We’re Hiring: Director, Programs (Emerging Initiatives & Consulting)

Rodel is hiring!

Job Title: Director, Programs (Emerging Initiatives & Consulting)

Reports to: Vice President, Programs

Position Summary: The Director, Programs (Emerging Initiatives & Consulting) oversees the development, implementation, and management of programs aligned to Rodel’s priority areas, with a particular focus on workforce, postsecondary, and career pathway initiatives, as well as the development of in-state and national consulting projects. This role is central to strengthening Rodel’s technical assistance capacity and ensuring that high-quality projects are designed and implemented in ways that improve outcomes for students across Delaware and with national partners.

The Director will work closely with the program team leads, partnering with internal colleagues and external stakeholders to design, manage, and implement complex initiatives from conception through execution, while helping ensure Rodel’s commitment to equity is reflected in the organization’s daily practices and decision making. This position requires strong strategic thinking, project management, facilitation, and relationship-building skills, as well as a deep commitment to equity and inclusive partnership. This role will also support Rodel’s growing body of in-state and national consulting, helping translate Delaware’s innovations into scalable models, research frameworks, and partnership strategies that advance educator workforce, postsecondary success, career and college readiness, and career-connected education.

What You’ll Do:

Support Career Pathways and Educator Workforce Strategy

• Serve as the lead for the design and implementation of key career pathway, postsecondary, and workforce initiatives, with responsibility for deepening and scaling high-quality pathways aligned to labor market demand.
• Manage complex, multi-partner initiatives connecting K–12, postsecondary institutions, workforce systems, and employers.
• Develop and actively oversee comprehensive project plans, including clear goals, metrics, milestones, stakeholder roles, and implementation timelines.
• Support dual enrollment, work-based learning, youth apprenticeship, and postsecondary transition and success strategies that strengthen career-connected education.
• Translate Delaware’s career pathways work into replicable models, tools, and playbooks that can inform state and national systems change.
• Contribute to educator workforce initiatives in coordination with internal leads and external partners.
• Provide strategic or project management support where pathways and educator workforce priorities intersect, without serving as the primary organizational lead for educator workforce reform.

Deliver High-Quality Consulting & Technical Assistance

• Design and lead consulting engagements in Delaware and nationally focused on career-connected learning and postsecondary success.
• Develop program and policy frameworks, implementation strategies, and sustainability approaches for state and district partners.
• Build partner capacity to sustain and institutionalize reforms beyond the life of Rodel’s direct engagement.
• In collaboration with senior leadership, identify and manage external consultants, contractors, and intermediary partners to support project delivery.

Contribute to Research, Systems Building, and Sustainability

• Use data and partner feedback to monitor progress, evaluate outcomes, and inform continuous improvement within pathways initiatives.
• Collaborate with internal and external research partners to strengthen evidence, capture lessons learned, and inform broader field impact.
• Support the development of co-investment strategies that align public funding with philanthropic and employer partnerships to sustain and scale pathways work.

Advance Organizational Growth and Visibility

• Contribute to thought leadership, publications, presentations, and national engagement that position Rodel as a leader in career-connected learning and postsecondary systems reform.
• Partner with senior leadership to strengthen consulting models, delivery approaches, and institutional capacity as pathways work grows.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong commitment to centering work on the needs of students and educators.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through continuous learning, inclusive behaviors, and proactive bias awareness.
• Strong strategic thinking skills and the ability to translate vision into actionable, measurable plans.
• Exceptional project management skills, including the ability to prioritize, manage timelines, coordinate stakeholders, and deliver results across multiple workstreams.
• Experience designing, implementing, and improving education programs or initiatives in partnership with schools, districts, state agencies, and community organizations.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills, including the ability to design and lead engaging meetings that promote collaboration and shared outcomes.
• Ability to build trust-based relationships across diverse communities and institutional contexts.
• Strong ability to reflect, seek feedback, and continuously improve personal and team practice.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, adapt to shifting priorities, and remain solutions-oriented.
• Passion for education, innovation, and advancing equitable systems change.
• Understanding of education-to-workforce pathways, postsecondary transitions, and career-connected learning strategies.
• Ability to help develop policy, research, or implementation frameworks that can inform multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience or interest in public-private partnership and co-investment models.
• Comfort working with both Delaware-focused and national partners.

Education/Experience
A bachelor’s degree is required for this position.

Our Commitment to Equity
At Rodel, we are committed to engaging in our work as a member of the Delaware community and grounding our work in Delaware’s unique context and history. In order to transform education, we must take the time to look at what equity means to our work and our daily lives, and act. We believe in centering students and families in our work, practicing our values to support an equitable public education system, reflecting as we learn, unlearn, and move towards action, and improving how we hold ourselves accountable to these commitments.

Rodel aims to strengthen all of our work by expanding our partnerships to be more inclusive of the Delawareans we seek to serve. Rodel is committed to transparency in how equity, accessibility, and inclusion play out in our work externally and internally. We will continue to revisit our goals, reflect on our actions, and approach our work through this lens to ensure we are building equity all around us.
For further information on our Equity Commitment, click here.

The salary range for this position is $120,000 to $140,000, commensurate with education and experience.

Submit a resume and cover letter to Tiffany Trawick via email at ttrawick@rodelde.org.

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