Director of Workforce Strategy

Position Description
:
Director, Workforce Strategy
Reports To
:
President & CEO
Organization
:
One Future Coachella Valley
Status
:
Full-Time, Exempt (40 hours per week, with benefits)
Location
:
Hybrid - Coachella Valley, CA

The Director, Workforce Strategy, advances One Future Coachella Valley's vision to ensure local students succeed in college, career, and life by strengthening their pathways into meaningful, in-demand employment and engaging employers to support local students as the future workforce. As a key member of One Future's senior leadership team, this role co-develops and leads the regional strategy that supports students in securing high-quality internships, work-based learning, and employment that leads to economic mobility.
The Senior Director provides strategic and operational leadership across One Future's workforce initiatives [JT1]
-beginning with healthcare as the initial sector- overseeing day-to-day implementation, systems design, and cross-sector partner alignment. Working collaboratively with internal teams, K-12 and postsecondary institutions, and employer partners, this role facilitates streamlined education to workforce systems and strong student outcomes. Through this work, the Director, Workforce Strategy contributes directly to One Future's education, economic development, and community impact.

• Develop and lead the strategy and implementation of a Workforce Transitions Unit that extends One Future's college and career success programming to provide students with the support needed to successfully transition into the workforce and achieve long-term career success.
• Serve as project lead for One Future's existing pathways initiatives, including career explorations and work-based learning programming, undergraduate internships, post-secondary partnerships, and health professions pipeline projects.
• Develop and lead employer engagement strategies, conduct workforce needs assessments, and co-design effective referral and hiring strategies for local students.
• Create a student engagement and case management system that extends One Future's current student support programming to workforce transitions.
• Provide overall leadership and operational oversight, ensuring coordinated implementation across applicable grants, contracts, initiatives and overall organizational strategy.
• Establish a regional talent pipeline communications strategy to inform employers of the pipeline of local students pursuing positions and ensure graduates have strong career opportunities.
• Align key functions of Program Management, Data & Evaluation, Partnerships, and Communications with both short-term deliverables and long-term sustainability goals.
• Develop progress-to-goals tracking/reporting systems for student internship/job placement and/or other metric(s), including monthly dashboard updates and annual survey collection process.
• Develop staff structure to achieve Workforce Unit goals and desired impact;
  Recruit, onboard, train and manage staff.
• Develop and maintain internal documentation and process tools (e.g., reporting cadence, partner engagement protocols, communication workflows).

• Build, cultivate, communicate, and manage relationships with employers to gain a comprehensive understanding of job opportunities within the Coachella Valley, strengthen the region’s talent pipeline, and advance job placement outcomes for local students.
• Build an inspiring vision for supporting local students as valuable assets to the local workforce and implement strategies that motivate partners to action.
• Convene employer-led health pathways alignment teams and One Future’s Healthcare Workforce Leadership Roundtable.
• Collaborate with Employer Partners to execute on skill development, networking opportunities/events and host internships and work-based learning experiences that provide purposeful career pathways for students.
• Represent One Future at regional and statewide convenings, industry round tables, and employer coalition meetings, positioning the organization as a trusted workforce intermediary.

• Build supportive, trusting relationships with students and engage directly with them to understand their lived experiences, career aspirations, financial circumstances, and family responsibilities.
• Identify and help address barriers that may affect persistence, program participation, career exploration, or employment…