How to hire a residential program director

How to hire a residential program director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step residential program director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a residential program director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new residential program director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

Post a residential program director job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your residential program director job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a residential program director for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A residential program director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, residential program directors from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of residential program director salaries for various roles:

   Type of Residential Program Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Residential Program Director	Producers and directors create motion pictures, television shows, live theater, commercials, and other performing arts productions. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain or inform an audience.	$17-33
   Director Of After School Program	A director of after school programs oversees and directs childcare centers in communities. They take the lead in setting goals and guidelines, conducting research and analyses to identify the students' interests and needs, developing programs that provide recreational activities and academic support, supervising the recruitment and training of employees, and monitoring the daily operations to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently... Show more	$14-38
   Program Manager	A program manager is responsible for monitoring the project's progress, improving and developing new strategies, and coordinate various projects across the organization to ensure the success of the business objective. Program managers also manage the program's expenses, ensuring that the projects adhere to the budget goals without compromising the quality and accuracy of the result... Show more	$31-67

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Autism
   • Mental Health
   • Social Work
   • Developmental Disabilities
   • Residential Program
   • Residential Treatment
   • Mental Illness
   • Clinical Services
   • CPR
   • Residential Facility
   • Program Budget
   • Substance Abuse
   • Crisis Intervention
   • Intellectual Disabilities

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage program budgets and supervise staff to ensure that immunization and registry activities are successfully implement.
   • Provide leadership and oversight of residential living/learning experience including curriculum design, budget management, and staff training.
   • Provide oversight and supervision to dining and catering operations.
   • Tackle strategic challenge to bolster state chapters wrought with leadership inconstancy and often, first-time delegates, unprepare for national-level participation.
   • Coordinate with residential and recreational aides to implementation and consistent development and participation of evening recreation, ADL and educational activities.

   More residential program director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your residential program director job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A residential program director salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, residential program directors' average salary in wisconsin is 60% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level residential program directors earn 49% less than senior-level residential program directors.
   • Certifications. A residential program director with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a residential program director's salary.

   Average residential program director salary

   $51,085yearly

   $24.56 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level residential program director salary

   $36,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average residential program director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$79,446	$38
   2	District of Columbia	$70,479	$34
   3	California	$68,238	$33
   4	New Jersey	$58,625	$28
   5	Massachusetts	$53,110	$26
   6	Nevada	$48,748	$23
   7	Colorado	$48,614	$23
   8	Texas	$46,236	$22
   9	Maine	$39,504	$19

   Average residential program director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	IDEA Public Schools	$62,771	$30.18	1
   2	Minnesota State Fair	$57,389	$27.59	21
   3	Georgetown University	$55,697	$26.78	8
   4	Odyssey House Louisiana	$54,076	$26.00	12
   5	The Opportunity Alliance	$52,418	$25.20	1
   6	Westcare Health Corporation	$49,429	$23.76
   7	University Of Minnesota Physicians	$48,526	$23.33
   8	Hope House	$48,412	$23.27	5
   9	Cumberland County Guidance Center	$47,773	$22.97	1
   10	Sheltering Arms	$47,468	$22.82
   11	PathPoint	$47,391	$22.78	2
   12	Bonita House	$46,650	$22.43	6
   13	Vinfen	$46,504	$22.36	242
   14	St. PJ's Children’s Home	$45,619	$21.93
   15	Advocates	$45,454	$21.85	31
   16	National Mentor Holdings Inc.	$44,194	$21.25
   17	YAI	$43,433	$20.88	6
   18	The Edinburg Center	$43,423	$20.88	7
   19	Pediatric Partners, now a member of the Sevita family	$36,619	$17.61	284

4. Writing a residential program director job description

   A job description for a residential program director role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a residential program director job description:

   Residential program director job description example

   ***As of 10/18/2021: Proof of COVID-19 vaccination card required for employment unless proof of exemption***
   Our Mission: Odyssey House goes beyond helping individuals beat drugs and alcohol. We help rebuild lives. There’s more to recovery than just getting clean. We help individuals get healthy again, too, with medical and dental care, fitness programs, support for mental health and more. Individuals can stay with their children while in treatment, while learning new life skills, so they can stay together and repair other broken relationships in their lives. We provide educational and work skill trainings, outpatient services and available housing assistance, so individuals can step back into real life with a real future. If that sounds different than other treatment programs, you’re right. Because Odyssey is where recovery gets real. In addition to competitive salaries, Odyssey House offers our Program Directors: A 35-hour work week (as opposed to a 40-hour work week) Vacation Plan and Holiday Schedule Life Insurance Medical Insurance (Two Plans) Dental and Vision Insurance Additional Insurance Coverages (hospitalization, accidental, critical illness coverage) Long-Term & Short-Term Disability Flexible Spending Account/Health Reimbursement Account 403(b) Plan Corporate Counseling Associates (CCA) EAP benefit Ability Assist Counseling Services (through The Hartford) Commuter Benefits Educational Assistance Programs Special shopping discounts through ADP Marketplace and PlumBenefits RUFit?! Fitness Program Legal Assistance through ARAG Optum Financial Service through ConnectYourCare Benefit Advocacy Center through Gallagher Who Our Program Director Is: You aspire to work within a leadership role and provide guidance/direction in the Residential Clinical Treatment Industries because of your experience working with OASAS funded programs. You lead by example when establishing goals and policies; implementing procedures; supervising the delivery of all clinical services and assuring that performance targets are attained. You pride yourself on being thorough, detail oriented, organized, strategic and forward thinking while being able to time manage within a high level of proficiency. You are a collaborative team leader who is passionate about engagement within the residential treatment services industry, who believes in a, "no task is too small", mentoring approach when leading a team. Your managerial style approach toward interviewing, hiring and orienting staff into your team creates an empowering and positive culture, which makes you want to come to work every day. Being on-call and working a flexible schedule (which may include working nights, weekends or holidays when needed) doesn’t bother you. What Our Program Director Needs: Master’s Level Clinical Degree preferred. Bachelor’s Degree and five (5) years administrative or clinical experience working with target population required. Two (2) years experience in administration and one year in a clinical, mental health, housing or chemical dependency setting required. Qualified Mental Health Professional (e.g. LCSW, LMSW, LMHC, CRC, Ph.D., MSN, CASAC etc.) required. Proficiency with computer operation (Microsoft Word, Excel, Electronic Health Record and Outlook Recruiting for the following locations: George Rosenfeld Center for Recovery
   13 Hell Gate Circle
   New York, NY 10035 Odyssey House Lafayette Avenue
   1264 Lafayette Avenue
   Bronx, NY 10474
   Family Re-Entry Community Residence
   1328 Clinton Avenue, Suite 1A
   Bronx, NY 10456 Odyssey House Leadership Center
   309-311 6th Street
   New York, NY 10003
   Odyssey House is an equal opportunity employer maintaining a non-discriminatory policy on hiring of its personnel. Odyssey House, and its operational divisions, will not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or citizen status in all employment decisions including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, training, rate of pay or other forms of compensation, layoff, termination and all other terms and conditions of employment.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right residential program director for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your residential program director job on Zippia to find and recruit residential program director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with residential program director candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new residential program director

   Once you've decided on a perfect residential program director candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a residential program director?