Permanent recruiting for preschools and child care centers across Virginia.
Since 2021, Virginia’s Department of Education has handled child care licensing instead of Social Services, and VQB5 is now required for every publicly funded birth-to-five program, including the Child Care Subsidy Program and VPI. Most of your VQB5 score comes from CLASS observations of how teachers work with children, so every hire you make shows up in your rating.
Public school VPI classrooms need lead teachers with a Board of Education license, but VPI classrooms run by private child care programs are exempt under the state budget, so your lead teachers don’t need a state teaching license. That opens up a much bigger pool of candidates, and we search it with that in mind.
Virginia’s licensing rules (8VAC20-780) give program leaders several ways to qualify. They need to be at least 18 with a high school diploma, plus one of several qualifications, including a child-related bachelor’s, a CDA with 3 months of experience, a 30-credit ECE certificate, a Montessori diploma, or 6 months of supervised experience and the required training. A proposed rewrite of the rules (8VAC20-781) renames the role lead teacher, and we’re keeping an eye on it.
Virginia has the 12th-largest child care center workforce in the country.
Private centers with paid staff across the state.
Average annual pay per child care employee in 2025, including part-time staff (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
We recruit for every role in Virginia centers, from lead and assistant teachers and floaters to cooks, assistant directors and center directors. Every hire is a permanent placement on your payroll.
Anywhere in the state. Recent searches have included Northern Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria, Ashburn, Herndon, Reston, Manassas, Lorton, Stafford), Culpeper, Richmond and Yorktown.
On roles we have recruited for in Virginia, posted teacher pay has ranged from about $13 to $25 an hour, and center director pay from $60,000 to $88,000 a year. Pay depends on the role, credentials and the school.
Directors must be 21, with a child-related degree plus 6 months to 1 year of experience, or 2 years of experience plus an ECE certificate, a CDA or Montessori certification. Directors without management experience need added management training. See the full Virginia director rules.
A lead teacher (program leader) must be 18 with a high school diploma, plus a child-related bachelor’s, a CDA or ECE certificate with 3 months of experience, or 6 months of supervised experience and 24 hours of training. See the full Virginia teacher rules.
Under 8VAC20-780-350, ratios are (max group size in parentheses): birth to 16 months 1:4 (12); 16 to 24 months 1:5 (15); 2-year-olds 1:8 (24); 3 years to school age 1:10 (30); school age to 9 years 1:18; 9 to 12 years 1:20. In mixed-age groups, the youngest child sets the ratio.
Virginia Quality Birth to Five (VQB5), run by the Virginia Department of Education, is required for every publicly funded program, including subsidy, Head Start and public pre-K sites. Ratings are based mainly on CLASS observations of teacher-child interactions, so the teachers you hire directly affect your score.
We contact you within 24 hours of your request, and our sourcing team starts after a short intake call. Book a call to talk through your open roles.
We handle the search so you can run your school. From single classrooms to multi-site networks, we find the people who fit.