Fast Facts

The Associate Director of Workforce Alignment plays a pivotal role in enhancing grant-funded initiatives through workforce alignment services while managing projects and engaging with community colleges to promote equitable outcomes.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include managing project timelines and budgets, providing strategic support to colleges, and contributing to ATD's thought leadership through content development and facilitation of events.

Skills: Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree, experience in higher education or workforce development, strong project management skills, and the ability to engage diverse audiences effectively.

Qualifications: Preferred qualifications include a Master's degree and a minimum of five years of relevant experience, alongside excellent communication and analytical thinking skills.

Location: This position is remote, with occasional travel required for meetings and events.

Compensation: $95000 - $105000 / Annually

Associate Director, Workforce Alignment

Position Details:

Position Type:

Full Time, Exempt

Reports To:

Director, Workforce Alignment

Work Location:

Remote

Level of Travel Required:

Occasional travel per department and organizational needs.

Term of employment: The position is grant-funded through November 2028. Continuation of employment beyond the grant period is contingent upon the availability of additional funding.

Job Overview:

The Associate Director of Workforce Alignment (ADWA) plays a central role in advancing Achieving the Dream’s workforce alignment portfolio and ensuring high-quality implementation of grant-funded initiatives across the ATD Network. The ADWA supports the development and delivery of evidence-based workforce alignment services, assists in shaping strategy related to pathways and program design, and helps colleges implement employer-aligned credentials, work-based learning, dual enrollment and other models that advance equitable student outcomes. This position is responsible for managing projects and grant deliverables from intake through completion, including timelines, budgets, reporting, and convenings, while coordinating cross-functional teams and external partners. The ADWA advances ATD’s thought leadership through content development, presentations, and facilitation at national and regional convenings. The ADWA reports to the Director of Workforce Alignment and serves as a key member of the Network Engagement team, contributing to ATD’s growth and impact.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Build and Sustain ATD’s Workforce Alignment Portfolio (40%)

Coordinate and assist with external grants and contracts, ensuring seamless execution and measurable impact at community colleges while aligning with organizational goals and funding requirements.
In collaboration with the Director of Workforce Alignment, develop and curate a robust suite of workforce alignment services and resources, ensuring colleges have access to research-backed strategies on topics such as employer partnerships, credentials, work-based learning, and dual enrollment that drive equitable outcomes for diverse student populations.
Assist in shaping the strategic direction for workforce alignment as related to pathways and program design, driving innovation and enhancing impact across ATD Network colleges and the broader educational field.

Project Management (20%)

Manage and reports on the flow of projects from intake to delivery including creating timelines, tracking deliverables, and monitoring workloads and resources.
Build project management plans for grant deliverables considering all phases, contingencies, and dependencies ensuring delivery on time as well as within both scope and budget.
Provide project management support for fee-for-service contracts with colleges.
Facilitate program meetings to drive updates and ensure reporting processes and cadence are followed.
Plan and provide on-site support for project-related events, including college site visits and other face-to-face convenings.

Provide Direct Support to Colleges (20%)

Provide expert coaching and capacity-building support to colleges, empowering institutions to implement innovative models that foster engagement, leadership, and institutional transformation.
Support assessment efforts to understand the needs of ATD Network colleges, identify trends, gaps, and opportunities to strengthen institutional capacity in workforce alignment.
Foster cross-team collaboration within ATD to support colleges in implementing workforce alignment as part of their overall transformation journeys.

Contribute to ATD’s Thought Leadership on Workforce Alignment (10%)

Support the strategic direction and dissemination of best practices across the Network and the broader field related to workforce alignment.
Advance ATD’s leadership in workforce alignment by assisting with content development for articles, blogs, and grant-related publications.
Contribute to field-wide presentations at in-person and virtual events to share insights and expertise at national, regional, and local convenings.
Plan and facilitate workforce alignment content at convenings and institutes, including dedicated sessions at the annual DREAM conference, to foster knowledge-sharing and professional learning.

Additional Responsibilities (10%)

Stay informed of the latest research, news, and best practices around workforce alignment and disseminate any new findings across the team
Actively serve on internal committees/teams to contribute to ATD’s strategy execution.
Support ATD’s Network Engagement team and other activities, as needed.
Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills/Qualifications/Experience

Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in a field related to education, social sciences, or public policy. Master’s degree preferred.
Minimum five years' experience in higher education, workforce development, program and project management, grant management, or non-profits.
Experience working in a community college environment is required.
Expertise in project management, including problem-solving abilities, facilitation, analytical thinking, and ability to drive resolution.
Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences and ability to communicate crucial information up, down, and across.
Ability to work productively in both team and independent settings; ability to build strong and trusting relationships among ATD colleagues, external partners, and others to achieve buy-in and shared understanding.
Self-motivated and disciplined with capacity to be highly productive working under pressure and within time constraints.
Flexibility and tolerance for ambiguity.
Strong technology skills with the capacity to quickly learn new platforms.

Core Competencies:

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Achieving the Dream is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse work environment.Employment policies and decisions are based upon merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally- protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

Achieving the Dream jobs

Associate Director of Workforce Alignment