Join Pacific Quest and make a difference!
Pacific Quest provides licensed and accredited residential mental healthcare on Hawaii Island and is a leader in integrative, nature-based residential treatment for adolescents and young adults.
Why You’ll Love Working Here
- Be part of a mission-driven team committed to fostering health, connection, and resilience
- Work in a collaborative, supportive environment where every role contributes to life-changing outcomes
- Enjoy competitive pay, great benefits
Location: Hilo, Hawaii (Reeds Bay) with cross-site oversight at 26th Street
Department: Program / Residential
Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt
Schedule: Monday–Friday; weekends and on-call as needed
Reports To: Executive Director
Role Purpose
The Program Director (PD) is responsible for the execution, consistency, and overall health of residential programming at Pacific Quest. This role ensures program fidelity to Pacific Quest’s Treatment Framework while developing strong, accountable leadership across sites. The Program Director works in close partnership with the Executive Director to translate organizational priorities into effective program practice and to surface trends, risks, and system needs that inform executive decision-making.
Core Accountabilities
1. Program Leadership & Fidelity
- Ensure residential programming aligns with Pacific Quest’s Treatment Model, Developmental Framework, and Core Therapeutic Experiences.
- Maintain consistent standards related to professionalism, safety, language, media use, and resident engagement.
- Identify and correct program drift through coaching, training, and system improvement.
- Partner with Clinical, Medical, Quality Assurance, and Operations leaders to maintain alignment without role overlap.
2. Leadership & Team Performance
- Directly supervise the Program Managers and Team Managers
- Establish clear expectations, accountability rhythms, and performance standards.
- Coach and develop leaders to function independently and effectively.
- Build leadership bench strength and support succession readiness.
3. Cross-Site Program Oversight
- Maintain core program consistency across Reeds Bay and 26th Street while respecting developmental differences.
- Support the 26th Street Program Manager in adapting programming appropriately for young adults.
- Serve as the primary escalation point for program-level trends or risks, not daily operational issues.
4. Staffing Model Integrity
- Oversee staffing models, ratios, and readiness relative to census.
- Partner with HR and Operations on hiring priorities, onboarding readiness, and retention trends.
- Ensure Program Managers and Team Managers execute scheduling and coverage appropriately.
- Identify staffing risks early and propose structural solutions.
Transitional Program Manager Responsibilities (Reeds Bay)
- Until census and staffing allow for re-expansion of Program Manager capacity, the Program Director will support select PM-level functions at the Reeds Bay campus, including:
- Oversight of day-to-day program flow for the Adolescent population.
- Support to Team Managers in schedule execution, coverage coordination, and resident programming.
- Coordination of daily alignment with Clinical and Medical teams.
- Serving as the primary program escalation point for Reeds Bay.
- These responsibilities are temporary by design. The Program Director is expected to build systems and leader capacity that allow these functions to be delegated as the organization scales.
On-Site Presence & Field Engagement
- This is a fully on-site, field-based leadership role. The Program Director is expected to maintain regular physical presence at Reeds Bay and consistent engagement at the 26th Street campus.
- This position is not remote.
- Visibility, in-person leadership, and real-time observation are essential to effective program leadership.
Field Support & Coverage Expectations
- While the Program Director is not a primary coverage role, organizational needs may occasionally require the PD to be present in the field to support coverage, continuity of care, or leadership stability.
- Field support is expected to be situational and time-limited, not routine.
- When providing coverage support, the PD maintains a leadership role and evaluates whether repeated coverage needs indicate a broader structural issue requiring correction.
Qualifications & Competencies
- Required: Master’s degree or equivalent leadership experience in residential, behavioral health, or experiential treatment settings
- Required: Demonstrated experience leading other leaders
- Required: Strong understanding of trauma-informed, developmentally aligned care
- Required: High emotional regulation, professionalism, and judgment
- Required: Prehire and ongoing background and fingerprint checks
- Required: Prehire and annual physical and TB clearance
- Required: Drug screen clearance
- Required: Maintain current CPR, First Aid, and CPI certification
- Required: Pacific Quest compliance training must be kept up to date
- Required: Must maintain active personal automobile insurance and provide proof of coverage, as use of a personal vehicle is required in the performance of essential job functions. Must also submit annual driver’s abstracts in order to meet company auto insurance requirements.
- Preferred: Experience in adolescent and/or young adult residential treatment
- Preferred: Familiarity with integrated clinical–experiential models
- Preferred: Experience in organizations undergoing professionalization or growth
Physical Demands
- With or without reasonable accommodation, the physical and mental requirements of this job may include the following: seeing, hearing, speaking, and writing clearly. Occasional reaching with hands and arms, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, frequent sitting, standing and walking, may be required for long periods of time and may involve climbing stairs, walking up inclines and on uneven terrain. Additional physical requirements may include, frequent lifting and or moving up to 25 pounds.
Salary
Salary range: $110,000 – $140,000 a year
Benefits
- Healthcare including preventative health, prescription, dental and vision benefits
- Paid time off accrual and holiday pay
- Paid parental leave
- 401(k) plan
- Prodeals and discounts
Pacific Quest is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. Pacific Quest is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, contact Human Resources at
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