Director of Development and Operations; CEEMI

About CEEMI

The Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative (CEEMI) is a nonprofit focused on scaling effective workforce and postsecondary programs, so every Coloradan can access training that leads to a good-paying job. We unlock public dollars and public data to grow the list of demonstrably effective workforce development and postsecondary programs that move Colorado learners into good jobs with good wages, supported by data.

Founded in 2021, CEEMI works with policymakers, providers, and funders to direct limited public and philanthropic dollars toward programs backed by strong evidence, and to help Colorado policymakers better understand evidence-based policy making and budgeting. CEEMI is also exploring applying its evidence-based advocacy in the housing and homelessness policy spaces in Colorado in 2026.

Trailhead is a larger nonprofit founded in 1993, and a public health institute. Trailhead provides administrative oversight for CEEMI staff. CEEMI and Trailhead team members help build a regenerative organization that treats employees as people vs. cogs in a machine.

Our Mission:
Trailhead Institute advances innovation and collaboration in public and environmental health.

Our Vision:
Everyone has the opportunity to be healthy and live in a healthy environment.

Our Drivers and Values:
Collaboration, Justice, Capacity, Curiosity, Inclusion, Innovation, Reflection.

Trailhead's Theory of Change outlines our unique role in Colorado's public health system and identifies strategies, activities, and impact that advance our vision. To learn more, check out Trailhead's one pager.

Position Summary:

The Director of Development and Operations (DDO) strengthens CEEMI's operational backbone and development capacity, ensuring the organization can sustainably grow, deliver high-quality projects, and meet ambitious annual goals. The DDO works closely with the CEO and the Director of Strategy and Partnerships to ensure the organization is well managed, meets deadlines, and produces high quality work products.

This role manages grants and contracts; oversees CEEMI's financial and administrative systems; supports fundraising and funder stewardship; and leads operational planning across key initiatives. These include:

• Our Evidence Builders convening for policymakers;
• Our outreach planning and meetings with elected officials and funders;
• Our efforts to release longitudinal earnings data broken out by training providers in order to increase the transparency of the workforce ecosystem;
• Our partnership to provide technical assistance and support to the Prosperity Denver Fund's management of Denver sales tax dollars in support of effective short term credential programs; our statewide replication and scaling efforts;
• And other CEEMI efforts.

The DDO reports to the CEO and works closely with Trailhead and CEEMI partners. The DDO will lead operations and development work for CEEMI, function in some ways as a chief of staff to the organization, and pitch in on other projects as needed based on bandwidth and capacity.

Applicants must be based in Colorado. While much of the day-to-day work will be remote, there are regular in person interactions and meetings.

• Lead grant writing, renewals, reporting, tracking deadlines, and stewarding funder relationships.
• Build systems to showcase CEEMI's wins; develop a content calendar in partnership with internal and external communications support.
• Support major multi-year initiatives, including CEEMI's work to grow and scale evidence-based workforce programs in Colorado, by identifying and securing funding needed for large-scale replication.

• Manage CEEMI's financial processes, budgeting, invoicing, reconciliation, and compliance in partnership with Trailhead, our fiscal sponsor.
• Lead contracting, scopes of work, invoicing, and deliverable tracking across Evidence Builders, Prosperity Denver Fund, our initiatives to unlock administrative earnings outcomes for learners and training providers, and other CEEMI projects.
• Maintain a master organizational work plan that integrates requirements across all…