Program Manager, Workforce Development

Location: Washington, DC
Salary range: $80,000 – $105,000, based on experience (new hires will most likely start in the lower half of this range)
Position Type: Full-time
Included Benefits: Hybrid schedule, healthcare benefits, sick leave, life insurance, 401K company match, professional learning and development opportunities, mentorship and coaching, and opportunities to attend conferences and industry events.

Opportunity Works, a DBA of IBG Consulting Group, designs and delivers workforce development programs that help youth and adults build skills, earn credentials, connect to employment, and advance toward greater economic mobility. Our work brings together training, career preparation, employer engagement, participant support, and strong program implementation to create meaningful pathways to opportunity.

​

We partner with government agencies, employers, community organizations, educators, and other stakeholders to design and operate programs responsive to the needs of both participants and the labor market. Our programs may serve young people preparing for their first work experiences, adults seeking new skills or credentials, or individuals navigating transitions into new careers. Across that work, we value equity, practical impact, continuous improvement, and a deep commitment to the people we serve. We believe strong workforce programs require more than good training. They require thoughtful program design, high-quality instructors and staff, effective employer relationships, strong operations, meaningful participant support, and consistent attention to outcomes.

That means no two days look quite the same. One day our team might be preparing to launch a new training cohort; another, troubleshooting participant barriers, coaching an instructor, meeting with an employer partner, reviewing attendance and outcomes data, preparing a funder report, or improving a program model based on what we're learning.

​

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced Program Manager, Workforce Development to lead the implementation of workforce development programs serving youth and adult populations. This role is the operational hub for our direct-service programs and is designed for someone who can take ownership of both the big picture and the many details required to deliver high-quality programming.

You'll oversee established programs while also helping to launch new programs. That may mean developing program infrastructure, translating a scope of work into an implementation plan, recruiting participants, supervising contractors, building employer partnerships, monitoring performance, and ensuring that programs meet funder requirements.

​

We're a tech-savvy team that is constantly looking for smarter and more effective ways to work. You'll have opportunities to use and strengthen tools for participant and outcome tracking, project management, social media, employer engagement, and program operations. We're also increasingly exploring how AI can strengthen program design, analysis, communications, training development, and day-to-day operations. We expect our team to be curious and experimental with new technology while pairing it with strong judgment, established best practices, and company policies for responsible use.

​

What You'll Do

Program Management & Implementation

• Lead the day-to-day implementation of workforce development programs serving youth and adult populations

• Translate grant requirements, scopes of work, program designs, and organizational goals into detailed implementation plans, timelines, workflows, and deliverables

• Coordinate program calendars, training schedules, staffing plans, facilities, materials, technology, and other resources needed for successful implementation

• Manage multiple programs, cohorts, or workstreams simultaneously and keep projects moving against deadlines and performance goals
   

Participant Experience & Outcomes

• Oversee participant recruitment, enrollment, onboarding, attendance, engagement, completion, credential attainment, and employment-related outcomes

• Work with case managers, instructors, and partners to address participant needs and connect individuals with appropriate resources and supports

• Review participant feedback and performance data to identify opportunities to strengthen program design and delivery

• Maintain a strong focus on measurable outcomes, including completion, credentials, job placement, retention, and other funder-defined performance measures
   

Staff & Contractor Management

• Recruit, onboard, and support instructors, case managers, facilitators, and other program staff and contractors

• Observe program delivery and provide actionable feedback to instructors and facilitators

• Ensure staff and contractors have the information, tools, materials, and support they need to succeed.

 

Compliance, Reporting & Quality Assurance

• Monitor documentation for completeness, accuracy, and timeliness

• Prepare and submit timely programmatic reports and other required documentation to funders and organizational leadership

• Maintain organized, accurate, and monitoring-ready program records
   

Employer & Partner Engagement

• Cultivate and manage a pipeline of employer partners to create job placement, work-based learning, apprenticeship, internship, and career exposure opportunities for participants

• Maintain productive relationships with government agencies, workforce organizations, community-based organizations, educational institutions, and other partners

• Represent Opportunity Works professionally at community convenings, industry events, partner meetings, and funder meetings

