Director, Innovation and Impact

The Ideal Candidate

Are you a strategic and collaborative leader who can drive meaningful change for children and youth from care?

You bring the ability to turn ideas into action, balancing vision with execution while working across sectors to build strong partnerships and deliver measurable outcomes. You are comfortable navigating complexity and value diverse perspective, lived experience, evidence to inform your work.

You thrive in environments that require both innovation and discipline, and you are energized by building, learning, and improving over time. Above all, you are committed to equity, inclusion, and contributing to lasting, system-level impact.

Position Summary

Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada has a strong track record of responding to the immediate needs of children and youth in and from care. With the launch of Generation Impact 2025–2030, the Foundation is building on this legacy to deepen its impact by continuing to respond to urgent needs while expanding its focus to drive measurable, long-term outcomes. Anchored across four areas of focus: education, employment, mental health and wellbeing, and strong families and lifelong connections. This next chapter aims to strengthen these key pathways for children and youth from care, ensuring access to timely supports today while building the conditions required for long-term positive outcomes over time.

Reporting to the Chief Impact Officer, the Director, Innovation and Impact will lead the development and management of a venture portfolio, informed by young people and lived expert and working across organizations and systems spanning multiple sectors. The Director will be accountable for advancing a portfolio of investments that achieve intended outcomes, are partnership-based, and positioned to contribute to system-level change.

This is a unique opportunity to partner with anchor funders to build and steward a multi-million dollar portfolio of ventures focused on achieving outcomes for youth in care across education and employment pathways, while also advancing stronger, more stable family outcomes. The Director will focus on identifying and addressing critical service gaps, advancing alternative response models, and supporting the growth and performance of ventures over time. The Director will also mobilize relationships and new sources of capital, ensuring the long-term sustainability and growth of the venture portfolio.

The Director will work in close collaboration with internal teams, including Development, Communications and Public Affairs, to align venture strategy, funding, and partnerships in support of a high-performing portfolio. The Director will also contribute to building a culture of social innovation within the Foundation embedding disciplined, outcomes-driven approaches to testing, learning, and scaling impact. As an ambassador, the Director will help position Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada as a leader in advancing outcomes-driven, evidence-informed approaches within the child welfare sector nationally.

This posting is publicly available and open to all qualified applicants.