Senior Director of Training and Emergency Support - Jewish Community Services

PURPOSE:

Jewish Community Services (JCS) enhances the resilience and mental health of New York Citys Jewish community through a population health approach. By equipping Jewish-serving organizations with essential knowledge and resources, JCS strengthens mental well-being and supports communities in navigating both everyday challenges and large-scale crises. This includes tailored training, scalable crisis response models, and operational frameworks designed for preparedness and rapid mobilization. JCS extends emergency response support to the broader New York Community when needed.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Senior Director of Training and Emergency Support will lead the development and execution of training initiatives and emergency response strategies for Jewish-serving organizations and the wider New York community. This role will ensure that JCS has the infrastructure, workflows, and project plans in place to rapidly scale and deploy emergency support response efforts when needed. The Senior Director will oversee operational planning, coordinate staff deployment in crises, and refine response strategies based on lessons learned from past events. During times when an emergency support response is not needed, trainings will be offered to Jewish communal institutions on relevant topics of mental health and wellbeing. Trainings will be highly professional, responsive to the emergent mental health needs of the Jewish community, and adaptable to various settings and formats, including train-the-trainer models.

Reporting to the Deputy Director, the Senior Director of Training and Emergency Support will supervise assigned, dedicated staff member(s) while having the flexibility to expand response efforts by leveraging personnel from the population health team during larger-scale emergencies. The Senior Director will work collaboratively with Jewish Board support departments to develop, implement, and sustain emergency support plans, ensuring alignment with JCS mission and vision.

KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Lead the development and implementation of training programs for both community members and professionals within Jewish-serving organizations, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to support mental health and well-being within their communities
• Review past emergency support responses and refine best practices, incorporating lessons learned into future stabilization and resiliency strategies.
• Create scalable emergency support response frameworks, including workflows and project plans, to ensure rapid deployment of services during crises.
• Coordinate and oversee emergency support response efforts, managing immediate and long-term emergency support and service interventions in partnership with internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Supervise and support assigned, dedicated staff member(s), while maintaining the ability to expand response capacity by engaging population health team members as needed.
• Collaborate with city agencies, nonprofit organizations, and communal partners to strengthen emergency response networks and share resources.
• Ensure data-driven decision-making by establishing performance metrics and tracking the impact of training and crisis response efforts.
• Represent JCS at coalitions, community forums, and crisis response task forces to advocate for the needs of Jewish New Yorkers.
• Key member of the JCS leadership team, participating in strategic priority goals and projects and providing coverage for other JCS services, as needed.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Core Competencies

• Deep understanding of the New York Jewish community and its unique needs, with sensitivity to cultural and religious practices.
• Strong skills in creating and delivering training focused on mental health and well-being.
• Deep understanding of the mental health and emergency preparedness, support and resiliency needs of Jewish communities.
• Ability to work under pressure, make rapid decisions, and adapt to evolving crises
• Strong project management and organizational skills to oversee multiple initiatives.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences.
• Capacity to foster collaboration across teams

EDUCATIONAL / TRAINING REQUIRED:

• Masters degree in Social Work, Psychology, Public Health, Emergency Management, or a related field required.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED / LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:

• Minimum of 7-10 years of experience in mental health, crisis response, training, or emergency preparedness, preferably within Jewish communal settings or human services
• Prior experience in emergency response planning, crisis intervention, and developing operational protocols for rapid response.
• Proven experience in developing and delivering training programs for diverse audiences, including community members and professionals
• Strong cultural competence regarding Jewish religious, spiritual, cultural and communal practice.

COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Excellent skills with relevant software and technology including PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Word

VISUAL AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:

• The candidate should be able to read paper and electronic documents and perform significant data entry into various computer programs. Manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination to travel independently using public transportation.

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORT:

• This role is hybrid; it will include travel to different locations within the five boroughs
• To perform the essential functions of this job the candidate must be able to travel within the five boroughs carrying equipment such as a notebook, forms, laptop, mobile hotspot and cell phone weighing up to approximately 10 pounds.
• To perform the essential functions of this job, the incumbent is routinely required to sit (80% of the time) and stand (20% of the time)
• The work environment generally does not involve physical risk or hazardous conditions

If you join us, youll have these great benefits:

• Generous paid time off in addition to agency holidays and 15 sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation
• 24/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program
• Life and disability insurance

Who we are:

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

More on Equal Opportunity:

We respect diversity and accordingly are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

This applies with respect to recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, termination, assignments, benefits, employee activities, access to facilities and programs, and all other terms and condition of employment as well as general treatment during employment.

We will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of qualified employees with disabilities, without regard to any protected classifications, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Any employees who need assistance to perform their job duties because of a physical or mental condition should contact human resources.