Director of National College and Career Services

Position Summary

Urban Alliance is currently seeking a Director of National College and Career Services to support its mission of connecting high school students to equitable and inclusive careers through paid work experiences, mentorship, and professional development. We work with schools and employers to address systemic barriers to economic mobility for young adults of color and to bridge the gaps between education and workforce development for all young people. The Director of National College and Career Services will oversee the structure, vision, and support of our career and college services for Urban Alliance (UA) young adults in all our regions. The Director of National College and Career Services will create and oversee a comprehensive strategy to support high school seniors and alumni in connecting and staying connected to education and/or a living-wage career post-high school. This position will report to the National Director of Programs and will be part of the National Program Team. 

About Urban Alliance

Urban Alliance (UA) believes that all young people deserve equal access to the work experiences, professional networks, and skills training needed to achieve economic mobility. For more than 25 years, UA has provided more than 6,000 high school students with the skills, social capital, and career exposure needed to overcome systemic barriers to equal employment and economic mobility. UA is a bridge between young adults, employers, and schools that provides high school students with comprehensive soft skills and digital literacy training paid internships with local employers, individualized mentoring and case management, and ongoing post-high school planning support.

Key Responsibilities

As Director of National College and Career Services, you will:

Strategic Planning and Vision

• Work with the National Director of Programs and Chief Program Officer to define, clearly articulate, and implement the vision for college and career services for the organization.
• Build out career and college coaching processes and targets for regional college and career specialists, and train regional staff on these processes.
• Create materials, guidelines, and training that support comprehensive post-high school planning in the Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program and track quality/completion of post high school plans for all UA high school seniors.
• Research higher education guidance and workforce processes to create workflow and deliverables for regional college and career specialists.
• Develop, implement, evaluate, and monitor organization-wide strategies to deliver evidence-based, outcomes in career development and work-preparedness programming and services for all UA students and alumni.
• Develop strategies for alumni engagement, support, outreach, and programming.
• Help create and nurture a community of practice for regional staff, including college and career specialists and program directors, to regularly collaborate, troubleshoot and strategize to address common challenges and share experiences and successful efforts.

College and Career Services

• Work with regional staff and national program and career pathways staff to create, increase, and enhance summer and year-round workforce experiences offered to Urban Alliance alumni.
• Provide a wide array of appropriate resources on careers, technical schools, apprenticeships, and training programs 
• Create and implement an outreach plan to engage all recent high school graduate UA alumni in college and career readiness activities 
• Design case management processes and tracking for regional staff for recent alumni
• Support the High School Internship Program by serving as the organization's lead on post-high school planning systems and processes. 
• Establish national partnerships that provide additional training, job opportunities, networking opportunities, and other support for UA alumni
• Work with Regional Alumni staff to create local partnerships in their regions. 

Establish UA Alumni Network

• Develop strategies to create a robust and engaged alumni network.
• Lead on designing, monitoring, and updating the alumni portal
• Support Regional Team in creating regional engagement strategies, including networking events and professional development opportunities.
• Design a national jobs board for companies to post opportunities and tap into our alumni talent.

Data Management

• Ensure that alumni data in Salesforce is high quality and entered on a regular basis
• Work with Data and Evaluation to create success metrics and monitoring systems for alumni data.
• Help create KPIs and annual national goals for Regional Alumni Team

Expertise

• Serve as the in-house expert on the challenges faced by older youth (18-24) across the nation and in UA regions.
• Remain connected to national efforts to support disconnected youth

Keys to Success

Career Services Experience: The ideal candidate has a proven track record of excellence and commitment in college and/or career services and wants to be part of a mission-driven organization. They will have a degree and/or certification (or extensive demonstrated experience) in career services, career counseling, or counseling. The candidate will also have at least 5-7 years of experience working in college and career planning and will have experience working at both local and national levels. This candidate will have a strong understanding of higher education, financial aid, and career success. They will be committed to remaining current on national trends and research to ensure that UA alumni programs are effective and meeting the needs of our alumni. They will be proficient with using data systems and existing data including the National Student Clearinghouse data to inform practice and monitor progress toward goals.

Professional/Leadership Development: The ideal candidate will have knowledge and experience building capacity of staff through coaching and training both face-to-face and online. They will use coaching, training, and feedback to develop others, engage the team in decisions, and support problem-solving. The ideal candidate will have experience conducting professional development needs assessments and designing and delivering training to meet the needs of adult learners, aligning professional development with organizational and team priorities.

Leadership: The ideal candidate will be an inclusive and collaborative leader with demonstrated success building, coaching, and supporting a highly effective team. They will have experience managing and working with a geographically disparate and remote team. They will inspire and motivate others to take action, meet goals, and they will hold the team accountable for priority work assigned to them. The ideal candidate will also have experience being part of a leadership team of an organization and/or serving in leadership roles that span across teams or throughout an organization.

Commitment to racial equity and social justice: The ideal candidate will be dedicated to the organization’s mission and committed to understanding the program model. The candidate will have a commitment to advancing racial equity and will ensure that it is reflected throughout the organization’s work.

Urban Alliance Vaccination Policy

As established by the Urban Alliance Board of Directors, all employees are required to receive a vaccination against COVID-19, unless a medical or religious reasonable accommodation is approved. If offered a job, the candidate must be able to prove that they have been vaccinated with one of the CDC-authorized vaccines, including either Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson / Janssen or request and be granted an accommodation before their start date.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

Urban Alliance is a racial and social justice organization committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. Urban Alliance is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Applicants from all underrepresented groups, including people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and DACA recipients are encouraged to apply.