Assistant Director Child Care and Preschool

Position Overview

Kid’s Haven Child Care & Preschool is seeking an energetic, dependable, organized, and relationship-focused Assistant Director for our new Monticello location.

The Assistant Director will work closely with the Director to help establish and maintain a safe, welcoming, high-quality child care environment. As a new Kid’s Haven location, this position offers the opportunity to help build a team, establish expectations, grow enrollment, develop strong family relationships, and create a positive center culture from the beginning.

This is a hands-on leadership position. The Assistant Director should expect to spend time throughout the center supporting classrooms, coaching employees, assisting families, monitoring licensing requirements, helping with staffing and scheduling, and stepping into classrooms or other roles when needed.

The Assistant Director will serve as a key support to the Director and will be expected to confidently oversee center operations in the Director’s absence.

At Kid’s Haven, our priorities begin with the health and safety of children, high-quality care through intentional interactions, and leading children, families, and employees with kindness and empathy.

Key Responsibilities

• Work directly with the Director to support the opening and ongoing operation of Kid’s Haven Monticello.
• Serve as a consistent leadership presence throughout the center.
• Assume responsibility for center operations when the Director is unavailable.
• Help establish a positive Kid’s Haven culture built around safety, quality, relationships, kindness, empathy, flexibility, honesty, boundaries, and accountability.
• Support daily staffing and scheduling based on enrollment, attendance, classroom ratios, employee availability, and center needs.
• Monitor classrooms throughout the day to ensure appropriate ratios, supervision, engagement, and licensing compliance.
• Step into classrooms and provide direct care when needed to maintain ratios or support employees.
• Assist with recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and training new employees.
• Conduct employee check-ins and provide ongoing coaching, modeling, and feedback.
• Help ensure new employees receive the training and support necessary to be successful in their positions.
• Reinforce Kid’s Haven policies, procedures, and expectations consistently.
• Address concerns with employees promptly and professionally and communicate significant concerns to the Director.
• Assist with employee performance evaluations, professional development, and corrective action as directed by the Director.
• Support teachers with classroom management, routines, transitions, child development, and intentional interactions.
• Model positive interactions with children and demonstrate appropriate classroom practices for employees.
• Support implementation of Creative Curriculum and Kid’s Haven programming expectations.
• Help ensure classrooms are organized, engaging, developmentally appropriate, and prepared for children each day.
• Monitor the center for health, safety, cleanliness, and supervision concerns and ensure concerns are corrected promptly.
• Assist with maintaining compliance with Minnesota DCYF child care licensing requirements, Rule 3, background studies, staff qualifications, training requirements, ratios, supervision, health and safety requirements, and applicable regulations.
• Help maintain accurate child, staff, training, licensing, and center documentation.
• Assist with preparing for licensing visits and implementing corrective actions when necessary.
• Build positive and professional relationships with families.
• Assist with family questions, concerns, enrollment, classroom transitions, and daily communication.
• Conduct tours for prospective families and help create a welcoming first impression of Kid’s Haven.
• Assist with enrollment and retention efforts as the Monticello location grows.
• Support community events, family events, marketing initiatives, and other center activities.
• Assist with ordering supplies and monitoring center needs.
• Help ensure the building remains clean, safe, organized, and welcoming.
• Communicate concerns, staffing challenges, licensing issues, family concerns, and operational needs promptly to the Director.
• Complete additional responsibilities as needed to support the children, employees, families, Director, and overall success of Kid’s Haven Monticello.

Leadership Expectations

The Assistant Director is expected to be a visible and active leader.

This position is not intended to be an office-only administrative role. The Assistant Director should regularly be present in classrooms, interact with children and employees, communicate with families, observe practices, provide coaching, and recognize when additional support is needed.

Kid’s Haven is a busy and flexible child care environment. Plans can change quickly based on child attendance, employee call-ins, classroom needs, behaviors, enrollment, or other circumstances. The Assistant Director must be able to adjust priorities while continuing to maintain safety, licensing compliance, quality care, and positive relationships.

The Assistant Director should be comfortable providing direction and holding employees accountable while continuing to lead with kindness and empathy.

Partnership With the Director

A strong Director and Assistant Director partnership is essential to the success of Kid’s Haven Monticello.

The Assistant Director is expected to:

• Communicate openly and honestly with the Director.
• Keep the Director informed of important staff, child, family, licensing, and operational concerns.
• Follow through on delegated responsibilities.
• Help identify concerns before they become larger problems.
• Provide consistent messaging and expectations to employees.
• Support decisions once they have been communicated to the team.
• Ask questions or request additional training when expectations are unclear.
• Be willing to take initiative rather than waiting for every task to be assigned.
• Provide solutions and ideas when challenges arise.
• Maintain confidentiality and professional boundaries.
• Be prepared to lead the center confidently when the Director is unavailable.

The Director and Assistant Director should operate as a leadership team, while recognizing that the Director maintains overall responsibility and final decision-making authority for the center.

Qualifications

• Must meet all applicable Minnesota DCYF qualification requirements for the position.
• Early childhood education or child care experience strongly preferred.
• Previous supervisory, lead teacher, management, or leadership experience preferred.
• Experience working directly with children in a licensed child care setting preferred.
• Knowledge of child development and developmentally appropriate practices.
• Knowledge of Minnesota child care licensing requirements and Rule 3 preferred.
• Ability to supervise, coach, train, and provide constructive feedback to employees.
• Ability to manage staffing needs and maintain required classroom ratios.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to communicate professionally with employees, families, licensing representatives, and leadership.
• Comfortable having difficult conversations and addressing concerns when expectations are not being met.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to remain organized in a fast-paced environment.
• Dependable, flexible, approachable, and willing to assist wherever needed.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and appropriate professional boundaries.
• Must complete all required background studies, training, certifications, and continuing education required by Minnesota licensing and Kid’s Haven.

What Success Looks Like

A successful Kid’s Haven Monticello Assistant Director:

• Prioritizes the health and safety of children in every decision.
• Is visible and actively involved throughout the center.
• Builds meaningful relationships with children, families, and employees.
• Helps employees feel supported while also holding them accountable.
• Recognizes when an employee needs additional training and helps provide it.
• Ensures policies and procedures are followed consistently.
• Identifies concerns early and communicates them to the Director.
• Helps maintain appropriate staffing, ratios, and supervision.
• Supports high-quality, intentional interactions between employees and children.
• Helps classrooms remain organized, engaging, clean, and safe.
• Communicates professionally and consistently with families.
• Takes initiative and follows through on responsibilities.
• Remains flexible when the needs of the center change.
• Can confidently lead daily operations when the Director is unavailable.
• Contributes to growing enrollment and building a strong reputation for the new Monticello center.

About Kid’s Haven

Kid’s Haven Child Care & Preschool provides care for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. We strive to create environments where children are safe, supported, engaged, and able to learn through relationships, play, exploration, and intentional experiences.

We believe children need to feel seen, heard, safe, and valued, and we expect our leadership team to create an environment where employees and families experience those same values.

The opening of Kid’s Haven Monticello provides an exciting opportunity to build a strong program and team from the ground up. The Assistant Director will play an important role in establishing the culture, expectations, relationships, and quality that will shape the center for years to come.

Pay: $50,000.00 - $60,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Tuition reimbursement

Work Location: In person

Salary : $50,000 - $60,000