Sr Manager of Career Pathway Programs

Position: Sr. Manager of Career Pathway Programs

Reports to: Director of Partnerships and Pathways

Lane: Involvement

The Sr. Manager of Career Pathway Programs leads the day-to-day execution and continuous improvement of Thread’s career pathway programs and exposure experiences. This role operationalizes Thread’s strategy to help young people understand, explore, and pursue five core pathways: Straight to Workforce, 2- or 4-Year Academic Degree, Trade/Apprenticeship, Entrepreneurship, and Military.

This role manages the infrastructure needed to move young people from pathway exposure, to informed choice, to participation, to completion, to next-step opportunity. That includes signature citywide and statewide programs such as Maryland Service Year and Baltimore City YouthWorks, as well as community-wide exposure experiences such as career expos, employer engagement opportunities, post-secondary exploration, trade and apprenticeship exposure, entrepreneurship experiences, and other pathway-connected programming.

Where the Director of Partnerships & Pathways sets the overarching pathway strategy, secures systems-level agreements, and stewards high-level partnerships, the Sr. Manager of Career Pathway Programs translates that strategy into strong program execution. This role builds clear implementation plans, timelines, partner commitments, participant milestones, dashboards, and follow-up structures that ensure young people can access opportunities and persist through completion.

The Sr. Manager serves as the day-to-day program and relationship lead for employers, host sites, workforce organizations, training providers, certification providers, post-secondary partners, entrepreneurship partners, and other pathway partners connected to career pathway programming. This role coordinates closely with site-based staff who directly interface with volunteers to ensure young people are mobilized, supported, and connected to meaningful opportunities.

Through this work, the Sr. Manager helps ensure career pathway programming is not a set of disconnected opportunities, but a coherent and high-quality pathway infrastructure that supports young people’s self-efficacy, agency, resilience, and ability to live self-directed and purposeful lives.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as Thread’s primary program lead for Maryland Service Year, managing member slots across Earn-to-Learn, Entrepreneurship Accelerator, Direct Employment Partners, and ThreadCorps internal placements.
• Coordinate Maryland Service Year enrollment, placement, onboarding, compliance, reporting, and partner communication in collaboration with the State, partner intermediaries, host partners, site-based staff, and back-office teams.
• Serve as Thread’s YouthWorks program lead, managing annual planning, application, verification, matching, placement, tracking, and evaluation.
• Coordinate with MOED and other city workforce agencies on YouthWorks enrollment, verification, placement, payroll, compliance, and reporting timelines.
• Monitor participation, attendance, retention, completion, certification attainment, and post-program outcomes for both programs; lead end-of-season evaluation and improvement planning.

City-Wide Program Execution & Continuous Improvement

• Manage the day-to-day execution and continuous improvement of Thread’s citywide and state-wide programs in alignment with the strategy and priorities set by the Director of Partnerships and Pathways.
• Translate annual goals, partner commitments, and program requirements into clear implementation plans, timelines, milestones, dashboards, and accountability structures.
• Share exposure opportunities from partnering organizations with site-based teams.
• Partner closely with the Director of Strategic Implementation & Operations, who owns the overall summer engagement project plan, to ensure YouthWorks planning, timelines, enrollment, partner coordination, implementation risks, and follow-up are aligned with the broader summer engagement strategy and operating rhythm.
• Manage the operational coordination needed to move young people through citywide and statewide programs, including alignment across partner expectations, site-based staff mobilization responsibilities, participant milestones, volunteer engagement, and back office administrative functions and processes.
• Coordinate with site-based staff to support participant and volunteer mobilization, and with back office functions to ensure administrative compliance, documentation, and payroll requirements are completed accurately and on time.
• Partner with the Practice, Learning & Quality Team to improve city-wide program playbooks, SOPs, dashboards, quality standards, and implementation tools based on program learning.
• Identify operational barriers to citywide program access, participation, persistence, and completion, and recommend practical solutions to strengthen program outcomes.
• Partner with Directors of Communities to ensure citywide and statewide programs are integrated into broader site-based engagement strategies.

• Build the capacity of site-based staff and internal partners to support citywide and statewide program execution by providing clear guidance, tools, timelines, training, and implementation resources.
• Develop and share resources that help staff, young people, and volunteers understand program expectations, milestones, deadlines, and next steps.
• Collaborate with site-based teams, back-office teams, Practice, Learning & Quality, and other functional partners to ensure staff have the information and support needed to execute their role in citywide and statewide programs.
• Partner with the Practice, Learning & Quality Team to improve program playbooks, SOPs, dashboards, quality standards, and implementation tools based on program learning.

Partner & Relationship Management

• Serve as the day-to-day relationship lead for employers, workforce organizations, host sites, and training and certification providers that support Thread’s citywide and statewide programs.
• Manage partner expectations, program requirements, timelines, communication, and follow-through to ensure placement, host, internship, certification, and apprenticeship opportunities are implemented effectively.
• Coordinate with employers, post-secondary partners, trade and apprenticeship partners, entrepreneurs, training providers, site-based teams, and volunteers to create meaningful exposure experiences connected to young people’s interests and next steps.
• Work with the Director of Partnerships and Pathways to strengthen existing partnerships and identify opportunities to expand access, quality, and outcomes across Thread’s citywide and statewide program portfolio.
• Translate partner commitments into actionable program plans for internal teams, ensuring staff understand key requirements, timelines, participant expectations, and success measures.

• Monitor key indicators: participation, placement, retention, completion, certification attainment, employment outcomes, and postsecondary enrollment.
• Partner with the Director of Strategic Implementation & Operations as needed to ensure pathway data, implementation barriers, timelines, and key decisions are visible in appropriate reporting routines, operating rhythms, and leadership conversations.
• Partner with the Director of Practice, Learning & Quality as needed to surface lessons about high-quality career pathway practice, youth experience, employer engagement, and partner stewardship.
• Track participation, partner engagement, young-person feedback, follow-up actions, and learning from pathway exposure events to strengthen future programming and pathway strategy.
• Conduct annual program evaluations and improvement planning; produce reports for leadership and key stakeholders.
• Complete other tasks and duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Five or more years of workforce development, youth development, post-secondary success, career pathways, or program management experience.
• Experience managing large-scale, cross-functional programs and meeting enrollment, placement, and completion targets.
• Experience recruiting, managing, and growing employer, host-site, or training-provider relationships.
• Strong project management and organizational skills; able to manage multiple programs and deadlines simultaneously.
• Experience using data to drive decision-making and continuous improvement.
• Strong facilitation, coaching, and relationship-building abilities.
• Familiarity with Baltimore / Maryland workforce systems (e.g., MOED, YouthWorks, Maryland Service Year) preferred.
• Ability to clearly communicate and live out Thread’s core values and core competencies.

Thread Employment Benefits (Full-time) 

• 12 weeks of Paid parental leave 
• Competitive salaries, meaningful equity; 403(b) plan 
• 100% employee coverage of Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 10 Paid holidays 
• 4 weeks of PTO in year 1, increase to 5 weeks in year 2 
• 5 days of sick and safe leave 
• 3 floater holidays 
• Annual Health and Wellness reimbursement 
• Access to counseling/therapy at no cost 
• Paid Sabbatical after 6 years of employment

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