Director, Career Kickstart Postsecondary and Workforce Connections

About the Opportunity   

As our Director of Postsecondary and Workforce Connections, you’re the lead of our program’s relationship to the institutions that serve students after high school. You’re passionate about accelerating students to high-quality post-secondary programs. You recognize that a four-year degree after high school isn’t the only path to economic empowerment. You make this happen both through building strong relationships, telling a compelling story, and, primarily, through strategic and creative program design. You understand how institutions differ from community to community, and that their systems and incentives vary, and in that context can quickly recognize patterns so that you can develop a nationally successful solution for a local challenge. 

When our students have easy paths to and through high-impact postsecondary programs, including reliable opportunities to receive credit for their Career Kickstart courses and exams, it’s because of the strategies you’ve designed and delivered. 

In this role, you will:  

Research and Relationship Building 

• Conduct a landscape analysis of post-secondary credit policies and programs, as well as evaluate the relative value of various post-secondary programs in advancing students to long-term success 

• Attend conferences and build trusting and productive relationships with key thought leaders in the field 

• As we develop our program and proposal, evaluate the merits and risks of the proposal and solicit feedback to gauge viability with key stakeholders 

• Charter and manage an external advisory board of sector experts 

Program and Policy Design 

• Ensure Career Kickstart program completers are able to accelerate through high-value community college  programs by getting recognition and credit for the work they do in Career Kickstart 

• Craft a compelling vision and strategies for how Career Kickstart will incentivize post-secondary programs, particularly community colleges, to recognize Career Kickstart courses and exams for credit 

• Co-lead our approach to the post-secondary sectors—with a focus on community colleges—and will specifically develop innovative policies to assure acceptance for credit 

• Ensure strategies and policies are relevant across a range of post-secondary governance and financial models 

• Partner closely with the Career Kickstart Senior Director of Market Adoption and program team to provide a perspective on how program design decisions will affect post-secondary acceptance 

Execution and Implementation 

• Secure system partnership(s) in pilot geography/geographies that ensure(s) qualified pilot participants receive credit for their Career Kickstart coursework 

• Be persuasive in convincing needed actors (e.g., state policymakers) of the quality and soundness of your policy design, using data and logic as well as your understanding of their goals 

 About You  

 You have:  

• A passion for supporting career advancement and economic mobility for millions of students    

• Outstanding knowledge of emerging trends in and motivations behind community college governance, finances, and/or strategic decision-making, including at least 7-10 years in leadership roles at post-secondary institutions 

• An understanding of the barriers that students face when working toward a two-year degree or certificate and how that results in a low completion rate for community college degree students 

• An appreciation for the role of policy in creating incentives and enabling action 

• A creative approach to designing solutions, inviting in the unorthodox while scrutinizing the established 

• Strong organization and prioritization skills and the proven ability to move forward multiple projects in concert, both independently and as a member of the team    

• Adept problem-solving skills, including using data to inform decisions and actions    

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including experience presenting and facilitating meetings (remotely and in-person) 

• Proven ability to build relationships and influence others to action  

• Experience building and managing long-term relationships with outside partners 

• A tendency to take initiative outside your formal responsibilities when the team needs you 

• Excellent PowerPoint, Word, and Excel skills  

• The ability to travel 8-10 times a year for internal team meetings, external meetings, and 2-3 conferences/CB events a year 

• This role can be remote, although living in one of our early-adoption states (California, Colorado, North Carolina, Ten