• Identify opportunities for new partnerships that strengthen participant outcomes or expand programming

Outreach, Recruitment & Communications

• Develop and oversee participant outreach and recruitment strategies to meet program enrollment goals

• Collaborate on program materials, recruitment collateral, social media content, newsletters, success stories, and impact reports

• Create, coordinate, and schedule social media content across relevant platforms, working with staff and contractors to capture photos, videos, participant stories, and other content from program activities

• Serve as an organizational representative for direct-service programs with participants, families, partners, and community stakeholders
   

Program Development & Continuous Improvement

• Use program data, participant feedback, staff observations, and employer input to identify opportunities for improvement

• Document lessons learned and translate them into changes to program design, systems, and implementation

• Research workforce trends, promising practices, credentials, training models, and industry needs relevant to current and future programming

• Support grant proposals and new business efforts by contributing program models, implementation plans, data, narratives, budgets, and partner commitments

 

Who You Are

We're looking for someone who is entrepreneurial, highly organized, grounded, and genuinely excited about helping people connect to education, training, careers, and economic opportunity. 

• Mission-aligned. You care about workforce development, economic mobility, education, youth development, and creating meaningful pathways to employment

• An implementer. You don't just develop plans. You enjoy turning plans into programs, building the infrastructure underneath them, and seeing the work through

• Comfortable with ambiguity. You don't need every detail fully defined before you start. You can take a goal or scope of work, figure out what needs to happen, and build a path forward

• Proactive. You anticipate what might be needed next and address problems before they become crises.

• A resourceful problem-solver. You make a thoughtful effort to work through challenges independently, use the resources available to you, and exercise good judgment about when to bring others in

• Willing to absorb the unglamorous work. You understand that successful programs are built on details, and you're willing to jump into logistics, data, participant issues, materials, or other hands-on work when necessary

• A relationship builder. You're comfortable developing authentic relationships with employers, government partners, community organizations, participants, and other stakeholders

• Highly organized and detail-oriented. You can manage multiple programs, deadlines, people, partners, deliverables, and participant needs without losing track of what matters

• A strong communicator. You communicate clearly and professionally with participants, staff, contractors, employers, funders, and community partners

• Tech-savvy. You learn new tools and systems quickly and look for ways technology can improve program operations and outcomes

• An active learner. You're comfortable digging into unfamiliar industries, credentials, workforce trends, funder requirements, and program models and building expertise over time

• Adaptable across altitude. You can move between strategic planning, partner meetings, data review, participant problem-solving, and hands-on implementation throughout the day
   

Requirements

• Able to work in the DC office with a set schedule and travel locally to program sites, employer locations, and community events, as needed

• Availability for occasional evening and weekend program activities

• Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Public Administration, Human Services, Education, Business, Workforce Development, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience

• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in workforce development, human services, education, youth development, nonprofit direct service, or a related field

• Demonstrated experience managing direct-service or training programs with defined deliverables, compliance requirements, and reporting obligations

• Experience supervising staff and/or managing contractors

• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain employer, community, or public-sector partnerships.

• Comfort with digital productivity, data, and collaboration tools, including Google Workspace and Microsoft Office; willingness and ability to quickly learn new systems
   

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience using social media and digital communications to support program recruitment, community engagement, employer outreach, or organizational visibility; comfort creating and coordinating basic digital content is strongly preferred

• Experience developing or delivering workforce development training for youth or adults is strongly preferred

• Experience with workforce development programs funded through WIOA, the U.S. Department of Labor, DC government, or other public workforce systems is a plus

• Experience launching or scaling a new program is strongly preferred

• Bilingual proficiency, particularly English/Spanish or another language commonly spoken by program participants, is a plus

 

Growth Path

This is a role for someone who wants to manage and support high-quality workforce development programs in a growing organization. We're looking for someone who can take increasing ownership of program design, implementation, employer partnerships, and performance as our direct-service work develops. Strong performance can lead to responsibility for a larger portfolio of programs, staff and contractors, employer and community partnerships, and new program development. The Program Manager will also have opportunities to contribute to the evolution of Opportunity Works' workforce development models and help shape how successful programs grow and scale over time.

​

Submit your cover letter and resume.