Job Description

Our Mission: Kindering embraces children of diverse abilities and their families by
providing the finest education and therapies to nurture hope, courage, and the skills to soar.

About Kindering

Kindering was founded in 1962 by five parents of children with disabilities and has grown into the largest and the most comprehensive neurodevelopment center in the Northwest serving familiesthrough pediatric therapies, special education, parent supports, trainings, and more.

Kindering annually directly serves over 3,000 children through 20+ programs across four different campuses located in Bellevue, Bothell, Redmond, and Renton. The offerings designed and provided by Kindering’s expert staff are delivered in-home, in the community, and within the four Kindering centers to meet the needs of children, their parents, caregivers and siblings.

Current Facts and Figures

• $28M budget for 2025
• Families speak 54 languages and live in more than 45 cities
• 3,200+ children and their families will receive direct services in 2025.In addition, Kindering will impact the care of thousands of additional families through consultation, training, resources, information, and advocacy
• 4 campus sites in Bellevue, Bothell, Renton, and Redmond
• Comprehensive programs serving children and their families including Early Support Intervention Services, Pediatric Services, Early Learning and Family Supports
• ~300 dedicated staff members

Kindering’s Programs

Kindering provides early support and therapies for children ages birth through 10. These include physical, occupational, and speech therapies, and more. These services are for children with developmental impacts from disabilities (including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy), medical conditions, or factors such as abuse or neglect.

Kindering provides developmental assessments; physical, speech, vision, feeding, and mental health therapies; personalized special education; inclusive toddler preschool; childcare consultation; foster/kinship care interventions; family counseling; sibling support and parent education.

The Opportunity

Kindering is at a critical point in its organizational evolution, and we seek an experienced leader to work in partnership with the Board of Directors to write the next chapter of our story. We are looking for a leader who will guide the organization in new ways to leverage programs and services to achieve greater impact, while ensuring financial stability, best-in-class programs and comprehensive support to children and their families.

Our next CEO will be a leader with excellent relationship-building capabilities and impeccable communication skills to create transparency, trust, and leadership; an authentic passion for the mission of Kindering and serving families; excellence in leading finance and operations while making the organization run smoothly and efficiently; and a history of success in fundraising.

Our new CEO will also have previous experience leading an organization through change with sensitivity, focus on shared goals, and excellent communication skills to guide the process. They will foster a positive and compassionate internal culture and will proactively address opportunities and challenges as the organization grows and evolves. The new CEO will have the business savvy and good judgment to establish the necessary trust and credibility with the Board of Directors, staff, community, volunteers, and other external partners.

Kindering Seeks

Kindering’s next CEO will have experience leading a large, complex organization and will bring a compelling combination of all or some of the following skills and experience to their work:

We are on the lookout for someone who truly resonates with the Kindering mission—a person who shares a heartfelt connection to the children and families we serve. If you’re someone who is passionate about making sure our programs and services are accessible to every child in need, we want to hear from you!

You possess an entrepreneurial mindset and leadership skills that can help implement innovative growth strategies. You’ll fit right in if you have a proven track record of successfully expanding programs and boosting organizational capacity. We’re particularly interested in candidates with experience leading a multi-site, multi-program organization and have worked with a large, complex, distributed team.

 A background in a large nonprofit or healthcare organization—whether you’ve served as a board leader or held an executive leadership role on staff—will definitely be a plus. We value demonstrated experience in change management and effective stewardship of stakeholder relationships during those transitions.

In this role, you'll inspire quality performance within our team, nurturing and retaining a group of professionals committed to excellence, accountability, and efficiency. Strong fiscal management skills and budgetary leadership experience are essential, especially within complex revenue models.

At Kindering, we are passionate about promoting accessibility, equity, inclusion and belonging (AEI&B) in our organizational culture. As such, we are looking for someone who has successfully advanced these values in their past roles and organizations.

A track record of securing significant resources through donations, grants, and corporate partnerships will also set you apart. If you’re familiar with the ins and outs of securing government funding, that’s an added bonus.

 In addition, we’re looking for someone who can serve as an enthusiastic advocate and a compelling face of Kindering to our community, partners, donors, and stakeholders. If you’re confident with public speaking and excel at building strong networks of support, we’d love for you to join our team.

Competencies of our next CEO

• Ability to inspire others through vision and purpose.
• Exceptional staff management and development skills. Build trust and leverage the expertise of team members.
• Excellent integrity and the ability to earn trust.
• A visible, accessible leader who is present on all of the campuses on a regular basis.
• Strong business acumen.
• Focused on innovation.
• Background and expertise in operational excellence and systems designed to support program delivery.
• Able to learn quickly and make decisions when it counts.
• Managerial courage to lead through challenge and change.
• Interpersonal savvy and approachability with staff, Board, partners, clients and community stakeholders.
• Able to advance systems-level policies, practices, and programs that represent the priorities of the current service population.
• Fundamental understanding of current issues and challenges facing individuals from underserved communities including sensitivity to racial equity/diversity.
• Excellent listening skills. 
• Empathy and the ability to understand and relate to the full Kindering community – our staff, our families, children and communities that Kindering serves.

Compensation & Benefits

This is a full-time salaried position requiring a willingness to work some evenings and weekends and occasional travel throughout the state of Washington and, at times, nationally. The salary range is between $250,000 and $300,000, depending on qualifications and experience.

Kindering offers generous benefits including:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits with a Health Savings Account (HSA) for qualified individuals.
• Company-paid life, long-term disability, and accidental death & dismemberment insurance.
• Daycare Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
• Benefits Resource Center offering responsive, timely support for all benefits inquiries.
• 403(B) Retirement Plan with employer match for qualified employees.
• Up to 11 paid holidays annually, according to schedule.
• Generous combination of Paid Time Off and Elective Time Off up to 9 weeks per year depending on the position, according to schedule.
• Two Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) offering confidential resources for a variety of work-life issues including education, lifestyle, and fitness management, dependent and elder care, career development, financial, and legal advice.
• Tuition reimbursement and professional development opportunities.
• Department of Health License reimbursement.
• Voluntary benefits: Kindering gives employees the opportunity to elect Voluntary Critical Illness, Voluntary Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Voluntary Accident Insurance, Voluntary Short-Term Disability, MetLaw, and Voluntary ID Theft Protection. Coverage and costs will vary depending on the extent of benefit elected.

To Be Considered

This role will remain open until filled. Candidate materials are reviewed continuously and interviews will begin by late-March. Cover letters (two pages or less) addressed to the Board of Directors and a resume can be submitted to Valtas.

You may direct questions to Christine Martin at christine@valtasgroup.com or Ed Rogan at ed@valtasgroup.com.

Kindering is an equal opportunity employer and offers a positive work environment for all; energetic and collaborative work environment along with competitive salaries, and excellent benefits. We were named one of Washington’s Best Workplaces 5 years in a row, and we’re one of the few nonprofits to make the list. We hire the best and brightest candidates and are committed to hiring people with a passion not only for working with families, but also for providing the best, most innovative services possible.

Kindering values diverse perspectives and life experiences. Applicants will be considered regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, age, sexual orientation, medical condition, or pregnancy. Kindering encourages people of all backgrounds to apply, including people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LBGTQ, people with disabilities, veterans, and those with diverse life experiences.

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