Asst. Dir., Innovation Workforce Initiatives

Assistant Director, Innovation Workforce Initiatives

Reporting to the Executive Director or other senior staff of the NYSTAR division of Empire State Development, the Assistant Director, Innovation Workforce Initiatives will support ESD in managing, developing and executing its efforts to ensure that New York State has a sufficiently skilled workforce to meet the needs of emerging innovation sectors and to support the state's economy, with a special emphasis on the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the state's labor market. This will include supporting both strategic projects initiated from within ESD, such as the current work on Life Sciences and Quantum, and projects initiated by Executive Chamber to coordinate ESD's participation, such as the Governor's FutureWorks Commission. Anticipated duration of this role is 18 months.

Work Performed:

• Serve within ESD as the primary manager of the consulting contract entered into by ESD with the selected company who will support the FutureWorks Commission, including monitoring deliverables, reviewing quality of materials, project plan, etc. to ensure fulfillment of the project scope, shaping deliverables and ensuring alignment with project goals.
• Coordinate among the multiple ESD staff and departments needed to both administratively manage the contract as well as provide substantive, coordinated feedback to the Executive Chamber and consultants on all materials prepared for the FutureWorks board.
• Perform detailed review of all consultant materials on behalf of ESD, creating internal summaries and flagging issues for the ESD team, and coordinating feedback from across the multiple parties at ESD.
• Draft and coordinate finalization of any required responses/content required of ESD on a timely basis.
• Assist post-Commission proposals and implementation preparation, including assisting on any State of the State and/or Budget proposals, program design, and process to ensure continued external feedback from appropriate stakeholders.

• The Assistant Director will be responsible for supporting the rapidly growing portfolio of Innovation Workforce activities, all of which include impact and opportunity created by AI. The position is based in NYSTAR, but will also support, as directed, other divisions of the Small Business and Technology Development Division. This includes the workforce proposals already underway through the Life Sciences Division, and upcoming work around other sectors in which ESD is launching initiatives, such as Quantum.
• This will include managing the activities of any consulting firm engaged, both substantively, procedurally and administratively, as well as of any advisory or similar boards or commissions created by ESD to assist in these efforts.
• This will also include undertaking research of existing studies, reports, etc. to help shape ESD proposals and requests for proposals, and preparation of all necessary materials for internal briefings, etc.

• The Assistant Director will also monitor and help manage the large and rapidly expanding Federal grant opportunities around AI and Workforce in multiple sectors in the NYSTAR and ESD portfolio.

Minimum Requirements:

Education Level required: Bachelor's degree in public policy, Economics, Data Science, Labor Relations, Science or a related field (Master's preferred).

Experience and Knowledge: 5 years of relevant full-time professional experience.

Knowledge of technology and economic development-related fields such as the various technical fields that are considered part of the innovation economy, technology regulation, tax policy, economic incentives (loans, grants, tax credits), workforce development, public-private partnerships, research and development, commercialization and/or business marketing.

Preferred: Familiarity with New York State government policies and programs and/or experience working within Federal or NYS government including State agencies and/or Legislature.

Competencies Required:

Adaptability: A self-starter mindset capable of navigating a fast-evolving technological landscape where the policy playbook is still being written. Strong project management and attention to detail.

Analytical & Technical Literacy: This role requires a unique blend of scientific and technical literacy, government policy experience, experience with advisory boards of public and private stakeholders or similar structures, and experience coordinating across teams within an agency and between the agency and Executive Chamber. The ideal candidate must possess emerging tech fluency to grasp the mechanics, limitations, and deployment timelines of AI and automation tools. This technical baseline must be paired with strong economic and labor market analysis skills to interpret complex workforce data, track industry trends, and the needs of innovation sector companies for them to locate and operate successfully in New York State. Finally, the candidate needs proven experience in data synthesis, allowing them to gather fragmented information from academic papers, industry reports, and federal databases, and seamlessly boil it down into actionable policy insights for state leadership.