Division Chief (Manager II, Grade M2)
Salary
$113,715.00 - $200,829.00 Annually
Location
2425 Reedie Dr Wheaton MD 20902 USA
Job Type
Permanent
Job Number
2026-00361
Department
Department of Recreation
Division
REC 72 Office of the Director
Opening Date
06/26/2026
Closing Date
7/10/2026 11:59 PM Eastern
FLSA
Exempt
About the Position
Please note: The salary range above represents this position's earning potential. The anticipated hiring range for this position will be $113,715 - $186,855 based on the candidate's qualifications and experience.
WHO WE ARE
Montgomery County Department of Recreation is a nationally recognized and award-winning agency with a mission to provide high-quality, diverse, and accessible community-based programs, activities, and services that serve the recreation and leisure needs of the Montgomery County community. The department manages 39 facilities, including recreation centers, senior centers, and indoor and outdoor aquatic facilities, and provides thousands of programs such as out-of-school activities, aquatics, classes, youth and adult sports programs and leagues, senior programs, and therapeutic recreation.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
The Montgomery County Department of Recreation is seeking a dynamic and experienced full-time Division Chief (Manager II) to lead and strengthen a wide portfolio of recreation programs and services. This position is responsible for evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of current offerings, identifying opportunities for new or expanded programs, and ensuring that the evolving needs of our diverse community are continually met.
The Division Chief oversees all operations within the Programming Division, including Classes, Camps, Sports, Therapeutic Recreation, 55+ Programs, and Youth Development. This leadership role ensures programs are strategically planned, well-managed, innovative, and aligned with Montgomery County Recreation's mission to provide high-quality, accessible, and inclusive services for residents of all ages and abilities.
Recreation is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals and values diverse perspectives, lived experiences and cultures. Recreation encourages BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), immigrants, women, LGBTQIA+, individuals with disabilities, and veterans to apply. Bilingual candidates are also encouraged to apply!
What Youll Be Doing
Key Responsibilities
This position provides customer-focused leadership, inspires teamwork, motivates employees, and establishes clear direction through effective communication of goals and expectations. The Division Chief (Manager II) will foster a positive, inclusive, and productive work environment grounded in participative management.
Communicating plans to supervisors, colleagues, and community stakeholders; identifying resource needs; monitoring trends in recreation; recommending program modifications to meet evolving community needs; and overseeing program budgets to ensure responsible, strategic, and equitable use of resources. Additional duties include analyzing data to initiate or revise programs, building and maintaining effective working relationships, and demonstrating flexibility and adaptability when managing competing priorities.
The position also requires preparing high-quality written documents and delivering presentations to senior leadership, community partners, and elected officials. Candidates must have the ability to cultivate and sustain meaningful partnerships with other government agencies, nonprofits, and community-based organizations to advance Montgomery County Recreation's mission.
Some assignments require evening and weekend work to support programs, with occasional holiday coverage. The position also requires the ability to attend meetings and perform work at off-site locations.
The individual selected for this role will be designated as an Essential Employee and must report to work during general emergencies or periods of liberal leave.
As a manager or supervisor of unionized employees, this position carries the responsibility of promoting a positive labor-management environment based on mutual trust, respect, communication, and collaboration.
Ideal Candidate Will Have:
Additional Information
Join a forward-thinking team dedicated to building a stronger, healthier, and more connected community through recreation.
Minimum Qualifications
Experience: Seven (7) years of progressively responsible professional experience in the parks and recreation field. Three years (3) of which were in a supervisory or executive capacity. Note: The term "executive" is further defined as a high echelon or high level position in an organization that is assigned technical research, management advisory services responsibilities, or policy-making duties and responsibilities that exerts considerable influence on organizational policy, plans, and operations through technical research, management advisory services, and/or policy-making duties and responsibilities (e.g., County positions at Grade 30 or above).
Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor's degree.
Equivalency: An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted.
License: Possession of a valid Class "C" (or equivalent) driver's license from the applicants state of residence when required for job-related duties.
Financial Disclosure: This role requires the completion of a financial disclosure.
Medical exam protocol: This position requires completion of a pre-employment medical history form to assess your ability to safely perform the essential duties of the role.
Preferred Criteria, Interview Preferences
We will use preferred criteria screening questions:
Describe your executive leadership experience overseeing large-scale recreation or human-services program portfolios. Include the breadth of programs under your direction, your strategic approach to division-wide management, and how you measured organizational performance.
Provide an example of a strategic initiative you led to expand, redesign, or modernize programs or services. What assessment methods or data did you rely on, what decisions did you make, and how did the initiative advance organizational goals or community impact?
Explain your experience providing executive-level oversight of complex budgets. Include the size and scope of the budgets you managed, your approach to long-range financial planning, and how you ensured fiscal accountability while supporting innovation and service delivery.
Describe your experience cultivating high-level partnerships with government agencies, nonprofits, and community organizations. What strategies did you use to align partners around shared goals, and how did these collaborations strengthen outcomes at the division or departmental level?
Explain your leadership approach to managing in a unionized environment. Describe how you have fostered a culture of trust, collaboration, and accountability, and provide an example of how you successfully navigated a complex labor-management issue.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The Office of Human Resources (OHR) reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position.
