Assistant Center Director
Assistant Director
Early Childhood Education | Center Leadership | Full-Time | West Peabody, MA
Lead With Purpose. Grow a Thriving Early Education Community.
Magical Beginnings is hiring an Assistant Director to join the leadership team at our West Peabody center. If you're an experienced childcare or early education professional ready to step into center leadership, we'd love to meet you.
As part of the center leadership team, you'll help ensure the center runs safely, efficiently, and successfully, while building a culture where staff, children, and families all thrive. You'll oversee key areas like enrollment, teacher retention, daily operations, and center events, and help create an environment where every teacher feels appreciated, supported, and motivated.
During the school’s current growth phase, this role will be primarily classroom-based, with approximately 95% of your time spent supporting teaching teams and children directly in the classroom. This structure provides an opportunity to remain connected to the educational experience while gaining hands-on exposure to the leadership, operations, and team support responsibilities of an Assistant Director.
As enrollment grows and the school reaches greater capacity, the focus of the role will naturally shift. Classroom responsibilities will decrease as administrative, operational, staff-support, family-engagement, and leadership responsibilities increase. This creates a meaningful opportunity to grow alongside the school and transition progressively into a broader school leadership role.
We are looking for someone who is excited by the opportunity to be part of that growth-to lead by example in the classroom today while building the skills, relationships, and experience to take on greater leadership responsibilities tomorrow.
What You'll Need to Succeed:
- Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education, or another degree with relevant experience or training
- EEC Director I Certification required, with Director II preferred; current First Aid/CPR, updated State Registry, and active continuing education
- Solid understanding of licensure regulations, including licensing visits, communication with licensors, and adapting to regulatory changes
- Minimum of 2-4 years of experience as an Assistant Director, Lead Teacher, or Keyholder/Mentor Teacher in an early childhood education setting
What You'll Do:
- Oversee all center operations in line with state regulations and Magical Beginnings' mission, goals, and handbooks
- Ensure child-to-teacher ratios, safety regulations, and licensure requirements are consistently met
- Prepare the center for licensing visits, communicate with licensors, and adapt to regulatory changes
- Keep all staff and child files in compliance, and ensure monthly fire drills are completed
- Schedule staff within budgeted payroll guidelines while maintaining licensure and quality standards
- Guide and support the teaching team toward excellence
- Build strong relationships with staff through active listening, understanding individual goals, and fostering a cohesive, cooperative team
- Conduct monthly staff meetings, one-on-one check-ins, and parent meetings as needed
- Ensure implementation of a developmental, multicultural curriculum that supports skill and social development across all age groups
- Review classroom schedules to ensure appropriate skill progression, and monitor curriculum implementation
- Support staff in assessing and recording children's growth using Teacher Strategies Gold
- Provide excellent customer service, exceeding expectations for families and staff alike
Compliance & Operations
Team Leadership
Curriculum & Classroom Quality
Customer Service
What We Can Offer:
- Balance: Paid time off, a paid week-long winter break, and 13 paid holidays for full-time staff
- Family Support: Significant childcare discount and parental leave
- Growth: Paid professional development, tuition reimbursement, and career growth opportunities
- Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life, and long-term disability, plus additional ancillary benefits
- Connection: Staff appreciation events and community outreach projects
We believe in work-life balance, and we have fun together too. We offer competitive wages based on education and experience, full-time benefits, and flexible schedules.