How To Become An Early Childhood Services Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is an early childhood services director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Ryan Allen

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an early childhood services director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $28.1 an hour? That's $58,450 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 6,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an early childhood services director?

Ryan Allen

Assistant Professor of Comparative and International Education and Leadership, Soka University of America

Education goes beyond teaching in a classroom or school. Often people hear 'Educational Leadership' and they think of some kind of school principal or other administrator. These are certainly important careers for the space, but they are only a part of a broader range of possibilities. There are a range of careers in the EdTech space, for instance, that need good people who understand various aspects of what happens in classrooms. Likewise, educational development and the NGO world are full of amazing opportunities that offer exciting careers that are rewarding. These jobs might see a lot of travel and broader global connections that you don't often see in the traditional K-12 space.

ScoreEarly Childhood Services DirectorUS Average

Salary

4.6

Avg. Salary $58,450

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.8

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 4.39%

Black or African American 10.95%

Hispanic or Latino 14.40%

Unknown 4.01%

White 65.55%

Gender

female 90.53%

male 9.47%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

9.8

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an early childhood services director

Explore early childhood services director education requirements

Most common early childhood services director degrees

Bachelor's

57.7 %

Master's

25.4 %

Associate

11.3 %

Start to develop specific early childhood services director skills

Skills	Percentages
Professional Development	18.76%
Curriculum Development	9.53%
Pre-K	6.46%
Education Programs	6.12%
Classroom Management	6.01%

Complete relevant early childhood services director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New early childhood services directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an early childhood services director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real early childhood services director resumes.

Research early childhood services director duties and responsibilities

Manage daily operation for a family-own business with responsibility for sales, production, and administrative functions including payroll.
Implement systems to more collaboratively and effectively develop department and area budgets for staff payroll, operations, and capital projects.
Maintain financial records, supervise staff and children, and communicate with families on a regular basis, follow DPW regulations.

Get early childhood services director experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become an early childhood services director. The most common roles before becoming an early childhood services director include teacher, director team lead and preschool teacher.

Prepare your early childhood services director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your early childhood services director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an early childhood services director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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