Principal Director, Program Development *Remote*

Compassion & Choices is seeking a Principal Director, Program Development

This is a full-time, remote position. The starting salary range is $125,000–$140,000 annually. The final salary offered will be based on relevant experience, qualifications, internal equity, and organizational considerations.

We offer excellent benefits, including employer-shared medical and dental insurance premiums; employer-paid short- and long-term disability, life, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; flexible spending accounts for medical and dependent care; a commuter pre-tax benefit; eligibility to participate in a 401(k) with a generous 5% employer match and immediate vesting upon eligibility; paid holidays; paid time off; and personal days.

This position will primarily be responsible for:

The Principal Director, Program Development will lead the design, implementation, evaluation, and sustainable growth of national end-of-life programs across Compassion & Choices’ strategic priorities, including dementia care, medical assistance in dying (MAID), advance care planning, and emerging areas of need.

This role will ensure patient-directed care is embedded throughout program strategy and delivery by incorporating patients’ values, preferences, autonomy, and lived experiences into program development, implementation, and evaluation.

The Principal Director will develop integrated program strategies, roadmaps, delivery models, governance structures, implementation frameworks, and measurable outcomes aligned with organizational priorities. They will translate organizational strategy into scalable programs, tools, resources, and approaches that can be adapted across communities and jurisdictions while identifying opportunities to address policy, practice, service-delivery, infrastructure, and access barriers affecting patient-directed end-of-life care.

The Principal Director will also build the infrastructure, partnerships, resources, and operating models necessary to support consistent program implementation and sustainable national growth. This includes strengthening organizational and sector capacity through education, training, knowledge sharing, technical assistance, and practical implementation resources.

Additional Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, health systems, government entities, researchers, funders, community organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Establish approaches for evaluating program effectiveness, measuring outcomes, and supporting continuous improvement.
• Identify opportunities for sustainable funding and contribute program expertise to grant strategies, funding proposals, partnership agreements, and other resource-development efforts.
• Monitor developments in end-of-life care, healthcare delivery, emerging practices, and community needs to identify trends, opportunities, and implications for organizational programs and strategy.
• Synthesize program outcomes, stakeholder experiences, implementation lessons, and emerging trends into actionable insights and recommendations for organizational leadership.
• Facilitate cross-functional learning and knowledge sharing so that lessons from program implementation inform future strategies, programs, and organizational decision-making.
• Identify and evaluate opportunities for program innovation, replication, and expansion.
• Represent Compassion & Choices at conferences, coalitions, working groups, consultations, and other external forums.
• Serve as a strategic program resource to organizational leaders and cross-functional teams.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Directly supervises the Integrated Program Manager and may supervise consultants, contractors, or additional program staff as organizational needs evolve.

The Principal Director provides coaching, guidance, workload prioritization, performance feedback, and professional development support to direct reports and assigned consultants. This position also provides functional leadership and strategic direction to cross-functional teams, external partners, subject matter experts, and contractors supporting program development, implementation, evaluation, training, and capacity-building initiatives.

Because this role leads enterprise-level program development and systems-change efforts across multiple functions, success requires the ability to lead and influence teams and initiatives without direct line-management authority over all implementation staff.

Preferred Qualifications (You Will Be a Good Fit)

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Healthcare Administration, Public Administration, Social Work, Nursing, Nonprofit Management, Organizational Leadership, Program Management, or a related field required; an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Master’s degree in a related field preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in program development, healthcare, public health, systems change, nonprofit leadership, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, scaling, and evaluating complex programs across multiple settings, communities, or populations.
• Experience leading systems-change initiatives and addressing healthcare, policy, service-delivery, or access barriers.
• Experience supervising staff and providing functional leadership to cross-functional teams, consultants, volunteers, and external partners.
• Experience building partnerships with healthcare providers, government entities, researchers, community organizations, funders, and other external stakeholders.
• Experience in end-of-life care, serious illness, healthcare, public health, patient advocacy, health equity, or a related mission-driven field strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting grants, funding proposals, partnerships, or other program sustainability strategies preferred.

Skills

• Exceptional written, verbal, facilitation, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex programmatic, healthcare, and systems-change concepts to diverse audiences.
• Exceptional strategic, systems-thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to translate organizational priorities and stakeholder needs into practical, scalable solutions.
• Strong strategic planning, facilitation, consensus-building, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives and manage multiple organizational priorities.
• Ability to assess program performance, identify trends, establish measurable outcomes, and use data to inform planning, resource allocation, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to build trust and communicate effectively with patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, community partners, funders, volunteers, organizational leaders, and other stakeholders.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace, Microsoft Office Suite, CRM platforms, project and program management tools, virtual collaboration platforms, survey and evaluation tools, and reporting applications.

Professional Knowledge

The successful candidate should have advanced knowledge of or experience working with:

• Program development, capacity building, systems change, and sustainable program implementation.
• Translating organizational strategy into scalable program models, implementation frameworks, tools, resources, and measurable outcomes.
• Patient-directed care and incorporating patient, caregiver, community, and stakeholder perspectives into program design, implementation, and evaluation.
• Program evaluation, impact measurement, continuous improvement, and data-informed decision-making.
• Building collaborative relationships and influencing outcomes across departments and with external partners.
• Operating effectively within a national, distributed, and volunteer-powered organization.
• Equity, accessibility, cultural responsiveness, and incorporating lived experience into program development.
• Navigating sensitive issues related to serious illness, caregiving, dying, autonomy, and end-of-life decision-making with professionalism and respect.

Certificates, Licenses, and Registrations

No professional certification or license is required.

Professional certifications or credentials in program management, project management, public health, healthcare quality improvement, implementation science, change management, or related disciplines are preferred but not required.

Travel

Must be able and willing to travel up to 20% of the time, including overnight travel, for partner and stakeholder meetings, conferences, community engagement activities, program implementation and training, organizational meetings and retreats, strategic planning sessions, and other business-related activities as needed.

How to Apply
A current résumé and cover letter should be submitted as one PDF document. 

In your cover letter, please include the following:

1. Explain how your personal philosophy and professional interests align with the mission of Compassion & Choices.
2. Provide a brief summary of the experience, skills, and qualifications that make you a strong candidate for this position.
3. Describe how your approach to collaboration and your professional values would contribute to Compassion & Choices and the work of this role.

Questions about the position may be directed to HR @ compassionandchoices.org.

Please note: no applications submitted via email will be accepted.

About Compassion & Choices
Across the nation, Compassion & Choices works to create a society that affirms life and accepts the inevitability of death, embraces expanded options for compassionate dying, and empowers everyone to choose end-of-life care that reflects their values, priorities, and beliefs. To make this vision a reality, we improve care, expand options, and empower everyone to chart their end-of-life journey.

Compassion & Choices is committed to building a staff that reflects the diverse communities that make up our country. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and recruit, hire, train, promote, and administer personnel actions without regard to any status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.