Montgomery County Government(MCG) is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should email OHR at Hiring@montgomerycountymd.gov. Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.
MCG also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference.
All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicants responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria or interview preference status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on the Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for an interview.
This will establish an Eligible List that may be used to fill both current and future vacancies.
If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.
Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the Countys "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriffs office) are subject to the Countys ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code. Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.
Leave Benefits
Our generous leave package starts with non-MLS permanent and term employees earning 15 days of sick leave and 15 days of annual leave in their first year, as well as up to three additional personal days each calendar year. Positions in MLS earn 35 days of paid time off each year. In addition, we offer all employees 10 paid holidays. Our leave policies adhere to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, and we provide six weeks of paid parental leave for new parents.
Retirement Benefits
All permanent and term positions are eligible for robust retirement plans. Public safety positions are eligible for a defined benefit pension plan in which they are vested after only five years. Employees in non-public safety positions can participate in retirement plans that contribute up to 12 percent of their annual salary. All employees can also participate in a supplemental retirement plan, the 457 Deferred Compensation Plan, to contribute even more to their retirement goals.
Tuition Assistance & Student Loan Forgiveness
Montgomery County employees are eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Participants who meet all requirements may qualify for forgiveness on the remaining balance on their Direct Loans after making 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time in a qualifying public service position. To learn more about PSLF, please visit the Student Loan Repayment Benefits page. Our tuition assistance program allows you to receive up to $2,130 annually in tuition assistance to help you achieve a degree that supports your career path.
Free Mass Transit Benefit
County employees are entitled to use the RideOn Bus service for free with a valid County-employee ID. This benefit can be used any time of the day or evening, including weekends. We also offer a pre-tax flexible spending account to reduce the cost of other mass-transit options such as MARC trains and Metro.
Reduced Child and Health Care Costs
Working for Montgomery County also entitles permanent and term employees to participate in healthcare and childcare Flexible Spending Accounts. These plans allow eligible employees to save on a pretax basis for healthcare and dependent care costs incurred during the plan year.
Employee Wellbeing
We deeply care about your holistic wellness. Our award-winning wellness program, LiveWell, will support you in improving and maintaining your physical, mental, financial, social, and intellectual well-being.
Learn more about our wonderful benefits available to you once you join our team. Montgomery County Benefits
01
What is your highest level of completed education?
02
How many years of progressively professional experience do you have in the parks and recreation field?
03
Do you possess and currently maintain a VALID drivers license from your state of residence?
04
Do you have at least three (3) years of supervisory or executive leadership experience in parks and recreation?
05
Do you have executive leadership experience overseeing large-scale parks, recreation, human services, or community services programs?
06
Do you have experience leading a strategic initiative to expand, redesign, modernize, or improve programs or services using data, assessments, or performance metrics to guide decision-making?
07
Describe a strategic initiative you led to expand, redesign, modernize, or improve programs or services, including the data or assessment methods used to guide decisions and the outcomes achieved. Please include from your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
08
Describe your executive leadership experience overseeing large-scale parks, recreation, human services, or community services programs, including the scope of programs managed, staff supervised, and strategic leadership responsibilities. Please include from your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
09
Do you have experience developing, managing, and overseeing large and complex operating and capital budgets, including long-range financial planning and fiscal accountability?
10
Describe your experience developing, managing, and overseeing large and complex operating and capital budgets. Include the approximate budget amounts, your responsibilities for long-range financial planning, and the strategies used to ensure fiscal accountability while maintaining high-quality service delivery. Please include on your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
11
Do you have experience building and maintaining partnerships with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, and community organizations to achieve organizational or community goals?
12
Describe your experience building partnerships with government agencies, nonprofits, schools, and community organizations, including an example and its impact on organizational or community outcomes. Please include from your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
13
Do you have experience leading supervisors, managers, and multidisciplinary teams in a large organization, including workforce development, succession planning, employee engagement, and performance management?
14
Describe your experience leading supervisors, managers, and multidisciplinary teams in a large organization, including your approach to workforce development, succession planning, employee engagement, and performance management. Please include on your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
15
Do you have experience working in a unionized environment, including labor-management relations, contract administration, grievance resolution, or collective bargaining?
16
Describe your experience working in a unionized environment, including your role in labor-management relations, contract administration, grievance resolution, negotiations, and an example of a complex workforce issue you helped resolve. Please include from your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
17
Do you have experience presenting recommendations, policy proposals, budget requests, or strategic plans to executive leadership, elected officials, boards, or commissions?
18
Describe your experience presenting recommendations, policy proposals, budget requests, or strategic plans to executive leadership, elected officials, boards, or commissions, including the topic and outcomes of your presentation. Please include from your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
19
Do you have experience using performance metrics, program evaluations, customer feedback, or other data-driven methods to improve programs or services and measure organizational performance?
20
Describe your experience using performance metrics, program evaluations, customer feedback, or other data-driven methods to improve services, including a specific example and measurable results achieved. Please include from your resume where this experience was completed. If you do not have experience in this area, please indicate "N/A".
Required Question
Employer Montgomery County (MD)
Address 101 Monroe Street
7th Floor
Rockville, Maryland, 20850
Phone 240-777-0311