Director, Client Service & Impact

ABOUT RISE

Empowering People. Launching Ideas.

Rise is a Canadian not-for-profit that empowers individuals experiencing mental health, substance use and other addiction-related challenges to transform their lives through entrepreneurship.

We invest in people and their potential nationwide. Through training, business advising, mentorship, and other tailored supports, Rise enables individuals to learn the skills and access the capital they need to build a small business for meaningful employment, economic empowerment and personal well-being.

Since 2010, with the support of 675 volunteers, Rise has empowered 6,000+ people as entrepreneurs, strengthening communities across Canada. Rise has disbursed 1,000+ loans totaling over $4.4 million.

Learn more in our FY2026 Impact Report and through some of our clients’ stories.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY

Are you a process and purpose-driven leader looking for a high-impact role to take the next step in your career?

Rise is looking for a motivated and, at heart, entrepreneurial Director of Client Service & Impact to help expand our reach and deepen our impact.

Reporting to the CEO and as a member of the senior leadership team, this position is accountable for the oversight, continuous improvement, and impact measurement of Rise's client service delivery model, as delivered through our programs: lending, training and wraparound supports.

The Director sets the operational direction for how programs are delivered, measured and scaled, ultimately supporting small business launches, growth, financing and entrepreneurial skill development.

This is a role for a leader who is fluent in the technical mechanics of service delivery, including intake and eligibility, referral pathways, case flow, advisor-client ratios, loan adjudication workflow, service standards, CRM and program data systems.

The Director is expected to be a hands-on, data-driven, analytical leader who builds the measurement infrastructure, interrogates the numbers, and uses program, client-outcome and loan-portfolio data to drive decisions.

Holding Two Truths at Once The key to success is the ability to translate that fluency into decisions that are both financially disciplined and unmistakably human-centred.

The Director is expected to hold two truths at once: that Rise operates within real budget, funder and capacity constraints, and that our clients navigate complex circumstances that inform how we support them on their entrepreneurial journey.

We recognize our clients’ potential and the need for dignified, low-barrier, trauma-informed experiences that set them up for success.

The successful candidate makes the trade-offs between those realities explicit and evidence-based by practicing compassionate accountability.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Client Service Delivery Model

- Own, document and continuously improve the end-to-end client journey across lending, training and wraparound supports, including outreach, intake, eligibility and triage, assessment, service planning, delivery, follow-up and completion planning.
- Define and maintain the technical infrastructure of service delivery, including:
- Service standards
- Response times
- Ratios and escalation protocols
- Referral pathways between internal program lines and external clinical, social and financial service partners
- Balance the model for measurement and scale so it is repeatable, resourced, cost-aware, and capable of growing without eroding client experience or team wellbeing.
- Create program-specific strategic plans that support organizational goals, workplans and strategic objectives.

Loan Portfolio
- Manage key performance indicators required to guide the health of the loan portfolio, including disbursement, arrears, delinquency, write-off,



recovery and repayment trends.
- Lead the Loan Review Committee (LRC) and lending team to manage risk tolerance levels through regular reporting and communication of relevant factors impacting risk, so that better loan decisions and approvals are made.
- Use portfolio data and cohort analysis to strengthen adjudication criteria and post-loan supports, improving portfolio performance while keeping access open to clients whose traditional lenders decline.

Data Management & Reporting
- Manage and ensure data is captured once, captured well, and usable for funder proposals and reporting as well as operational decision-making.
- Model and create reports to highlight impact through a variety of viewpoints.
- Establish and maintain dashboards and reporting cycles that give the Leadership team, Board and funders a current, trustworthy view of performance, client outcomes and service quality.
- Provide structured analysis of program data, including participation, completion, outcomes, retention, satisfaction, equity of access and cost-per-outcome.
- Build data literacy across the programs team so managers use dashboards and client data confidently in their own decision-making.
- Combine quantitative results with client and team feedback so decisions reflect lived experience as well as the numbers.

Impact Evaluation Framework and Learning Activities
- Co-lead with the CEO the strategic priority of impact measurement, including the broader ripple effect beyond the individual to the community and our economy.

