Director, New Franchisee Onboarding

Come join the Goddard Systems, LLC (GSL) corporate team! We're a great place to work, offering meaningful career opportunities, employee-friendly perks, and competitive benefits. As the manager of The Goddard School franchise system, GSL supports more than 675 schools in delivering high-quality, play-based early childhood education to children and families across the United States. Our successful franchise business model is built on strong partnerships with franchisees and supported by experienced professionals in business, marketing, IT, franchise operations, finance, and education. Together, we help create joyful, supportive environments where children flourish. Today, The Goddard School serves more than 90,000 students across 38 states, and we're continuing to grow. Position Summary The Director, New Franchisee Onboarding Program, leads the onboarding, coaching, and transition experience for new and incoming franchisees across The Goddard School system. The Director translates strategies, standards, and priorities into an effective operating plan and is accountable for program execution, team performance, readiness outcomes, and continuous improvement. This role helps ensure franchisees are prepared to operate successfully, aligned with the Goddard brand, and positioned for strong early enrollment and long-term success. The Director leads and develops the Onboarding Franchise Consultants, monitors progress across new school openings and ownership transfers, identifies risks, and drives timely action and escalation. Working in partnership with functional teams, the Director identifies gaps, communicates their impact on franchisee readiness, and escalates issues requiring action or decisions from the appropriate functional leaders. The role plays a critical part in delivering strong openings, effective transitions, and consistent, high-quality franchisee experience. Key Responsibilities People Leadership Role model Goddard values for employees and franchisees. Assess onboarding consultants’ capability and develop coaching and execution skills. Conduct development conversations and support performance plans. Build a strong, accountable and high-performing team environment. Program & Execution Leadership Translate company priorities into onboarding execution plans. Establish accountability expectations for the franchisee onboarding experience from preliminary agreement through post-opening or post-transfer stabilization. Ensure onboarding execution is disciplined and tied to milestones, KPIs and readiness expectations. Lead structured franchisee reviews to track progress and risks. Identify and communicate gaps in readiness, changeover, and stabilization when opening a new school or transitioning ownership of an existing school. Escalate issues to appropriate functional partners. Recommend improvements based on portfolio insights. Influence collaboration and alignment across functions without direct authority. Franchisee & Portfolio Leadership Build relationships with franchisees to support onboarding success for new schools and ownership transfers. Coach franchisees on applying required onboarding tools, operating standards and readiness expectations relating to marketing, financial setup, health & safety, licensing and the family experience. Monitor portfolio trends, risks, and readiness gaps. Reinforce franchisee ownership of onboarding and readiness requirements, relating to the franchisee’s business plan. Portfolio Performance & Business Outcomes Assess onboarding performance using data and observation. Identify at-risk schools and ensure escalation. Drive corrective actions within team control. Reinforce brand standards and compliance requirements. Planning, Insights & Communication Align onboarding plans to company priorities and goals. Deliver data-driven insights and reporting on onboarding, readiness, risks and outcomes. Communicate effectively with School Support Leadership. Maintain consistent communication cadence with the franchisee and internal stakeholders. Qualifications Required Bachelor’s degree in business, Project Management, Early Childhood Education, or related field (or equivalent experience). 8+ years of progressive experience in franchising, multi‑unit operations, education, or complex program leadership. Demonstrated experience leading field teams, multi-school program, openings, transitions and operational initiatives. Strong understanding of cross-functional operations, complex timelines, and dependency management. Proven ability to drive business outcomes, influence senior stakeholders, and manage risk. Excellent communication, facilitation, coaching and leadership skills. Proficiency with project management, reporting, and performance tracking tools. Travel required 70%. Preferred Experience supporting franchise systems or large‑scale school openings. Experience in early childhood education or regulated environments. PMP or comparable program management certification. Familiarity with licensing timelines.