Open Position:

Senior Manager, Employer Engagement

Posted: June 25, 2025

Applications close: July 15, 2025

Position Overview

The Senior Manager of Employer Engagement leads the execution and continuous improvement of employer recruitment and engagement strategies across CareerBound’s portfolio. This includes building and managing relationships with employer partners, supporting their onboarding into apprenticeship programs, and ensuring their sustained engagement in collaboration with MOED, City Schools, and Baltimore’s Promise. The Senior Manager plays a central role in growing the employer partnership network, facilitating workgroups, and ensuring alignment with CareerBound’s vision of economic mobility for Baltimore youth.

This role is ideal for a strong relationship-builder and project manager who can support system-wide collaboration, streamline processes, and drive partner engagement with clarity and follow-through.

About CareerBound

CareerBound is a citywide initiative—co-led by Baltimore’s Promise, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), and Baltimore City Public Schools—focused on creating high-quality, equitable pathways for Baltimore youth ages 14–24 to access and succeed in meaningful careers. CareerBound includes in-school youth apprenticeships, Grads2Careers, stackable credentials, academic acceleration, and youth well-being, all working toward a more inclusive and responsive youth talent ecosystem.

Keys to Success in This Role

To thrive as the Senior Manager of Employer Engagement, the ideal candidate will demonstrate the following:

  • Relationship-First Mindset: Builds trust quickly with diverse employer partners, internal teams, and community stakeholders. Maintains regular, proactive communication and cultivates long-term engagement.

  • Strategic Execution: Translates big-picture strategies into actionable work plans. Understands how to connect employer needs to youth apprenticeship opportunities and CareerBound’s broader goals.

  • Facilitation & Influence: Confidently leads and facilitates industry workgroups and collaborative meetings, keeping stakeholders aligned, engaged, and focused on shared outcomes.

  • Systems Thinking: Sees the connection between employer engagement and systemic change in the youth talent ecosystem. Can navigate and align the interests of Baltimore City Public Schools, MOED, and Baltimore’s Promise.

  • Project Ownership: Manages multiple priorities and moving parts with consistency, using tools to track progress, deadlines, and metrics. Owns deliverables while looping in partners and escalating challenges when needed.

  • Clear Communicator: Prepares compelling, well-designed pitch decks and outreach materials tailored to employer needs. Brings clarity and alignment to every conversation and document.

  • Data-Informed Thinker: Uses data to drive outreach strategies and monitor success. Comfortable maintaining engagement tracking systems and applying learnings to refine tactics.

  • Problem Solver: Approaches challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset, always looking for ways to simplify processes, remove barriers, and improve the employer experience.

  • Collaborative Spirit: Thrives in a cross-functional, partnership-driven environment. Works well with internal and external teams, values shared success, and contributes to a culture of accountability.

Organizational Values

Baltimore’s Promise is a city-wide collaborative, composed of public, business, community, higher education, nonprofit, and philanthropic leaders that serves as a catalyst for organizing efforts and resources around a shared community vision that all Baltimore City youth will travel a safe, healthy, and successful educational path from cradle to career. Information about Baltimore’s Promise can be found at www.baltimorespromise.org.

Fundamental to all of Baltimore’s Promise’s work is ensuring it is developed, implemented, and evaluated in alignment with our organizational values, listed below, and our race equity and inclusion statement, linked here. It is of critical importance that all staff are fully aligned with our values and commitment to race equity and inclusion. This position must consistently live our values in the way they think about, approach, engage, and support Baltimore City’s young people.

In our fight for justice and systems change, our values as individuals, teams, and as an organization are the following:

  • Equity – Our efforts and initiatives are co-developed and driven by the lived experiences of those most negatively impacted by the outcomes we seek to improve. Race, ethnicity, gender, or other attributes should not have predictive power over support, resources, and opportunities that one can access. 

  • Hustle – We are self-starters who take the initiative to strategically identify and advance solutions to address failures in achieving positive outcomes for children, youth, and families. We work efficiently, cross-functionally, and resourcefully – with a sense of urgency – to carry out the mission of the organization.

