About the Position

UNITE-LA seeks a collaborative professional with strong project management, strategy development, and stakeholder engagement skills to join an innovative team dedicated to the alignment and transformation of public systems to achieve education and workforce equity.

This new Senior Manager position will play a critical role in UNITE-LA’s Systems Change team to drive the successful development of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, a muti-year collective impact effort that aims to close racial and gender gaps in postsecondary enrollment and attainment and employment in L.A. County, starting with a focus on building equitable pathways to health care, engineering and computer science careers.

Key Goals and Objectives of the K-16 Collaborative are:

• Increase postsecondary enrollment, degree completion in health care, computing and engineering, and the percentage of students employed in their field of study, while eliminating racial disparities.
• Enhance and expand dual enrollment, articulated transfer, and work-based learning opportunities, strengthening K-12, community college, and college/university matriculation.
• Develop and support regional and subregional collaboration to strengthen problem-solving capacity.

As the regional convener for the K-16 Collaborative, UNITE-LA is supporting the development of five subregional partnerships in L.A. County that will coalesce leaders across K-12 districts, two- and four-year colleges to streamline and accelerate education to career pathways. This position will primarily lead efforts to: stay in tune with the emerging needs of these subregional partnerships; mobilize technical assistance supports; promote learning and problem solving across the five partnerships; create and implement regular communication vehicles; and manage data and progress reporting requirements.

About Us

Over the past 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.

What Will You Do

K-16 Stakeholder Communication & Engagement:

• Develop positive working relationships with the primary conveners of each of the five K-16 subregional partnerships and other K-16 stakeholders, including college/university faculty and administrative leaders, K-12 leaders, employers, and community partners to build the profile of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative and support its advancement.
• Collaborate with professional communications firm and UNITE-LA's internal marketing department to develop and implement regular communication strategies and products to share K-16 related updates, opportunities, and resources with subregions (e.g. newsletter, website updates, fact sheets, slide decks).
• Facilitate and/or represent UNITE-LA in small and large group meetings, trainings, and/or strategic planning sessions for partners, funders, and other stakeholders.

Learning Community Development:

• Lead the establishment of structured, ongoing sharing and learning opportunities across the five subregions and procurement of consultants or technical assistance providers with relevant expertise. Communities of Practice have been envisioned around several topics, including collective impact principles, and strategies related to dual enrollment, transfer success, and work-based learning.
• Utilize current research and best practices related to postsecondary access and completion to inform continuous improvement of the design, delivery and evaluation of pathway strategies across subregional efforts.

Project & Grant Management:

• Utilize Asana to develop and manage timelines, workflow, communications, production of deliverables, and other aspects of project implementation to continuously advance multiple strategies related to the K-16 Collaborative.
• Utilize Salesforce to track and manage partner relationships and interactions and fundraising opportunities that relate to the K-16 Collaborative.
• Coordinate with subregional leads, the K-16 Collaborative's Fiscal Lead, and state administrators to submit grant narrative and financial reports.

Convening:

• Support the UNITE-LA team in planning and facilitating meetings and convenings for the K-16 Collaborative Stewardship Group, Communities of Practice, and other regional meetings as needed, including scheduling, partner correspondence, agenda development, meeting minutes, co-facilitation, and driving action in between meetings.

Who You Are

• You are passionate about UNITE-LA's mission, advancing anti-racist practices and policies, and systems change.
• You have 5+ years of professional experience supporting college and career pathways in partnership with K-12, postsecondary education, and/or workforce systems.
• Bachelor's degree with 5 years relevant work experience OR Master's degree with 3 years relevant work experience OR 7+ years relevant work experience in education or workforce development for communities facing high education and labor market barriers
  • Degree or coursework preferred in the following areas: public policy, public administration, education or higher education, and/or macro social work
• You are a strong project manager, with a track record of supporting complex projects, setting overall project goals, developing workplans, and overseeing detail-oriented implementation.
• You enjoy working to understand the root causes of complex problems and developing innovative solutions.
• You have experience building positive relationships and collaborate effectively on diverse teams, including those comprised of direct teammates, colleagues from other departments with no formal reporting structure, contractors and a diverse array of external stakeholders.
• You are comfortable designing and leading effective and inclusive meetings, convenings, and other engagements that will advance project objectives and build stakeholder relationships.
• You are an excellent writer, speaker, and presenter, with the ability to synthesize and communicate complex issues in clear and actionable ways.
• You are an intellectually curious learner willing take in new information and perspectives to inform and adapt work; demonstrates a growth mindset and a desire to continuously improve.
• You enjoy jumping into new projects and know how to build subject matter expertise and credibility quickly.

Who You Will Work With

• You will work closely with and report to the Director of Postsecondary Strategy and Policy to advance the goals of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative and will develop relationships with a broad and diverse group of leaders from school districts, postsecondary institutions, government and nonprofit organizations across Los Angeles County.
• You will support the hiring and talent development of a new Coordinator position and work collaboratively with a team of seven within the Systems Change department and various consultants contracted to support the Collaborative.
• UNITE-LA is a highly collaborative and matrixed organization: you will also regularly work with members of our broader team of over 40 staff leading efforts related to fund development, marketing and communications, policy/advocacy, and direct college & career pathway programming with young people, among other roles.

Position Details

This is a full-time exempt position based in Los Angeles, CA. While many staff continue to regularly work remotely, attendance at our downtown Los Angeles office or at community events in the L.A. region is expected several times a month. Occasional travel is required for in-state and out-of-state conferences.

The salary range for this position is $75,000 – 85,000. If you are offered a position at UNITE-LA, your final 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 internal equity of our current team members as a part of any final offer. 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.

To Apply

Interested candidates should submit their resume and a cover letter summarizing your qualifications for the position to [email protected] using the email subject line "K-16 Collaborative Sr. Manager." Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until filled, with a priority deadline of June 9, 2023.

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.

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