Director, Economic and Workforce Development

Salary: $174,120.00 - $257,280.00 Annually
Location : Saddleback College - Mission Viejo, CA
Job Type: SC - Management (Full-Time)
Job Number:
Office, Division, or School: SC - Division of Workforce Program Innovation and Partnership
Opening Date: 10/29/2026
Closing Date: 11/18/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Application Instructions:

• Complete all sections and fields on the application and attach all required documents - incomplete applications may not be considered.

• Include all relevant education, training, and/or experience on the application.

• Do not include any personally identifiable, confidential, or otherwise unrequested information that does not pertain to job related factors (e.g., social security number, date of birth, pictures, etc.) on your application or attached documents.

• For job postings with a close date, all applications received by 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on the job posting close date, will receive consideration.

• For job postings with an initial screening date, all applications received by 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on the job posting initial screening date, will receive priority consideration; however, typically the job posting will remain open, and continue to accept applications, until the position is filled.

Description
Specifications are intended to present a descriptive list of the range of duties performed by employees in the position. Specifications are not intended to reflect all duties performed within the job.
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The Director of Economic and Workforce development plans, develops, organizes, implements, and evaluates the goals, objectives, programs, services, and budgets of the College's Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) function. Serve as the College's primary external workforce and training representative to agencies, consortia, partnerships, regional workforce groups, employers, and community stakeholders throughout the region. Cultivate and promote positive and substantive relationships with local business and industry to identify workforce needs and expand training opportunities. Develop and oversee fee-based and contract education programming that generates revenue in support of departmental goals and promotes the development of work experience education and apprenticeship opportunities with employers. Serve as a leader and advocate for the College within the external community. Coordinate branding, marketing, and outreach efforts for the College's EWD program; collaborate with School and Division Deans to coordinate credit and noncredit contract education offerings; prepare and administer annual budgets for assigned programs; and provide responsible and complex administrative support, analysis, and recommendations to Administrative Leadership.
Foster a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, innovation, and continuous improvement throughout the district; lead by example; actively participate in and support district-wide participatory governance components and activities and other collaborative processes; encourage professional excellence among the staff and promote an organizational culture of customer service, innovation, and quality services.
SUPERVISION RECEIVED AND EXERCISED
Receives general direction from the appropriate level manager, administrator, or designee.
Exercises functional and technical supervision over assigned managers, classified professionals, student staff and contractual personnel.
REPRESENTATIVE DUTIES

