Lead Occupational Therapist - Part Time/Full Time - Pediatrics

Description

Job Description

Occupational Therapy Leadership Role

Skills on the Hill — Arlington, VA & Washington, DC

A leadership role for the senior clinician who still loves the work.

You've been doing this long enough to know what good clinical care looks like — and what gets in its way. You've also realized that the way you can have the biggest impact now isn't just one child at a time. It's by shaping the clinicians around you, the culture they practice in, and the systems that either support great work or quietly undermine it.

Skills on the Hill is a pediatric OT, PT, and speech practice with locations on Capitol Hill in DC and in Arlington, VA. We're hiring an experienced Occupational Therapist to join our OT leadership team. Depending on experience and fit, this role could be structured as a supervisor working alongside our existing OT supervisors, or as a clinical manager with broader departmental scope. We'll figure out the right fit together.

This is a full-time role, structured roughly as 80% clinical and 20% leadership. You'll keep your hands in the work that drew you to this field, and use the rest of your time to mentor, develop systems, and help our OT team be the best version of itself.

What's different here

A practice built around clinician wellbeing, not against it. Lower caseload targets, on purpose. Real time to think, document, prep, and grow. We've intentionally chosen a model that costs us more — because we believe it's the only way to do this work well over a career.

Leadership that's supported, not isolated. You won't be the only adult in the room. You'll work closely with our Clinical Director, Administrative Manager, fellow OT leaders, and the leads of our PT and Speech departments. We share the work, share the thinking, and have each other's backs.

A team worth investing in. Our OT clinicians are curious, kind, accountable, and genuinely invested in their growth. They will challenge you, learn from you, and make you better at this too.

Comprehensive benefits and protected PD. Our health, retirement, and PTO benefits are meaningfully richer than what's standard in private pediatric practice. We fund continuing education and protect time for it. Curiosity is the norm, not the exception.

Operational support that lets you actually lead. Scheduling is handled by our admin team. Intake, billing, and front-desk operations are run by people who are excellent at their jobs. You won't be drowning in tasks that should belong to someone else.

A note on compensation

We'll be straight with you: our base salaries are not the highest in the DMV. They're competitive and fair for a leadership-track clinician, but if you're comparison-shopping on salary alone, some practices will quote you a bigger number.

It's worth reading between the lines on those offers. Higher salaries in this field are almost always funded by something — usually high caseloads, minimal mentoring, thin benefits, high turnover, or a culture that quietly burns people out. We've chosen a different model. We invest in lower caseloads, real mentorship, comprehensive benefits, and a workplace people stay at. For a leadership role especially, the total package — and the version of your career it makes possible — is where the real value lives.

If that tradeoff resonates, you're probably one of us.

What you'll do

On the clinical side (~80%)

• Carry a meaningful pediatric OT caseload — evaluations, treatment planning, and ongoing care across the diagnostic range we serve
• Use play, creativity, and evidence-based practice to help kids access their potential
• Partner closely with families, caregivers, teachers, and our multidisciplinary team
• Stay sharp clinically — because credibility as a leader starts with being a clinician your team respects

On the leadership side (~20%)

The specific scope will depend on the role you step into, but core leadership contributions include:

• Supervise, mentor, and develop a portion of our OT clinicians
• Participate in OT hiring (resume review, interviews, fit assessment) and onboarding
• Contribute to discipline-specific competencies, clinical resources, and assessment libraries
• Collaborate with fellow OT leaders, the Clinical Director, and other discipline leads on companywide initiatives
• Contribute to OT marketing efforts and help develop new programming
• Provide clinical input on intake decisions when needed
• Partner with the Administrative Manager on scheduling and operational questions for the OT team
• Help refine and document OT-specific procedures so the department runs well as it grows
• Provide backup clinical coverage in case of emergencies

A clinical manager role would carry broader departmental scope across both of the above — including oversight of OT supervisors and accountability for the OT team as a whole.

The practical stuff

• Full-time role, with scheduling flexibility
• Waitlist of families ready to start
• Accrued PTO, employer-paid professional liability insurance
• Comprehensive health and retirement benefits
• Two beautiful clinic locations with sensory gyms, treatment spaces, and clinical resources you'll actually want to use

Requirements

Who you are

• A licensed Occupational Therapist in Virginia and/or DC (or eligible for both)
• 5+ years of pediatric OT experience, with depth across outpatient, school-based, and/or early intervention settings — and a wide range of diagnoses and ages
• Prior supervisory, mentoring, or formal leadership experience strongly preferred (more extensive leadership experience would be relevant for a clinical manager-level role)
• A degree in OT from an accredited institution and current NBCOT certification
• Grounded in evidence-based practice, with real expertise in sensory integration, feeding, motor planning, executive function, and the rest of the beautiful complexity of pediatric OT
• A clear, kind, and direct communicator — comfortable having growth conversations, giving feedback, and advocating for your team
• A strong critical thinker who can balance clinical priorities, team needs, and organizational realities
• Aligned with our core values: collaboration, inclusivity, lifelong learning, accountability, credibility, and adaptability
• Comfortable with the tech basics (Microsoft Office, iPad, EMR) and able to exercise sound judgment and discretion with confidential information

Clinical expertise

Our practice specializes in working with children who present with:

• Feeding difficulties and oral motor delays
• Sensory processing and motor planning differences
• Global developmental delays
• Neuromuscular impairments
• Genetic disorders
• Learning disabilities
• Autism
• ADHD and self-regulation challenges
• Executive functioning weaknesses
• Visual motor and perceptual deficits
• Cerebral Palsy
• Down Syndrome

We're looking for someone with genuine breadth across these areas — and the clinical judgment to mentor others through cases they haven't seen before.

Pre-employment requirements

• Current Virginia and/or DC Board of Occupational Therapy license (or eligibility)
• Current NBCOT certification
• Valid CPR/first aid certification (or ability to obtain)
• Current TB test
• Ability to pass a standard background check

Physical requirements

• Extensive standing and walking throughout the day
• Lifting, positioning, and transferring pediatric patients
• Frequent reaching, stooping, bending, kneeling, and crouching