Senior Manager OR Associate Director, Regional Work-Based Learning Strategy

About UNITE-LA

For more than 25 years, UNITE-LA has established itself as a trusted education and business intermediary, dedicated to improving the economic mobility and well-being of the region’s diverse rising workforce. Leveraging strategic cross-sector partnerships at local, statewide, and national levels, we advance policies, practices and systems that strengthen anti-racism and equitable education and workforce outcomes from cradle through career.

Position Overview

The Senior Manager OR Associate Director, Regional Work-Based Learning Strategy (dependent on relevant skills and experience) plays a critical role in the UNITE-LA's Systems Change team, focusing on the development and implementation of regional work-based learning (WBL) strategies to improve student outcomes, particularly for Opportunity Youth (OY) throughout Los Angeles County. In partnership with internal and external teams spanning community-based organizations, secondary and post-secondary education institutions, economic development corporations, and workforce development boards, this position will support overall sector collaboration and strategy efforts within initiatives like Horizons 32K Strategic Plan for Opportunity Youth and the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative. Responsibilities include managing workgroups, supporting employer engagement strategies, mapping work-based learning opportunities and activities across the region, continuous improvement of tracking systems, data analysis and synthesis, and fostering partnerships to enhance career pathways on a regional scale.

Reporting to the Director of Workforce Systems and Policy within UNITE-LA's Systems Change team, this role is designed for an individual skilled in coordinating regional workforce initiatives, overseeing initiative design and implementation, data analysis, fostering cross-sector collaboration and partnerships, and maintaining grant proposal and reporting processes. This is a hybrid position based in LA County.

Primary Responsibilities

The Senior Manager OR Associate Director, Work-Based Learning Strategy will coordinate, administer, and lead efforts in collaboration with cross-functional team members and external partners to enhance regional workforce systems and career pathways through the following responsibilities:

• Regional Partner Convening and Engagement: Plan meetings for existing collaboratives, such as the Horizons 32K, and ad hoc convenings of stakeholders as needed by managing scheduling, helping develop agendas and materials, co-facilitating meetings, developing meeting summaries, and communicating with partners to support engagement.
• Relationship and Stakeholder Management: Develop and maintain strong relationships across partners and projects, including collaborating with UNITE-LA colleagues to steward institutional relationships, representing UNITE-LA at meetings as appropriate, and maintaining relevant records in our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database.
• Research and Scaling: Support the identification of best practices related to work-based learning and scaling of best practices across the region.
• Grant Reporting: Maintain grant reporting requirements for grants specifically focused on the goals and activities of the workgroups led.
• Marketing & Communications: Oversee marketing and communications efforts, in partnership with external and internal communications teams, related to the progress of workforce systems efforts, ensuring stakeholders are informed about achievements and developments.