The following duties and responsibilities are typical for this position. Incumbents may not perform all the listed duties and/or may be required to perform additional or different duties from those set forth below to address business needs and changing business practices.
Provide leadership in the administration of all externally focused economic and workforce development programs and services of the College, including EWD personnel management, in accordance with laws, regulations, District policy and collective bargaining agreements; direct and evaluate assigned programs and services, which may include, but are not limited to, economic and workforce development and grant-funded projects.
Formulate, recommend, and implement long and short-range goals and strategic plans for area of assignment, requesting resources required through the College process; assure consistency of unit plans with other College and District plans; lead economic and workforce development assignment in alignment with College's mission, goals and objectives.
Represent the College to business, industry and governmental agency-based organizations on local, state, and national committees and taskforces regarding economic and workforce development and training; establish and support an EWD advisory board made up of representatives of the community and local business and industry.
Contact and develop connections with local business and industry representatives; provide technical assistance to companies and facilitate related economic development activities in the region.
Conduct needs assessments and assist in the collection and analysis of significant data, which reflects existing needs of the local business community.
Facilitate the creation, implementation and evaluation of the College's EWD plan; recommend and assist in the implementation/evaluation of goals and objectives for assigned services and functions.
Serve as a liaison between the College and business organizations, community and regional groups, other community colleges and four-year colleges and universities; interface with the community and external agencies in all matters of economic and workforce development, including, but not limited to, career technical training, basic skill development and proprietary training for businesses.
Foster innovation in economic and workforce development programs and services; work with the community, business, industry and other educational institutions to promote areas of assignment; contribute to the development and implementation of a coordinated outreach, marketing and public relations process.
Participate in the collection, compilation, and analysis of information from various sources on a variety of specialized topics related to business and/or program development; prepare reports that present and interpret data, identify options to address identified needs; and make and justify recommendations for business and/or program development.
Work with content experts to propose training programs that meet community, industry and government training needs.
Solicit and utilize feedback from employers, employees, faculty, students and other departments to develop fee-based and contract education-training solutions and make improvements in EWD operations.
Work collaboratively to develop partnerships/agreements with businesses, advisory boards, and professional associations; cultivate and promote positive and substantive relationships with local business and industry.
Plan, coordinate and direct customized programs and services that address the economic and workforce development needs in the region, including short- and long-term training programs, workshops, and seminars, to meet identified needs. Identify and expand economic development opportunities targeting local, regional, and international firms that strive to address training needs.
Attend workshops, professional conferences, and trade shows for program planning and development and marketing services; and serve on a variety of community and state committees.
Work with the marketing department at the respective College to brand and market the EWD program, including creative solutions related to social media, website enhancement, press releases and collateral marketing pieces.
Serve on business, community and EWD boards to ensure the College has input and influence in the development of public policy on economic and workforce development.
Seek appropriate funding opportunities for assigned programs and services through partnerships, fee-based activities, grants, contracts and other alternative revenue sources to promote, grow, and expand future economic and workforce development projects and programs.
Negotiate, prepare and submit contracts for contract education and using approved process and templates for instructional service agreements, ensuring compliance with regulations, such as Title 5 requirements, and good business practices for credit and noncredit instruction, District policies and procedures.
Design and administer training and employment preparation programs in accordance with College policy and external funding provisions; direct the preparation, submission and maintenance of detailed and comprehensive reports, records and files regarding programs, services, personnel, facilities and activities as necessary; and process required data and reports in a timely manner.
Ensure the accurate and timely development, preparation, submittal, administration, and monitoring of annual budgets for assigned programs; provide administrative oversight of all assigned funds and budgets; monitor and control all such funds in a responsible manner; direct the maintenance of necessary records and controls to assure expenditures and operations remain within established budget limitations in conformance with District policy; monitor and approve purchase requisitions and prepare agenda items for Board approval as needed.
Participate in the selection of staff as necessary; train and supervise classified and contract employees; evaluate employees per contract.
Hire, train, supervise and evaluate the performance of contract trainers for contract education in keeping with Board policies and administrative procedures; visit contracted work sites and observe and evaluate training methods and effectiveness; and administer employment contracts.
In cooperation and coordination with School/Division Deans, plan, coordinate, and direct contract education courses (credit, noncredit, or not-for-credit) and work with faculty to review and facilitate development of credit curriculum requested for contract education; hire college faculty under contract to teach externally funded EWD Contract Education courses.
Cultivate internship opportunities for students and connect employers to the career resource center; notify appropriate Deans of internship opportunities identified for their programs.
Act on opportunities to support and promote College career technical education programs and services to business and industry. Organize and manage events on campus for community, business, and industry representatives.
Organize, attend or chair a variety of administrative and staff meetings related to economic and workforce development; provide workshops on EWD topics as requested.
Participate in State, national, and international activities that promote economic and workforce development and provides assistance in the creation of high quality and innovative workforce training approaches.
Perform other duties as assigned that support the overall objective of the position and the District's mission and philosophy.
Report to work on a regular and consistent basis, as scheduled, to assigned job.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

The following generally describes the knowledge and ability required to enter the job and/or be learned within a short period of time in order to successfully perform the assigned duties.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES

Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:
Education:

Bachelor's Degree in a discipline commonly taught at a community college from an accredited College or university; Master's Degree preferred.
Experience:

A minimum of five years successful managerial and leadership experience in a post-secondary education/training environment and experience in successfully developing new programs and services, developing collaborative partnerships and project management experience.
LICENSES, CERTIFICATES, AND/OR OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

Valid California driver's license.
KNOWLEDGE OF:

A community college system and academic terminology.

Basic outcome metrics, data collection and analysis that demonstrates effectiveness of operation.

Budget preparation and administration, principles and processes, including budget development and meeting annual revenue and budget goals.

Community/public relations.

Computer systems and software applications related to area of assignment, including database management, spreadsheets, word processing and specialized software/web-based systems.

Effective sales techniques.

Evidence of a working knowledge of local, regional and national workforce trends, legislation and related agencies.

Evidence of sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, and ethnic backgrounds of clients, faculty and staff.

Evidence of understanding and experience with the principles of collegial consultation.

Extensive knowledge of grant- and externally-funded programs and processes.

External resource development (e.g. grant writing, fundraising, contracting).

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