Workforce Program Manager

Purpose of Position

We are redefining workforce development in Orange County and looking for a creative, collaborative, and goal-oriented team member to help lead this charge! The Orange County United Way (OCUW) is hiring a Workforce Program Manager to oversee all business development efforts aimed at linking our college and career readiness programs to partner schools and serve students, in collaboration with the Orange County Department of Education and other workforce partners. This role involves managing, coordinating, and executing initiatives to ensure effective program alignment and meaningful student engagement.

This individual will play a lead role in developing, implementing, and fostering an employer engagement pipeline to advance Orange County United Way’s United for Student Success Initiative (U4SS), with a specific focus on delivering college and career awareness and preparation services to a cohort of 7th-12th grade students.  This dynamic individual will work with existing and new United Way corporate partners and donors to cultivate partnerships, raise visibility in the community, and get fresh perspectives from participants and other stakeholders to continuously improve programs. Additionally, the role includes active participation in identifying and cultivating potential funding opportunities. Collaborating closely with the U4SS Executive Director and Director. 

This position seeks to ensure that our most underserved students are provided with the necessary educational and professional support to thrive through our programs like Destination Graduation and Youth Career Connections. 

This 1-year grant funded position is full-time (37.5 hours/week).

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Cultivate and sustain impactful business partnerships by fostering trust, aligning shared objectives, and delivering solutions that advance our high school programs and overall mission.
• Lead a high-touch, partner-focused strategy to prospect, recruit, engage, train, retain, and expand the network of corporate partners. 
• Establish partnerships with key corporate Human Resources, Community Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, and other relevant offices as needed.
• Expand our reach in local sectors such as; Business & Finance, Information Technology, Health, Engineering and Arts, Media & Entertainment, manufacturing, and more for engagement in our United for Student Success programs.
• Engage corporate partners to deliver other volunteer opportunities for employees with local schools.
•  Work closely with the Program Manager and Specialist to ensure program implementation support and successful execution of student programs, creating a seamless experience for both business partners and students.
• Assist the Program Management team with various aspects of business engagement, including providing businesses an overview, conducting training, and managing procedural tasks. Secure agreements with corporate partners that support activities like, but not limited to: 
  • Corporate Volunteer Day activities;
  • Mock Interview days;
  • Job Shadowing days,
  • Corporate classroom speaking events;
  • Industry Site Visits; and
  • Workplace Mentorships for Orange County high school students.
• Other responsibilities include 
  • Act as a liaison between the internal Corporate Engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility, Development, and Volunteer Engagement teams;
  • Act as a liaison between corporate partners that host workplace mentorships, speaking engagements, and job shadowing opportunities;
  • Conduct training and facilitate communication between departments; 
• Collaborate with business partners to develop creative partnership opportunities and agreements, ensuring their meaningful involvement in shaping the future of our youth programs.
• Generate and deliver impactful presentations that result in committed partnerships, driving growth and sustainability for our youth programs.
• Oversee coordination of college interns, as necessary
• Oversee the outreach and recruitment of volunteers into various educational initiatives.
• Update corporate and stakeholder list ofpartners on  CRM software.
• Manage aspects of meeting planning and coordination related to Leadership Council and Executive Champions Cabinet, two corporate leadership groups committed to strengthening our local college and career opportunities with underserved Orange County youth.
• Identify, plan, and implement growth strategies to expand new grant relationships, ensuring alignment, mutual benefit, and sustained support for the students we serve.

• Coordinate efforts (i.e., strategic planning, development of marketing materials, etc.) to build OCUW’s organizational capacity to become a powerful work-based learning intermediary, advocate, and community leader.
• Maintain United for Student Success data tracking, collecting, analysis, and reporting systems. 
• Provide support to outside vendors and contractors, as assigned.
• Work interdepartmentally to create an effective, measurable, and sustainable employer/donor pipeline for corporate engagement with local high schools.
• Reliable transportation to attend, organize and/or facilitate relevant conferences, meetings, trainings, workshops, outside events, and organization-wide activities.
• Additional responsibilities and functions as assigned.

Core Competencies

All employees, in performing their respective tasks and duties, are to perform quality work within deadlines, with or without direct supervision; interact professionally with other employees, customers, and suppliers; work effectively as a team contributor on all assignments; and work independently while understanding the necessity for communicating and coordinating work efforts with other employees and organizations.

Skilled in:

• Business Development & Prospecting– Proactively identifies and researches potential markets; cultivates leads through targeted outreach, networking, and strategic relationship building; effectively manages and grows a healthy partnership pipeline; follows up on new opportunities to drive engagement and expand the organization’s presence.
• Cultural competency and the ability to provide informed advocacy.
• Achieving Outcomes – Must be results-driven and able to demonstrate a history of meeting goals in an ever-changing environment.
• Relationship Building – Experience in building and maintaining relationships with business, education, and community partnerships is critical.
• Organizational Management – Excellent project management and organizational skills.
• Problem Solving – Collaborative in planning, decision-making, and seeking various creative solutions to resolve issues.

Job Requirements /Technical Knowledge

• 4 – 5 years of experience in business administration, human resources, corporate social responsibility, workforce development, communications or related field. 
• Must have background in and/or knowledge of: 
  • Working with Chambers of Commerce, and industry-specific groups; 
  • Corporate perspective; 
  • Human Resources; 
  • Orange County’s landscape of workforce development efforts; and 
  • Knowledge of high school/community college dynamics. 
• Bachelor’s degree; preferred master’s degree in business administration or related field. 
• Event planning and coordination, both small and large-scale events, preferred.
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) preferred. 
• Familiarity with equity-minded research-based approaches to: work-based learning, project-based learning models, differentiated instruction, mixed-skill and age grouping, culturally relevant teaching practices, and working with English Language Learners and underserved youth.
• Demonstrated record in achieving results with underserved youth and teens.
• Understanding of and ability to meet performance-based outcomes.
• Knowledge of program development, implementation, and evaluation, particularly as this relates to high school students.
• Proficiency in writing and communication skills.
• Ability to work on multiple projects with different objectives simultaneously.

 Knowledge of:

• Communities Served - Priority will be given to applicants with experience working with underserved schools and school districts, key decision makers and stakeholders (e.i. businesses, community, service providers, students, and parents) within the Orange County region. 
• Working knowledge of small school academies, Linked Learning pathways, California Partnership Academies, or National Academy Foundation academies is a plus.
• OCUW United for Student Success Programming
  • Destination Graduation (DG)
  • Youth Career Connections (YCC)
• Working knowledge of regional occupation programs, career technical education, and career-themed pathways is a plus.

Compensation

• Commensurate with experience, education and market - $68,640 – $85,000; competitive benefits.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is frequently required to be able to remain in a stationary position 75% of the time.  The person in this position needs to occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, records, and office machinery.  Constantly operates a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, copy machine and computer printer. Occasionally ascends/descends stairs, and constantly positions self to maintain computers in the office, including under the desks.  The person in this position frequently communicates with coworkers and customers who have inquiries about our business operations and the community we service; therefore, the person must be able to exchange accurate information. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Send Resumes To: 

recruiting@unitedwayoc.org

Orange County United Way

18012 Mitchell South, Irvine, CA 92614

www.unitedwayoc.org