Senior Program Manager, New Initiatives
AI summary of the role
Emerge Career seeks a Senior Program Manager to own the launch of the first cohort in a new vocational training program, from market validation and partnership building to guiding students through training and placement.
What you’ll do
- Discover and validate new vocations using labor-market data and licensing requirements.
- Architect the go-to-market playbook from idea to statewide rollout, including market sizing and regulatory checks.
- Forge partnerships with employers, training schools, and credentialing bodies to secure hiring commitments and MOUs.
- Design and run a pilot cohort, owning student outcomes end-to-end from recruitment to job placement.
What you’ll bring
- Willing to relocate and work in-person in New York City.
- Five or more years of professional work experience.
- Demonstrated experience working with underserved populations.
- Demonstrated experience in early-stage startups (likely founding team member at <10 people).
Technologies
Retool · Customer.io · Zapier · N8N · Relay · workflow automation · analytics
Source and classification
Deployment strategy · Evidence for this classification:
experience Demonstrated experience working with underserved populations Demonstrated experience in early-stage startups. You were most likely a founding team member of at least one startup when they had less than 10 people Demonstrated experience with workflow automation tooling Deeply curious and highly attuned to human behavior and emotion What we’re looking for: (preferred) Involved with or impacted by the criminal justice system What You’ll Do: You’re a builder with a founder’s mindset, equally comfortable sealing a contract with a key training vendor and jumping on a late-night call with a student who needs encouragement. You move effortlessly from high-level strategy and tough negotiations to hands-on service because closing the loop between vision and impact is what drives you. As the owner of the first cohort in a new vocation, you will cultivate industry partnerships,
More from the job description
Who We Are: Emerge Career’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty and incarceration. We’re not just building software; we’re creating pathways to real second chances. Through an all-in-one platform deeply embedded within the criminal justice system, we recruit, train, and place justice-impacted individuals into life-changing careers. Our vision is to become the country’s unified workforce development system, replacing disconnected brick-and-mortar job centers with one integrated, tech-powered solution that meets low-income individuals exactly where they are. Today, the federal government spends billions annually on education and training programs, yet only about 70% of participants graduate, just 38.6% secure training-related employment, and average first-year earnings hover around $34,708. By contrast, our seven-person team has already outperformed the job centers in two entire states (Vermont and South Dakota) in just the past year. With an 89% graduation rate and 92% of graduates securing training-related employment, our alumni aren’t just getting jobs—they’re launching new lives with average first-year earnings of $77,352. The results speak for themselves, and we’re just getting started. Before Emerge, our founders Zo and Gabe co-founded Ameelio, an award-winning tech nonprofit that is dismantling the prison communication duopoly. Backed by tech luminaries like Reid [... source excerpt omitted ...] dashboards (we use Retool), and running analytics to gain deeper insights. You have experimented with branching logic and variables to personalize marketing communication (we use Customer.io) and discovered a passion for orchestration tools like Zapier, N8N, or Relay that help you quickly build impactful solutions. What we’re looking for: (minimally) Willing to relocate and work in-person in New York City Five or more years of professional work experience Demonstrated experience working with underserved populations Demonstrated experience in early-stage startups. You were most likely a founding team member of at least one startup when they had less than 10 people Demonstra [... source excerpt omitted ...] evel strategy and tough negotiations to hands-on service because closing the loop between vision and impact is what drives you. As the owner of the first cohort in a new vocation, you will cultivate industry partnerships, design the launch playbook, and personally guide each participant through training, certification, and placement, proving the model works before we scale it nationwide. Discover & validate new vocations (0→1). Use labor-market data, wage trends, and licensing requirements to pick the right trades—and prove there’s real demand before we invest. Architect the go-to-market playbook. Map every step from first idea to statewide rollout: market sizing, regulatory ch
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