Chief Program Officer

Job Description

Job Description

The San Diego Workforce Partnership is the leader for innovative workforce solutions in San Diego County. We fund and deliver job training programs that enable all job seekers to develop the skills and knowledge needed for in-demand careers. Our vision is that every business in our region has access to a skilled workforce, and every job seeker has access to meaningful employment. We seek to earn trust and inspire growth in every action we take.

Position Summary

Under the leadership of the President and CEO, the Chief Program Officer (CPO) serves as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team and is responsible for providing strategic leadership, stewardship, and alignment across San Diego Workforce Partnership's workforce development ecosystem. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, the CPO leads the organization's workforce strategy implementation, client services, sector initiatives, business engagement, program operations, and population-specific workforce investments through a portfolio of senior leaders, including the Vice President of Programs and Vice President of Client Services.

As the organization's principal workforce systems leader, the CPO is responsible for ensuring that workforce investments, employer partnerships, education and training systems, community-based services, and economic mobility initiatives function as an integrated ecosystem that advances opportunity for workers and competitiveness for employers. The CPO serves as both a systems architect and organizational leader, aligning public, private, philanthropic, educational, labor, and community stakeholders around shared workforce goals and measurable outcomes.

The CPO guides regional workforce strategies that advance quality jobs, support priority industry sectors, strengthen talent pipelines, and expand access to economic opportunity for populations historically excluded from workforce systems. Through strategic partnerships, innovative funding models, and data-informed decision-making, the CPO leads efforts to shape workforce solutions that respond to the evolving needs of San Diego's workforce.

The CPO champions a culture of continuous improvement, operational excellence, innovation, collaboration, and accountability. This position leads and empowers high-performing teams, develops future leaders, and ensures organizational resources are aligned to maximize impact for job seekers, workers, businesses, and communities throughout the region.

Essential Functions  

Workforce Systems Strategy & Regional Leadership

1. Serve as an organizational strategist for workforce system development, alignment, and transformation across the San Diego region; in collaboration with the VP of SPI.
2. Position SDWP as the region's trusted workforce intermediary, convener, and backbone organization.
3. Develop and implement workforce strategies that align employer demand, talent development, economic mobility, and equitable access to opportunity.
4. Convene and influence leaders across business, education, government, labor, philanthropy, and community sectors to advance regional workforce priorities.
5. Identify opportunities to align workforce, economic development, education, and community serving systems around shared outcomes.
6. Advance workforce policies, funding strategies, and collaborative solutions that strengthen the regional workforce ecosystem.

Portfolio Leadership

Provide executive oversight and strategic direction for the following interconnected workforce functions:

1. Client Services, including America's Job Centers of California (AJCCs), career services, and workforce access points.
2. Sector Initiatives and industry-led workforce strategies focused on priority sectors and regional talent needs.
3. Business Engagement and employer partnerships that drive talent pipeline development, quality jobs, and workforce competitiveness.
4. Program Design and Implementation, including workforce innovation initiatives, grant-funded programs, and population-specific interventions.
5. Program Operations, including performance management, data systems, compliance, supportive services, reporting, and operational effectiveness.
6. Strategic Partnerships with educational institutions, community-based organizations, labor partners, industry associations, government agencies, and philanthropic organizations.

Organizational Leadership & Culture

1. Develop, mentor, and support senior leaders responsible for workforce strategy, programs, client services, and employer engagement.
2. Foster a high-performance culture grounded in collaboration, innovation, accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
3. Lead enterprise-wide and inter-departmental strategic planning efforts and establish clear organizational goals, KPIs, and impact measures.
4. Promote collaboration and alignment across departments to ensure integrated service delivery and effective use of organizational resources.
5. Identify opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen systems, and improve organizational effectiveness.
6. Model inclusive leadership practices that cultivate belonging, equity, and employee engagement.

Quality Jobs, Economic Mobility & Equity

1. Champion implementation of SDWP's Quality Jobs Framework as a strategy for advancing economic mobility and workforce competitiveness.
2. Ensure workforce investments support family-sustaining wages, career advancement, and meaningful employment opportunities.
3. Promote an ikigai-centered approach to career development that helps individuals identify pathways aligned with purpose, strengths, labor market demand, and economic sustainability.
4. Advance workforce strategies that improve outcomes for priority populations and communities facing systemic barriers to employment.
5. Utilize disaggregated data and community input to guide equitable investment decisions and improve outcomes across demographic groups.

