Workforce Account Manager

Hopeworks; Camden (NJ); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Hopeworks in Camden, NJ, is seeking a Pathway Manager for the New Pathways Initiative to lead Infrastructure and Skilled Trades employer-driven pathways, building deep partnerships, launching programs, and scaling operations. You will develop strong employer relationships, coordinate curriculum and credentialing, and oversee cost-sharing arrangements to ensure program fidelity.

This founding role will involve regular travel to employer sites, training facilities, and partner organizations across

Qualifications

• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Self-starter who takes ownership and works independently with minimal supervision.
• Strong relationship-building skills and experience managing employer or client partnerships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and time management abilities.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented with exceptional follow-through.
• Knowledge of workforce development and employer engagement strategies preferred.
• Nonprofit and workforce development experience is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of the skilled trades industry and current workforce needs is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of the healthcare industry career pathways is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage deep, trust-based relationships with infrastructure and skilled trades employers, treating each partnership as its own business development effort.
• Move partnerships from active relationships to formal Memoranda of Understanding, including explicit expectations on the number of young adults screened, training completion, hiring, and six- and twelve-month retention.
• Advance employer cost-sharing by identifying direct financial commitments, federal and state workforce dollars, and other documented cost-share opportunities that give partners genuine skin in the game.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for employer partners, coordinating convenings, site visits, and the ongoing communication required to keep partnerships healthy and growing.
• Coordinate the launch of new pathways, including custom curriculum development with employers, credentialing requirements, shared tooling, and readiness training design.
• Solve implementation issues quickly and pragmatically as pathways move from planning to live operation, keeping employers, coaches, and participants aligned.
• Collaborate with externship coaches to ensure young adults remain within the Hopeworks trauma-informed model even when training is delivered off-site at union halls, community colleges, municipal sites, or employer facilities.
• Coordinate direct participant supports, such as transportation, stipends, certifications, tools, PPE, and licensing, that determine whether a young adult can persist in a demanding training-to-hire pathway.
• Create repeatable playbooks and systems that allow each pathway to scale while preserving quality and outcomes.
• Track placements, positions available, participant persistence, retention, and cost-share commitments for each pathway, and contribute to milestone reporting for funders and leadership.
• Use data to evaluate pathway performance, refine screening and readiness criteria, and strengthen the match between participants and roles.
• Share lessons learned across pathways and sites to strengthen Hopeworks' overall employer partnership model.

Skills

Manage multiple priorities

Relationship-building

Communication skills

Self-starter

Time management

Organized and detail-oriented

Workforce development knowledge

Nonprofit experience

Skilled trades/healthcare knowledge

Job description

Hopeworks is a growing social enterprise with locations in Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, PA, and expansion work underway in Newark, NJ.

With a focus on skill development, real-world job experience, and trauma-informed care, Hopeworks propels young adults into long-term transformational living wage careers that put them on the path to healing and financial stability.

It starts with self-paced, paid technical training in high-demand skills that companies need. To provide a real-world experience, Hopeworks runs businesses focused on web design, revenue cycle management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and AI services. Our businesses provide technology solutions that help clients achieve their goals while training and employing young adults in high-demand, high-wage careers. While gaining experience through our paid internships, young adults are also learning professional development skills that help them stand out in the competitive job market.

Technical training is important. Even more important, however, is helping our young adults develop the social and emotional skills to not just get high-wage jobs, but keep them. Throughout their training, young adults experience a unique combination of career readiness coaching, academic success support, and a strong community committed to building resilience.

On average, 99% of young adults (aged 17-26) entering Hopeworks are unemployed. Young adults completing the Hopeworks program earn, on average, over $46,000 annually, with over 94% remaining in their jobs 12 months later. That is the Hopeworks difference.

About the New Pathways Initiative

The labor market is shifting, and Hopeworks is following employer demand into a new set of high-wage, high-opportunity sectors: skilled trades, infrastructure, healthcare support, advanced manufacturing, and automotive technology. The New Pathways Initiative extends Hopeworks' proven workforce model into employer-led pathways where demand is strong, wages are competitive, and the work is less exposed to automation. Hopeworks is not becoming a trade school. We are applying a proven model of trauma-informed coaching, paid work experience, and employer partnership to a new set of employer-driven opportunities.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Workforce Solutions, Workforce Account Manager will be managing the Infrastructure & Skilled Trades industry pathway and will own Hopeworks' employer-driven pathways in infrastructure, construction, and the skilled trades. Each pathway is its own business development effort, and the Pathway Manager is its chief builder: developing deep employer relationships, coordinating pathway launches, solving implementation issues in real time, and creating the repeatable systems that allow each pathway to scale.

This is a founding role in a new initiative. The Pathway Manager will help turn active employer relationships into formal partnerships with clear commitments on positions, yield, and cost-sharing, and will work alongside Hopeworks coaches and program staff to ensure young adults persist from recruitment through training, hiring, and long-term retention. The role includes regular travel to employer and partner training sites across the region.

Key Responsibilities

Employer Partnership Development

• Build and manage deep, trust-based relationships with infrastructure and skilled trades employers, treating each partnership as its own business development effort.
• Move partnerships from active relationships to formal Memoranda of Understanding, including explicit expectations on the number of young adults screened, training completion, hiring, and six- and twelve-month retention.
• Advance employer cost-sharing by identifying direct financial commitments, federal and state workforce dollars, and other documented cost-share opportunities that give partners genuine skin in the game.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for employer partners, coordinating convenings, site visits, and the ongoing communication required to keep partnerships healthy and growing.

Pathway Launch and Implementation

• Coordinate the launch of new pathways, including custom curriculum development with employers, credentialing requirements, shared tooling, and readiness training design.
• Solve implementation issues quickly and pragmatically as pathways move from planning to live operation, keeping employers, coaches, and participants aligned.
• Collaborate with externship coaches to ensure young adults remain within the Hopeworks trauma-informed model even when training is delivered off-site at union halls, community colleges, municipal sites, or employer facilities.
• Coordinate direct participant supports, such as transportation, stipends, certifications, tools, PPE, and licensing, that determine whether a young adult can persist in a demanding training-to-hire pathway.

Systems, Data, and Continuous Improvement

• Create repeatable playbooks and systems that allow each pathway to scale while preserving quality and outcomes.
• Track placements, positions available, participant persistence, retention, and cost-share commitments for each pathway, and contribute to milestone reporting for funders and leadership.
• Use data to evaluate pathway performance, refine screening and readiness criteria, and strengthen the match between participants and roles.
• Share lessons learned across pathways and sites to strengthen Hopeworks' overall employer partnership model.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Self-starter who takes ownership and works independently with minimal supervision.
• Strong relationship-building skills and experience managing employer or client partnerships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and time management abilities.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented with exceptional follow-through.
• Knowledge of workforce development and employer engagement strategies preferred.
• Nonprofit and workforce development experience is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of the skilled trades industry and current workforce needs, including employer hiring trends and career pathways is strongly preferred.
• And/OR Knowledge of the healthcare industry, including entry-level career pathways, training programs, certifications, and employer hiring needs is strongly preferred.

Ideal Candidate

We are seeking an ambitious, proactive professional who thrives in building partnerships, managing competing priorities, and creating meaningful opportunities for the communities we serve.