Director of Client Services

Agency: Office of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman

Position: Director of Client Services

Status: Full-Time

FLSA: Exempt
Location: Denver, Colorado, Hybrid
Reports to: Child Protection Ombudsman (Chief Executive Officer)

Salary: $120,000 - $135,000 annually

• Salary placement within the range will be based on qualifications and experience.

Lead with purpose. Make a difference for Colorado’s children and families.

About the Office

The Office of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman (CPO) is an independent state office established in statute to provide oversight of Colorado’s child protection system. The CPO serves as a neutral forum for people to raise concerns about child protection services and provides credible, system-level insight to state leaders. Through complaint review, investigation, and analysis, the CPO identifies patterns and recommends improvements that strengthen fairness, accountability, and outcomes for Colorado’s children, youth, and families. Housed within the Colorado Judicial Branch, the CPO operates independently from the agencies it reviews.

The Position

The CPO is seeking an experienced, thoughtful, and service-oriented leader to serve as its Director of Client Services. This position leads the department responsible for receiving and assessing concerns, helping clients understand available options, conducting objective reviews, and identifying opportunities for improvement within Colorado’s child protection system.

The Director will lead and manage an established department that handles complex, sensitive, and often urgent matters affecting children and families. Working through two mid-level managers, the Director will establish clear expectations, strengthen service practices, support sound decision-making, and ensure employees have the direction and resources needed to perform effectively. The successful candidate will balance empathy with objectivity, individual client needs with systemic responsibilities, and responsive service with consistent departmental standards.

What You Will Accomplish

During your first year, you will:

• Establish strong working relationships with the department’s managers and employees while developing a clear understanding of its responsibilities, workflows, and service standards.
• Provide effective leadership for and through two lead case analysts, creating clear accountability for employee performance, workload management, professional development, and consistent service delivery.
• Evaluate departmental operations and identify practical opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, consistency, and the client experience.
• Strengthen the department’s approach to complex client matters by supporting sound judgment, objective review, effective communication, and timely resolution.
• Use client-service information and emerging patterns to help identify systemic concerns and inform CPO’s broader improvement efforts.
• Collaborate with CPO leadership and other departments to align client services with organizational priorities, statutory responsibilities, and performance expectations.

What You Will Bring

The successful candidate will be an experienced team leader who can provide direction and accountability while maintaining a supportive, collaborative working environment. You will be comfortable leading and supervising a department, managing and developing team leads, making thoughtful decisions in complex situations, and helping employees perform emotionally demanding work with consistency and professionalism.

You will bring:

• Leadership experience that includes managing employees, strengthening performance, and supporting professional development.
• The ability to lead an established department through team leads/managers, with clear expectations, appropriate delegation, and consistent follow-through.
• Sound judgment when addressing complex, sensitive, or high-impact matters involving children, families, professionals, and public systems.
• Experience improving departmental practices, workflows, service quality, or organizational performance.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to listen carefully, communicate difficult information, and build productive working relationships.
• The ability to interpret information, identify patterns, and use data and client experiences to inform decisions and organizational improvement.
• A commitment to impartiality, confidentiality, equitable access, and respectful service.
• The ability to collaborate across departments and contribute as a member of the organization’s leadership team.

Minimum Qualifications

To be considered for this position, you must have:

• An undergraduate degree in human services, social work, public administration, or a closely related field and at least seven years of progressively responsible professional experience in child welfare, child protection, juvenile justice, behavioral health, or a closely related child-serving system. An equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may substitute for the degree requirement.
• At least five years of professional experience involving complex case management, case oversight, case consultation, or the review and evaluation of cases involving children, youth, and families.
• At least four years of progressively responsible management experience, including direct supervision of professional staff responsible for complex caseloads.
• Experience managing a program, department, or significant operational area, including responsibility for staffing, workload and caseload management, performance, policies and procedures, resources, and service delivery.
• Advanced knowledge of Colorado’s child protection system, including applicable laws, regulations, policies, and practices, and its intersection with state and county human services, behavioral health, juvenile justice, courts, and other child-serving systems.
• Experience evaluating casework, service-delivery trends, or program operations to identify practice or systemic issues and inform operational improvements.
• Experience collaborating across agencies, disciplines, or systems and communicating complex information effectively to internal and external audiences.
• The demonstrated ability to exercise independent judgment, manage competing priorities, maintain confidentiality, and work effectively as a member of an organizational leadership team.

Preferred Qualifications

We are especially interested in candidates who also have the following:

• An advanced degree in social work, human services, public administration, public policy, or a closely related field.
• Professional experience within Colorado’s child welfare or child protection system, including work with state or county human services agencies.
• Experience supervising managers or supervisors responsible for professional staff and complex case-management operations.
• Experience with independent oversight, investigations, ombudsman work, or other functions involving impartial review of government or child-serving systems.
• Experience developing or overseeing quality assurance, continuous improvement, or case-review processes within a child-serving or client-services program.
• Experience presenting complex program, case, or systemic information to boards, public officials, community partners, or other professional audiences.
• Experience or training in conflict resolution, mediation, facilitation, or alternative dispute resolution.

Work Environment

This is a hybrid leadership position based in Denver, Colorado. Periodic statewide travel is required.

The role requires resilience, professionalism, and the ability to respond thoughtfully to urgent or sensitive matters while maintaining focus on long-term organizational effectiveness and agency priorities.

Agency Values

The CPO’s work is guided by the following principles:

• Integrity – Transparent, impartial, and consistent
• Collaboration – Change through shared knowledge and partnership
• Equity – Systems responsive to diverse experiences and needs
• Curiosity – Continuous learning and reform
• Independence – Autonomy from the agencies reviewed

Benefits and Equal Opportunity

The position includes a comprehensive State of Colorado benefits package, including medical and dental coverage, paid leave and holidays, retirement through Colorado PERA, and eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Click here for more information regarding employee benefits: State of Colorado Employee Benefits

The Office of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to full inclusion and reasonable accommodations.

Conditions of Employment:

• This is a national recruitment open to applicants residing in the United States.
  • The selected candidate must reside in Colorado within the first 30 days of employment, preferably within 100 miles of Denver. Relocation assistance or reimbursement is not provided for this position. 

• Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal and personal background check.
• Employment is also contingent upon successful completion of the Colorado TRAILS background check process.

Application Deadline: October 16, 2026, at 115:59 pm