Resource Development & Sustainability

1. Lead organizational efforts to identify, secure, and diversify public, private, philanthropic, and employer-supported funding opportunities.
2. Establish funding priorities and investment strategies that advance organizational and regional workforce goals.
3. Cultivate relationships with funders, foundations, government agencies, and strategic investors.
4. Support the development and management of a multi-million-dollar workforce investment portfolio.
5. Lead incubation and scaling of innovative workforce initiatives that create new opportunities for impact and long-term sustainability.
6. Align funding strategies with organizational priorities, regional workforce needs, and emerging opportunities.

External Affairs & Strategic Partnerships

1. Serve as a preferred representative of SDWP with elected officials, workforce boards, community leaders, industry associations, funders, and strategic partners.
2. Build and sustain relationships that advance regional workforce goals and strengthen SDWP's influence and impact.
3. Represent the organization on local, state, and national committees, boards, and workforce initiatives.
4. Foster partnerships that improve coordination, leverage resources, and create shared accountability for workforce outcomes.
5. Communicate organizational impact, workforce trends, and strategic priorities to diverse stakeholder audiences.

Data, Performance & Continuous Improvement

1. Establish performance frameworks that measure workforce system effectiveness, economic mobility outcomes, employer engagement, customer experience, and return on investment.
2. Promote data-informed decision-making across the organization.
3. Ensure effective performance monitoring, compliance, reporting, and accountability systems.
4. Leverage labor market intelligence, customer insights, and outcome data to guide strategic investments and workforce strategies.
5. Lead organizational learning efforts that drive innovation, adaptation, and continuous improvement.

Perform other related duties as assigned.

Fundamental Job Requirements

• Master’s degree in public administration, non-profit management, organizational development, business administration or related field.
• Minimum 10 years managerial experience in a non-profit or governmental setting.
• Minimum 10 years’ experience program planning and implementation, operationalizing strategies, goals and change management.
• Strong expertise in scaling initiatives, forging employer partnerships, and managing large-scale, grant funded initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability with grant writing, developing, and achieving robust strategic goals and objectives with KPIs.
• Strong communicator, effective relationship builder, results-oriented that provides vision and leadership to fulfill organizational mission.
• Management experience in personnel management and oversight of multi-million-dollar budgets.
• Managing, motivating and leading large, multi-functional teams with multiple management-level direct reports.
• Intentionally incorporates inclusive leadership principles and has a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion.
• Strategic and operational planning and execution of programs.
• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Takes ownership for work and demonstrates autonomous, yet highly collaborative leadership capabilities.
• Strong organizational skills, high attention to detail to ensure accuracy, great problem solving and time management skills.
• Proficiency in a Microsoft Office environment; utilize spreadsheets, analyze data, create high quality PPTs and performance monitoring reports as needed.

Desired Requirements

• Master’s degree in public administration, non-profit management, organizational development, business administration or related field.
• Strong track record of mentoring and managing senior level staff.
• PMP or Lean Six Sigma.
• Salesforce or other CRM tool experience.

Our Values

Compassion. Collaboration. Opportunity.

We Love to Take Care of Our Workforce Associates –

We offer a great work environment, a culture that values individuality and inclusion, collaborative and innovative teams, and a competitive pay and benefits package. Our benefits include PTO, PTO sell-back program, generous employer-paid benefits (platinum plans), company-paid learning and professional development program, pension plan and 457 retirement plan additional employee wellness. Compensation for this position ranges from $220,737 - $404,892.

In the spirit of pay transparency, we are excited to share the base salary range for this position. If you are hired at San Diego Workforce Partnership, your final base salary (within the pay range), will be determined based on factors such as education, knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition to those factors, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider the internal equity of our current team members when determining any final offer. Please keep in mind that the range mentioned above is the full base salary range for the role. Hiring at the maximum of the range would not be typical in order to allow for future and continued salary growth. We also offer generous benefits and retirement plans.

At the Workforce Partnership, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, and the work that we do in the communities we serve. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace for all. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.

San Diego Workforce Partnership is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.