A QIDP is a qualified intellectual disability professional. Federal rules for an ICF/IID require each person's active treatment program to be integrated, coordinated, and monitored by someone in this role. Active treatment is the facility's term for a continuous program of training, health services, and support, not a single appointment.
The credential is not the direct support job. A QIDP is expected to have at least a year of experience working directly with people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, plus a qualifying professional background. Federal conditions of participation describe that background, including nursing and bachelor's-level human-services degrees. States and facilities apply those rules. This page is not a hiring checklist and it does not say whether a particular degree qualifies.
You will also see QDDP, for qualified developmental disability professional, and titles such as program specialist. Those names show up in state systems and in older documents. They are not automatically the federal ICF/IID credential. A waiver program can use a similar title for someone who writes plans or supervises a group home without that person being a QIDP under the federal facility rule.
The people closest to the QIDP on an organization chart are the frontline supervisor and the supports coordinator, and the differences matter. The supervisor runs the shift. The supports coordinator, in a waiver, usually works for a separate coordination agency and writes the plan. The QIDP's specific job is inside the ICF/IID, tying active treatment together.
If a job ad says QIDP, ask whether the employer is an intermediate care facility. If the ad is for a waiver group home, the letters may be a local habit rather than the federal role.
Spell the title out once in a hearing or a job description. The letters are meaningless outside this system, and inside it they get borrowed by employers who want a college-prepared person on a group-home team. Borrowing the letters does not create the federal duty.