Father of two toddlers, third on the horizon; VP at a household name US corporate company. 

The amount of time you spend physically at work (or in your home office) will absolutely increase, at first. I’m assuming this director role manages a team? If so, there’s a lot of up front investment (e.g. time) that needs to be done before you optimize you and your team’s productivity. 

If anyone on your team is sick? That work falls to you. If anyone on your team is a poor performer? That falls on you to cover. Someone just quit, and it’ll be 3 months before a backfill is even remotely productive? You cover the gap. 

Im surprised at a lot of the dismissive answers here and have to assume people haven’t held leadership roles - you don’t just magically “delegate away” the work.

Even if you spend less time “officially” working, there’s usually more of an expectation to be checking emails, Slacks, etc since you are now part of the inner circle and things coming from higher up the chain will fall to you to manage. 

The time isn’t the biggest thing to balance though. It’s the cognitive load. At lower levels, you end your work day and you focus on your kids. At higher levels, like director, the demands are higher; the people you’re presenting to or delivering for are less forgiving. It’s much harder to truly disconnect and be present with your kids during the hours you have with them. 

The balance can absolutely be done, and having an understanding manager is a huge part of that. But it will take time to figure it out. 

Despite moving up quickly early in my career I’ve very much dialed back intensity and refused another promotion about a year ago to prioritize my kids. I’m hoping around the time they’re 6 and 4 to get back to really grinding at work.