Skills for Success

• Subject matter expertise: Demonstrated ability to provide and develop content expertise on relevant workforce issue areas (such as work-based learning models, career pathways, and workforce development strategies to improve outcomes for opportunity and systems-involved youth)
• Employer Collaboration: Demonstrated experience working with employers to design and implement work experience programs.
• Project Management: Proficient in developing work plans to monitor project progress, ensuring milestones are met and objectives are achieved. Strong management skills with proficiency in project management software to oversee work plans and track grant deliverables. Capable of managing multiple projects and work streams simultaneously, applying sound judgment to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines.
• Strategic and Critical Thinking: Demonstrates the ability to identify, gather, and apply relevant information to the work. Capable of recognizing challenges and formulating solutions by leveraging the expertise and input of others.
• Data Analysis & Synthesis: Proficient in analyzing and synthesizing data to inform strategic decisions, continuous improvement, and effective reporting on initiatives.
• Cross-Sector Partnership Building: Skilled in building and maintaining partnerships with stakeholders across various sectors, enhancing career pathways, and aligning efforts to regional workforce systems.
• Marketing & Communications: Strong marketing and communication skills to oversee efforts that effectively inform stakeholders about program progress, achievements, and developments.
• Grant Reporting & Compliance: Strong attention to detail in maintaining compliance with grant reporting requirements, ensuring that all goals and activities are accurately documented and reported.
• Excellent Written & Verbal Communication: Articulates thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively for the appropriate audiences. Create compelling narratives and content that effectively communicates our mission, initiatives, accomplishments, and impact.
• Initiative & Attention to Detail: Proactively seeks opportunities to best serve the organization, achieve overall goals, and determines the internal and external resources needed to enable success and develops a plan to secure them. Ensure delivery of high-quality work. Work products (e.g. reports, documents, files, etc.) are complete, accurate, timely and understandable.
• Flexibility & Adaptability: Reprioritizes work based on feedback and changing demands; proactively seeks opportunities to be supportive of change, new ideas and different perspectives; ability to work under tight deadlines, pivot when there are changing external factors, work within different working styles on the team, and maintain a positive, solutions-oriented approach.
• Inclusion & Collaboration: Consistently seeks and engages diverse perspectives of various identities and experiences respectfully and effectively. Demonstrates self‐awareness in behaviors and actions in engaging and collaborating with all stakeholders.

Preferred Skills and Competencies

• A strong foundation in understanding models of systems change and collective impact.
• Working knowledge of education equity and/or youth development, institutional systems, and/or workforce sectors.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, SharePoint, Google Drive applications, Canva, Adobe PDF, and social media platforms.
• Knowledge of and solid foundation in project management and CRM tools like Asana and Salesforce.
• Knowledge of the grantmaking process, including grant writing, reporting, and budget tracking.

Compensation and Position Details

This is a full-time, exempt position with a starting salary range of $72,000 to $78,000 for Senior Manager or $77,750 to $86,000 for Associate Director. The full salary range for a Senior Manager is $72,000 to $89,250; the full salary range for Associate Director is $77,750 to $94,500. This is a hybrid position. Most work can be performed remotely, but this position requires regular attendance at offsite or in-office meetings across Los Angeles County a few days each month. Access to a personal vehicle and a valid driver's license is preferred.

Our competitive benefits package includes paid sick leave, vacation, and work-life harmony time, in addition to a robust paid holiday schedule; 401(k) participation with employer contribution; competitive health, vision and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, and more. UNITE-LA promotes a culture of work-life harmony with flexible schedules and offers employee growth development plans to support career pathway development. If you are offered a position at UNITE-LA, your final title and compensation will be based on factors such as relevant skills, experience and/or education. In addition to those factors, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider the internal equity of our current team members as a part of any final offer.

To Apply

Interested candidates should submit their resume and a cover letter summarizing your qualifications for the position to systemsjobs@unitela.com using the email subject line “[LAST NAME] - Senior Manager OR Associate Director, Regional Work-Based Learning Strategy.” Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until filled, with a priority deadline of February 28, 2025.

UNITE-LA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to developing and sustaining a diverse workforce, because we believe that it makes our organization stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age. We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.

This is a full-time, exempt position with a starting salary range of $72,000 to $78,000 for Senior Manager or $77,750 to $86,000 for Associate Director. The full salary range for a Senior Manager is $72,000 to $89,250; the full salary range for Associate Director is $77,750 to $94,500. This is a hybrid position. Most work can be performed remotely, but this position requires regular attendance at offsite or in-office meetings across Los Angeles County a few days each month. Access to a personal vehicle and a valid driver's license is preferred.

Our competitive benefits package includes paid sick leave, vacation, and work-life harmony time, in addition to a robust paid holiday schedule; 401(k) participation with employer contribution; competitive health, vision and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, and more. UNITE-LA promotes a culture of work-life harmony with flexible schedules and offers employee growth development plans to support career pathway development. If you are offered a position at UNITE-LA, your final title and compensation will be based on factors such as relevant skills, experience and/or education. In addition to those factors, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider the internal equity of our current team members as a part of any final offer.