Senior Director, Product Strategy Lead – Career Labs

Overview

Year Up United is seeking a strategic, innovative, and adaptable Senior Director, Product Strategy Lead – Career Labs. Reporting to the Managing Director, Talent Networks, the Senior Director will own the strategy, packaging and continued rollout of Career Labs. Career Labs is Year Up United’s essential skills curriculum product developed to enhance career readiness of talent through external partnerships. Career Labs is Year Up United’s fastest growing product, with potential to reach tens of thousands of young people in communities across the country through four primary customer segments: K-12, Community Colleges, Community Based Organizations, and Employers. The curriculum is backed by Year Up United’s proprietary teaching methodology and content that has served over 40,000 Opportunity Talent as part of our evidence-based model. Maximizing the potential of Career Labs will require new & innovative thinking, extensive partnership development, effective change management, and a nose for operational effectiveness, top skills embodied by members of the Talent Networks team, Year Up United’s innovation arm.

In keeping with Year Up United’s values, the Senior Director will also have the opportunity to interact with students as a mentor, group facilitator, and advocate, participating in building a positive educational environment.

The location for this role is flexible and is open to candidates in any state where Year Up United operates (https://www.yearup.org/locations).

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy Development and Execution

• Setting the Product Vision and Strategy: Further define the overall vision and strategy for Career Labs. This includes setting goals, identifying market and customer segment opportunities, and aligning the team’s efforts with the company’s strategic objectives.
• Market Research and Analysis: Ensure strategies are grounded in market research to understand emerging trends, customer needs, and competitive landscapes. Identifying new business opportunities and potential areas for innovation.
• Product Packaging and Sales Support: Craft compelling product narratives. Create sales and marketing strategy and materials that highlight the unique value propositions of the product for each customer segment. Develop and deploy training and support to those tasked with selling the product.
• Identify and Secure Resources: Determine what internal and external resources are needed to achieve product vision and strategy. Lead the development of strategic partnerships to secure, maintain, and appropriately evolve these internal and external resources.
• Customer Engagement: Lead engagement with K-12, community college, and non-profit leaders to vet opportunities, evaluate partnerships, and close impactful deals that support the vision of Career Labs, leveraging expertise in these education and non-profit sector.
• Stakeholder Management: Engage with key stakeholders, including customers, partners, and internal teams, to gather feedback, build relationships, and ensure alignment.
• Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Determine what success looks like for the product. Develop processes to monitor, track, analyze, and communicate key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of product. Provide regular reports to Managing Director and adjust strategies as needed.
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement: Implement and enhance feedback loops and mechanisms to gather insights from end-users and stakeholders. Lead effort to iterate on product based on feedback, market trends, and emerging needs. Promote a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging experimentation and learning from failures.
• Risk Management: Identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies to ensure the successful execution of product plan.
  
  

Team Leadership and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Cultivate, oversee and balance the workload of the small but strong Career Labs team, assigning projects to team members and reallocating where necessary based on capacity.
• Determine what the future state of the Career Labs team needs to look like to support planned product growth and bring that future state team to fruition.
• Collaborate effectively with key cross-functional internal partners, including Program Delivery, Finance, Marketing, and Technology. Serve as a main point of contact for internal partners to understand what they need to support the product. Lead through influence in the development of cross-functional solutions. For example:
• Work with Finance to develop a pricing strategy for the product
• Work with Marketing to develop a go-to-market strategy and to develop and maintain a sales and marketing toolkit and accompanying training for the product
• Work with Technology as they develop the technology infrastructure for the product
• Foster a collaborative and innovative culture that encourages high performance.
  
  

Year Up United Citizen

• Live the values of Year Up United and integrate them into one’s work daily
• Serve as a National team member
• Serve as student advisor/mentor, and potentially at times participate in Learning Community with a site per Year Up United’s guidelines
  
  

Qualifications

• 10 years of professional experience in related fields 
• Strategic and Operational Agility: Ability to seamlessly shift between high-level strategy and hands-on operational details, ensuring effective product execution.
• Exceptional Communication and Collaboration Skills: Proficiency in influencing cross-functional teams, facilitating discussions, and resolving issues.
• Proven Relationship Management and Growth Skills: Demonstrated ability to build, manage, and grow meaningful partnerships, particularly in education and non-profit spaces.
• Self-Starter with Strong Organizational Skills: A resourceful professional adept at prioritizing and managing multiple tasks and projects, with a strong attention to detail and a proactive approach.
• Strong change management skills: Accepts change as an important part of Year Up United's culture, and inquires how their role can design, manage, drive and support the change.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
• A passion for working with young adults, an unshakable belief in their potential and a strong commitment to the mission of Year Up United. 
• Understanding of the Opportunity Divide and its drivers. 
• Willingness to travel as necessary to support project execution (up to 25% typical).
  
  

Salary Range- $122,000 - $180,000

The salary range for this position varies based on geographic location. Compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s location, experience, and qualifications.

Compensation & Benefits

• Year Up United has established salary ranges for each of our sites, which allows us to pay employees competitively, equitably and consistently in different geographic markets. For roles in which the location is listed as flexible, the range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Salary offers take into account a candidate’s skills, experience, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.
• Benefits: Comprehensive healthcare options and dental coverage; 401(k) match for eligible participants.
• Vacation: Earn three weeks paid vacation in first year of employment; four weeks after initial year.
• Professional Development: Funds available to support staff in achieving career objectives ($2,500 per year)
  
  

** This is an exempt role (paid on a salaried basis). **

Organization Description

Year Up United is a national 501(c)3 workforce development organization committed to ensuring equitable access to economic opportunity, education, and justice for all young adults—no matter their background, income, or zip code. Employers face a growing need for talent while millions of talented young adults lack access to meaningful careers. These inequities only further perpetuate the opportunity gap that exists in our country—a gap that Year Up United is determined and positioned to close through three interconnected strategies: providing targeted skills training and connections to livable-wage employment for students and alumni; empowering others to serve and support young adults, and changing systems that perpetuate the opportunity gap. Year Up United’s intensive training program utilizes a high expectations, high support model where students learn in-demand technical and professional skills and apply them during a corporate internship. Year Up United has directly served more than 40,000 young adults since its founding in 2000. Year Up United's nationwide presence includes Arizona, Austin, Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, the National Capital Region, New York City/Jersey City, Pittsburgh, Puget Sound, Rhode Island, South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Wilmington.

Voted one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For in the country by The NonProfit Times, Year Up United is a rewarding and impactful place to work. Our staff is passionate, supportive, mission-driven, and committed to positive change and continuous learning. We set high standards for both ourselves and our students and live by a set of core values that reflect an unshakable belief in the talent and potential of our young people. The work we do is life-changing, and we know that our team is the greatest asset in achieving our mission.

Commitment To Diversity

Year Up United embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. All aspects of employment, including the decision to hire, promote, discharge, or discipline, are based on meritocracy. We do not permit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state, or local laws. Learn more about our commitment to diversity: http://www.yearup.org/about-us/careers/commitment-to-diversity/

Year Up United is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Your recruiter can provide details regarding the expected work environment and any physical requirements. Please let our hiring team know if you need an accommodation at any point during the interview process. Information received relating to accommodation will be addressed confidentially.

To Apply

Please submit a thoughtful cover letter and resume through our website.

Note that applications without a cover letter will not be considered. We respectfully request no phone calls.