Manager or Senior Manager, Postsecondary Systems & Policy

 About UNITE-LA

Over the past 25 years, UNITE-LA has established itself as a trusted education and workforce intermediary, dedicated to improving the economic mobility and well-being of the region’s diverse workforce. Leveraging strategic cross-sector partnerships at local, statewide, and national levels, we advance policies, programs, and systems that strengthen anti-racism and equitable education and workforce outcomes from cradle through career. 

Position Overview 

The Manager or Senior Manager (dependent on relevant skills and experience), Postsecondary Systems & Policy plays a critical role in UNITE-LA’s Systems Change team in a dynamic role, supporting the successful implementation of the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative and state and local policy efforts that influence the postsecondary ecosystem. This position will work with various partners and stakeholders -including education, workforce, and community-based organizations - to advance the goals of the collaborative which are to close equity gaps for Los Angeles area students pursuing educations and careers in healthcare, computer science, and engineering. This position will work internally and externally with policy partners across numerous coalitions to advance UNITE-LA’s strategies that promote college affordability, student success, and employability. 

Position Responsibilities

The Manager/Senior Manager will work closely with the Director of Postsecondary Strategy & Policy, and often in collaboration with cross-functional staff teams, such as the Policy Team, to support the Postsecondary Systems portfolio in the following ways: 

• Project Management: Support day-to-day management and coordination for the L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative, including maintaining/developing project plans with timelines of deliverables and coordinating workflow and communications across external collaborative partners and consultants to accomplish objectives. 

• Partner Convening and Engagement: Plan and manage, with the Director and other staff, meetings for K-16 Stakeholders, including Subregional Conveners and the Regional Stewardship Group, and support the development of agendas, materials, and meeting summaries, and communicate with partners post-convenings. 

• Relationship and Stakeholder Management: Develop and maintain strong relationships across partners and projects, including collaborating with UNITE-LA colleagues to steward institutional relationships, representing UNITE-LA at meetings as appropriate, and maintaining relevant records in our project and relationship management tools Asana and Salesforce. 

• Strategy Development: Work with L.A. Region K-16 Collaborative members, project staff, and consultants to identify project priorities, support strategy development, and assess strategic opportunities. Connect local systems change efforts to state policy priorities as they pertain to K-16 pathways.

• Policy Analysis and Advocacy: Maintain knowledge of best practices related to postsecondary policy. Provide support to the policy team by preparing analyses and supporting or opposing letters for local, state, and federal policy issues impacting the Los Angeles region postsecondary ecosystem. Also represent UNITE-LA in partnership and coalition meetings and report back findings to the broader policy team.

• Grant Management: Track grant deliverables and support partners in reporting on grant requirements, help draft funder reports, and contribute to the design and development of grant proposals.

Skills for Success

• Collaboration: excellent interpersonal skills, ability to build relationships, work effectively with diverse groups of people and have crucial conversations. 

• Excellent Written and Verbal Communications: craft compelling proposals, communications, and marketing materials to a diverse pool of partners; effectively communicate to team members alignment between project activities and goals, as well as partner interests with UNITE-LA’s mission and goals. 

• Organizational Cooperation: ability to work across teams within the organization to set and meet collaborative goals and workflows. This may include reflecting on team goals and processes to continuously improve team performance, appropriately applying own expertise and stepping back to learn from others’ areas of expertise and promoting collaborative decision-making processes and leading a team to reach consensus. 

• Cultivating Innovation: open to internal and external input and new approaches and develops solutions creatively. This may include identifying program-related questions and areas needing innovation, encouraging different perspectives/ techniques from partners, and creating new ideas and processes to address root causes of complex problems. 

• Fund Development: ability to make connections to body of work through funding opportunities and reporting. This may include supporting research and writing that is inserted into concept papers and proposals and tracking of and reporting on grant deliverables.

• Flexibility and Adaptability: ability to work under tight deadlines, pivot when there are changing external factors, work within different working styles on the team, and maintain a positive, solutions-oriented approach. 

• Project Coordination and Administration: excellent management skills and knowledge of project management software used to oversee project work plans and track grant deliverables. This includes the management of multiple projects and simultaneous work streams and applying judgment to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines.

• Initiative: proactively seeks opportunities to best serve the organization, achieve overall goals, and determines the internal and external resources needed to enable success and develop a plan to secure them. 

Experience (Preferred Competencies)

• A solid foundation in the principles of systems change and collective impact.

• A proven track record of partnership maintenance and coalition building with diverse stakeholders in education and workforce.

• Strong working knowledge of higher education systems and institutions; college access and affordability; and attainment and success.

• A solid foundation in policy analysis and policy writing, with knowledge of education policy, including secondary and postsecondary policy. 

• Knowledge of the grantmaking process, including grant writing, reporting, and budget tracking.

• Knowledge of project management software, specifically Asana, is a plus. 

• Knowledge of CRM software, specifically Salesforce, is a plus. 

Position Details

This is a full-time exempt position, reporting to the Director of Postsecondary Strategy & Policy. While many staff continue to regularly work remotely, attendance at our downtown Los Angeles office is expected at least twice per month and occasional travel is required for partner meetings locally and for in- and out-of-state conferences. 

The salary range for this position is $67,000-$74,000 for a Manager and $75,000-$85,000 for a Senior Manager. If you are offered a position at UNITE-LA, your final title and 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 the 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 highered@unitela.com using the email subject line "Last Name - Sr. Manager, PS Systems & Policy.” Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until filled, with a priority deadline of May 3, 2024.

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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.

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.