Director, Career Ladders
100% Remote within California, Must reside in California
Career Ladders Project (CLP) promotes equity-minded community college redesign. We collaborate with colleges and their partners to discover, develop, and disseminate effective practices. Our policy work, research, and direct efforts with colleges lead to system change—and enable more students to attain certificates, degrees, transfers, and career advancement.
CLP is seeking a Director to lead our initiatives and projects focused on college and career pathway development, sector partnerships, and secondary and postsecondary education reform strategies. This position will report to the CLP Chief Program Officer. This is a full-time, exempt position requiring travel within California.
The physical CLP office is located in Oakland, CA, and there are employees who live outside the Bay Area and telecommute. The Director would preferably reside in the Los Angeles or San Diego metro areas. CLP has projects throughout the state, including the Central Valley, the greater Los Angeles area, the Inland Empire, San Diego, the Central and North Coasts, and the Bay Area.
About CLP
CLP provides assistance to a range of community college-centered programs, including the Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion project. CLP works closely with policymakers and state agencies, including the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the California Department of Education, to make evidence-based, practitioner-informed recommendations to achieve equitable student outcomes. CLP works with colleges and their education and community partners to transform educational structures, policies and practices to eliminate equity gaps and improve postsecondary credential attainment. CLP also works in partnership with a wide array of organizations in the educational reform space, including the Puente Project, Umoja Community, COLEGAS, EdTrust-West, JustEquations, the Research and Planning Group, the Linked Learning Alliance, and the California EDGE Coalition. Initially established by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, CLP operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the non-profit auxiliary for the California Community Colleges. More information is available at www.careerladdersproject.org.
Essential Job Responsibilities
The Director will lead capacity-building/technical assistance to organizational partners, including high schools, colleges, intermediaries, and others. The Director will also design and facilitate professional development and communities of practice, and will research and document promising practices. The Director will lead and manage CLP projects and serve on multiple CLP cross-functional project teams. The Director will serve as a resource and share expertise across various CLP initiatives. Primary responsibilities include:
Initiatives and Program Core Work
- Lead CLP projects and coordinate with the CLP team. Manage teams of staff and consultants to deliver outcomes as specified in contracts and grants.
- Coordinate, facilitate, and document the work of diverse groups to improve student educational success and career attainment; groups may include representatives from intermediaries, high schools/districts, colleges, community-based organizations, workforce development organizations, and others.
- Work with intermediaries, high schools, colleges, and other organizations to foster dialogue, build networks, identify and address professional development/technical assistance needs, and support communities of practice focused on equitable student success strategies, including pathway design, integrated student supports, work-based learning, and dual enrollment.
- Support high schools, colleges, and their partners in the integration of initiatives, funding streams, and structures to design and implement high-quality college and career pathways toward the goal of eliminating gaps in postsecondary outcomes by race, gender, and income.
- Seek or develop new programs or project initiatives that advance CLP’s work.
- Synthesize and/or conduct research on questions that inform student success and equity in college and career; work collaboratively with senior leadership and staff to use this learning to inform and enrich CLP approaches and initiatives.
- Design and deliver high-quality capacity-building professional development sessions and convenings. Give presentations and facilitate interactive breakouts at conferences, develop and deliver effective webinars or virtual workshops.
- Develop briefs, reports, and tools for high school and community college practitioners on effective practices in key program areas.
- Represent CLP in meetings, conferences, and other events. Manage competing interests effectively, promote cooperation, and address conflicts diplomatically.
- Continue to build professional knowledge of the fields of educational reform, including college and career transition and success strategies; race-conscious approaches to transforming policies, practices, and structures; and transformation strategies such as design thinking, human-centered design, and liberatory design.
Organizational Leadership and Responsibility
- Work collaboratively with the CLP leadership team to support organizational development and contribute to ongoing process improvements.
- Recruit other peers and content experts to assist in initiatives, projects, and programmatic work, as required.
- Form teams to deliver outcomes as specified in contracts and grants.
- Assist in developing new initiatives and partnerships.
- Other assignments as required.
Supervisory Responsibilities
- Supervise staff. Be responsible for recruiting, orienting, and providing direction, evaluation, and professional development for all supervised staff within the policies and practices of the Foundation and CLP. Note: At the time of hiring, this position has no direct reports or staff supervision responsibilities, but may be called on to supervise staff in the future.
- Oversee consulting and professional services contractors. These may include peer experts, senior consultants, writers, meeting planners, and others engaged in contracted services. Responsible for identifying and recruiting, as well as negotiating the scope of work and deploying consultants in the field to ensure organizational needs and deliverables are met at multiple sites.
Education, Skills, and Experience
The following qualifications are required:
- Successful teaching, counseling and/or administrative experience in a high school, K-12 school district, community college or college district.
- Experience leading and administering large grants or programs related to improving design and delivery of K-12 or college programs or services.
- Knowledge of effective practices related to education and equity—especially with respect to improving student transition, success and completion for racially-minoritized and for low-income students; integrated support services and counseling; institutional transformation, guided pathways and integrated approaches to reform; development and redesign of K16 pathways; use of data and evidence to inform change.
- Demonstrated success in working with and serving diverse populations; promoting systemic equity and a culture of community, diversity and inclusion; promoting culturally affirming, race and gender forward strategies; and providing leadership in supporting students, faculty and staff in addressing issues of equity that impact student learning.
- Knowledge of key initiatives, policy issues and funding streams impacting educational systems in California, particularly the community colleges and their K12 partners.
- Experience managing and leading complex and diverse projects.
- Experience in providing leadership and supervision for employees or a team.
- Excellent writing skills and experience writing briefs, reports, or proposals.
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Excellent verbal and public presentation skills.
- Excellent meeting facilitation skills.
- Strong interpersonal skills including an ability to cultivate relationships with community colleges and other educational institutions, government agencies, and community organizations.
- Familiarity with secondary, postsecondary, or adult education systems.
- Familiarity with higher education reforms and supporting research.
- Commitment to racial, gender and social justice and economic mobility for Californians.
- Passion for student educational achievement and career advancement.
- General computer literacy and familiarity with common office and presentation software programs.
The following qualifications are highly desirable:
- Advanced degree (master’s or doctorate), or equivalent in relevant field from accredited university.
- Experience in garnering grants and managing multiple funding sources such as foundation, state, and national grants simultaneously and within funder guidelines and regulations.
- Experience with developing and providing professional development activities or programs, or with providing technical assistance in a secondary or postsecondary context.
- Experience with school district or college governance, department or division leadership, committee work or other relevant educational leadership or administrative responsibilities.
- State-level policy knowledge, leadership experience via state committee work, professional associations, task forces or other related venues.
What we offer
FoundationCCC is fully committed to a “remote-first” philosophy and recruits and hires talent across the state for fully remote positions where virtual work is possible. Our headquarters are located in Downtown Sacramento, blocks from California’s State Capitol.
Benefits
Medical, dental, and vision plans, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and Wellness offerings
To see the full job description, please email jobs@foundationccc.org.
Budgeted Annual Salary Pay Range:
$145,000.00 - $165,000.00
Final salary and rates are based on education, experience, skills relevant to the role, and internal equity.