Senior Director of Behavioral Health Services

Position Title: Senior Director of Behavioral Health Services

Organization: Jewish Family Service of San Diego

Department: Behavioral Health Services

Position Type: Full-Time (37.5+ hours/week), Exempt

Work Setting: Fully Onsite

Reports To: Chief Program & Impact Officer

Pay Range: $110,000 - $125,000/year

Total Compensation:  

In addition to standard pay, compensation for this position includes:

• Comprehensive, low-cost healthcare coverage for employees


• Generous employer 401(k) contributions


• Employer-covered life insurance

Time Away from Work:

Being able to take time away from work is critical in bringing your best self to work. Time off benefits for this position include:

• Paid vacation time and sick leave


• 15 paid holidays, including Federal and Jewish holidays (as long as the holiday lands on a normal scheduled work day), and floating holidays


• 2 Wellness Days to be taken any time during the year to support employees’ mental wellness

Position Overview:

Jewish Family Service of San Diego is seeking a compassionate, mission-driven leader to serve as Senior Director of Behavioral Health Services. This role provides strategic, clinical, and operational leadership for behavioral health programs serving families, individuals including teens, adults, and older adults, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive services.

The Senior Director is responsible for overseeing outreach and clinical programming, supervising clinicians, and ensuring regulatory and ethical compliance, managing program outcomes and budgets, and collaborating across JFS departments to support program implementation. The Senior Director will oversee behavioral health services programming, including new fee for service programs and those contracted with County of San Diego’s Child and Family Well Being, Behavioral Health, and Probation Departments. This position reports directly to the Chief Program and Impact Officer. This position is a member of the Senior Leadership team (SLT), that includes a set of peers who work as Senior Directors and Vice Presidents. The SLT continues to grow and is critical in setting agency culture, cross-functional problem solving, and communication.

Priorities for the first six months:

• Stand up updated Medi-Cal and private billing processes, in collaboration with JFS’s Finance & Accounting, and Technology Services team


• Identify and begin to implement solutions related to creating fee-for-service programs in the counseling space, including both with public and private payors


• Ensure successful implementation of a new Brief Strategic Family Therapy contract with the County of San Diego’s Probation Department


• Develop goals and outcomes of the Behavioral Health Services program portfolio, and orient and onboard to leading programs at JFS

Responsibilities:

• Drive behavioral health services program strategy through the refinement and innovation of program offerings with a focus on aligning with the JFS outcome areas and responding to exogenous factors in behavioral health policy and other areas


• Provide overall leadership and operational oversight of behavioral health services directors and new programs


• Provide clinical and administrative supervision to licensed and associate clinical staff, interns as well as program support staff


• Ensure program and staff compliance with HIPAA, ethical standards, agency policies, and funding requirements


• Oversee data collection, evaluation, and timely reporting of program outcomes and quality metrics


• Create and maintain a multi-million budget in partnership with direct reports and other departments, oversee billing activities


• Participate in meetings, partnerships, and collaboratives relevant to behavioral health and family services


• Maintain a small clinical caseload to support staff development, quality assurance, and best practices in behavioral health care


• Ensure timely, accurate, and compliant clinical documentation


• Support continuous quality improvement and staff training initiatives


• Perform other duties as assigned

Skills/Experience/Abilities That Are a Must-Have:

• Active Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) license in good standing with the State of California


• Minimum of two (2) years of post-licensure clinical experience


• Ability to provide clinical supervision to associate-level clinicians


• Ability to pass a pre-employment drug test and criminal history background check


• Valid California driver’s license, insurance, reliable personal vehicle, and willingness to travel off-site as needed


• Demonstrated cultural humility and responsiveness in working with diverse populations


• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Skills/Abilities We’d Like You to Have:

• Experience providing behavioral health services to a variety of populations


• Experience in program leadership or management within a behavioral health setting


• Experience with County of San Diego contracts, ideally with Behavioral Health Services Department and Probation Department


• Familiarity with trauma-informed, strength-based, and evidence-informed practices


• Experience working in nonprofit or community-based mental health settings preferred

Physical Requirements:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, talk, and listen. The employee frequently is required to stand, walk, use hands and arms to type on a keyboard, handle papers, and reach for the phone. Employees must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Other Duties:

Please note that this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. 

Important Notice:

Please submit your resume and cover letter on your application.

Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Please, no phone calls. Please, principals only. Please, local candidates only (relocation is not provided).

About Jewish Family Service of San Diego
Jewish Family Service of San Diego is a client-centered, impact-driven organization working to build a stronger, more resilient community.  For over 100 years, Jewish Family Service has been a trusted resource for the entire community, offering an array of services that are always life-changing, and often life-saving.  At Jewish Family Service, we believe our employees are the backbone of our Agency.  We strive to ensure that each employee is treated with dignity and respect.  Our goal is your success.  Come work at JFS and be our partner in Moving Forward Together.  To learn more about JFS, please visit jfssd.org. 

*Jewish Family Service is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.