Finances
- Manage multiple program budgets, ensuring compliance and reporting requirements to funders are met.
- In collaboration with Finance and the Director of Revenue, draft budgets for existing or new programming and projects.
- Work with Finance and Revenue Development colleagues to draft budgets.

Leadership
- Work with three program-specific managers who know their stuff. You need to be a hyper-collaborative leader who shows you know your stuff too and empowers everyone to work toward the set direction.
- Manage the performance of direct reports and ensure HR and talent management processes, including recruitment, onboarding, offboarding and professional development, are implemented in a timely fashion.

As part of the Leadership team, you will participate in setting the direction of the organization, including its ability to scale, move into spaces like social finance, and tell compelling quantitative and qualitative impact stories. From time to time, you will represent Rise at funder, Board and other stakeholder meetings and conferences.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

- Post-secondary degree or diploma in a relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education and lived/professional experience.
- Minimum 7–10 years of progressive experience in the private or not-for-profit sector.
- Minimum 3–5 years managing managers or multidisciplinary teams.
- Experience managing client service delivery models, perhaps gained from an employment agency or other client-serving organization, or a demonstrated track record of implementing and innovating a service delivery model and improving measurable outcomes, service quality or cost efficiency.
- Technology savvy, with practical experience implementing or optimizing CRM, client flow, loan management or program data systems and driving team adoption.
- Financial acumen, including developing and managing program budgets,



resource allocation and capacity planning, working with the CEO and Finance to ensure service delivery is financially sustainable and aligned with organizational priorities.
- Strong data analytics capability, with the ability to define indicators, build and maintain dashboards, work directly with program and portfolio data, test assumptions, and translate analysis into plain-language recommendations for the team, Board and other stakeholders.
- Change management experience, with demonstrated ability to lead teams through significant operational change, bringing people along while establishing new systems, expectations and ways of working.
- Working command of measurement and theories of change evaluation methodology, including outcome and impact measurement, cohort and trend analysis, unit-cost and cost-per-outcome analysis, and mixed-methods evaluation.
- Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into implementation plans, milestones, accountabilities and measurable results.
- Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to serving individuals navigating mental health, substance use, system barriers and economic exclusion, informed by lived and/or professional experience.

ASSETS
- Understanding of lending, microfinance, social finance or portfolio risk management.
- Bilingual in English and French.
- Additional credentials in evaluation, data analytics, project management, trauma-informed practice or lending/credit.
- Ability to travel nationally two or three times per year, if needed.

LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES
- Entrepreneurial, service and solutions oriented
- Sound judgement and comfort making difficult decisions
- Relationship builder
- Ability to work collaboratively on a virtual team, including with remote partners
- Able to work efficiently and independently
- Develops others to become stronger team members and managers
- Inspires and challenges others toward a mission
- Comfortable holding tension between mission and financial reality and making a transparent call when the two compete
- Analytically curious
- Detail oriented with strategic perspective
- Proactive with a sense of urgency
- Fun

WHAT WE OFFER
- A chance to do meaningful, purpose-driven work every day.
- A high-trust and high-responsibility workplace where your ideas and initiative are welcomed.
- An organizational commitment to providing team members with meaningful learning opportunities that foster an inclusive environment, personal wellness and professional development.
- A flexible hybrid work structure, with two days per week in-office in the GTA.
- A comprehensive benefits package, including enhanced health, dental and critical illness coverage.
- Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP).
- Generous vacation and additional time off, including paid personal days and non-statutory floater days.

Rise is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace. We actively seek racialized and Indigenous persons, people with disabilities, including people who have experienced mental health and addiction challenges, and additional diverse identities for our team.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

While we thank all applicants for their interest, only those selected for interviews will be contacted.

All applicants are advised that, where needed, accommodation for disabilities will be provided upon request. This includes accommodation throughout the recruitment process.

To apply for this exciting career opportunity, please send your resume and cover letter by October 9 to:

[email protected]

Please include “Director of Client Service & Impact” and your name in the subject line.

Salary range: $95,000–$120,000, with generous benefits, vacation, non-statutory and personal days.

Pay: $95,000.00-$120,000.00 per year

Work Location: Remote

📌 Director, Client Service & Impact (Toronto)
🏢 Rise Helps
📍 Toronto