and provincial standards. The Early Years Strategy Specialist works with the Program Manager of Early Learning Supports to prioritize projects, agree on required partners and develop project goals, roles and responsibilities on initiatives. Relying on their education, years of direct experience and understanding of the pressures facing the early learning and child care sector, the Early Years Strategy Specialist works to strengthen the impact that this sector has on Chatham-Kent families and children. The Early Years Strategy Specialist will work with the child care community and other community partner agencies and will provide support, advice, mentorship, guidance, resources, and training. The Early Years Strategy Specialist is responsible for working across disciplines with municipal, provincial and local early years sector organizations and partners to plan, organize and lead a variety of capacity building projects that are designed to improve the capacity and skillset of the early years workforce.

Essential Responsibilities

• Demonstrates Chatham-Kent’s core values and competencies.
• Establishes and monitors community wide quality standards that promote best practices and communicates these standards to early years sector agencies and practitioners.
• Develops, maintains and promotes the use of quality assurance tools (e.g. ASQ) and ensures programs are delivered in accordance with the How Does Learning Happen framework.
• Supports sector staff in interpreting various regulations, policies and relevant legislation.
• Delivers on site, voluntary capacity building mentorship programs and is responsive to the changing needs of educators across Chatham-Kent.
• Summarizes assessment results and supports providers in establishing improvement plans and promoting best practices.
• Works as a resource to educators and Inclusion Coaches to respond and support the sector in meeting the unique needs of children.
• Works cooperatively with the Program Evaluator and other data experts to evaluate improvement efforts.
• Maintains accurate records to support annual ministry reporting.
• Establishes, manages and operationalizes broad community-wide professional development and mentorship programs to support the early years sector.
• Represents the municipality at various committees.
• Attends and participates in division meetings, staff meetings, training sessions and other meetings as requested by the director.
• Responsible for tracking and monitoring approved spending within allocated budgets.
• Participates as an active member of the divisional team.
• Develops and manages ongoing projects to support recruitment, retention and sustainability for the Early Childhood Education sector.
• Establishes an ongoing dialogue and partnership with post-secondary institutions and other community partners around strategies to support students entering the ECE field, Professional Development and mentorship for students.
• Coordinates community events to promote quality and support community engagement, including professional networking groups, annual awards events, professional development events, and peer review panels.
• In consultation with the program manager, develops plans of action to support systematic changes ensuring program quality in the early years sector. Assists to coordinate initiatives that contribute to and increase quality standards in the early years sector.
• With assistance from the program manager, responsible for the planning and delivery of the system-wide professional development day.
• Provides project management, leads planning tables and workgroups, facilitates sensitive discussions and sharing sensitive information, delivers training and professional development to professionals/frontline staff as required.

Essential Qualifications

• University degree (preferably in business, public administration, early years or social science), and/or an Early Childhood Educator Diploma with four (4) to six (6) years of related experience.
• Thorough knowledge, understanding and interpretation of early years legislation and related services/program delivery normally acquired through a community college diploma in Early Childhood education and/or a combination of education and work experience.
• Working knowledge of Child Care and Early Years Act.
• Supervisory or leadership experience, preferably in a municipal or early years environment.
• Strong communication skills, written and verbal.
• Previous experience creating communications, marketing and advertising strategies, including social media posts/replies, letters, and other advertising.
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple projects, programs and priorities.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of OneHSN, RBB Database, (or similar programs).
• Demonstrated ability to assess and interpret policies and relevant legislation/regulations.
• Superior report writing, presentation and facilitation skills for a wide array of audiences.
• Experience working with and implementing emergent curriculum frameworks.