  • Humanity – We honor individuals and communities by holding ourselves and our partners accountable to act with integrity, compassion, kindness, and empathy.

  • Creativity – We are fun and innovative. Our first idea may not be the final strategy because we look for and embrace new ideas from diverse sources. We celebrate the accomplishments of staff and partners.

  • Shared Accountability – Shared Accountability is our collective responsibility for the work of the organization, not a threat of sanction. When we say we will do something, we will do it, and if we don’t, we will communicate our reasons why. We must be both supportive and critical of one another to ensure that we meet individual and team responsibilities that contribute to larger organizational goals.

Key Responsibilities

Employer Engagement & Partnership Development

  • Proactively identify and recruit new employer partners aligned with CareerBound career pathways and apprenticeship opportunities.

  • Lead tailored outreach and coordinate pitch meetings, utilizing employer-specific decks and industry data.

  • Drive job development efforts by identifying specific apprenticeship and employment opportunities across high-demand sectors, securing placement commitments that result in measurable hiring outcomes for CareerBound participants.

  • Use a consultative sales approach to cultivate employer partnerships—assessing workforce needs, tailoring talent solutions, and closing partnership agreements that advance youth employment and retention.

  • Utilize labor market information and data to inform target industries and employers.

  • Support employers in navigating Department of Labor (DOL) apprenticeship registration, in collaboration with DOL and City Schools.

  • Maintain strong relationships with existing partners and manage communications to sustain engagement and track satisfaction.

Workgroup Facilitation & Stakeholder Coordination

  • Facilitate and support employer workgroups—both industry-specific and cross-sector—to deepen engagement and collective learning.

  • Develop and maintain a stakeholder matrix to manage key contacts across employer organizations.

  • Secure employer commitments and ensure all documentation and compliance needs are met, including apprenticeship agreements, MOUs, or other required documentation.

Project Management & Data Tracking

  • Manage timelines and deliverables related to employer engagement goals, ensuring alignment with broader CareerBound expansion efforts. 

  • Maintain accurate tracking of recruitment metrics and employer participation in internal systems.

  • Collaborate with internal staff and partners to ensure accurate, up-to-date data across CareerBound components.

Communications & Resource Support

  • Advise on messaging and content for employer-facing materials, including marketing, reports, and pitch decks.

  • Contribute to regular funder updates and strategic communications related to employer engagement outcomes.

*this is not an all-inclusive list; there may be other duties as assigned

Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities)

Required

  • Five+ years of professional experience, with a minimum of three years of experience in employer engagement, workforce development, or youth development.

  • Experience with employer engagement.

  • Strong relationship-building skills with experience managing external partnerships.

  • Proven project management experience with the ability to coordinate complex efforts and multiple stakeholders.

  • Demonstrated commitment to advancing racial equity, inclusion, and economic opportunity for youth, with a focus on asset-based youth development.

  • Ability to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, adapt to programmatic changes, and propose proactive solutions to meet organizational and youth needs.

  • Outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to navigate and negotiate diverse points of view to build consensus among stakeholders.

  • Ability to handle confidential information with discretion and provide excellent customer service.

  • Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

  • Highly resourceful, self-motivated team player with the ability to work independently.

  • High proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and collaboration platforms (e.g., Zoom, Airtable, Monday.com).

  • Ability to travel locally within Baltimore City and County

Preferred

  • Experience supporting apprenticeship or career readiness initiatives.

  • Familiarity with the Department of Labor registration process.

  • Experience with Results-Based Accountability, Results-Based Facilitation, or Continuous Quality Improvement frameworks.

  • Advanced facilitation skills to lead meetings and discussions toward shared outcomes.

  • Baltimore City residency or strong connection to the community is a plus.

Compensation and Benefits

This position is classified as exempt and is not eligible for overtime compensation in accordance with the policies set forth by Baltimore’s Promise in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The annualized compensation for this position is $84,000. This compensation is fixed and non-negotiable. Baltimore’s Promise compensation ranges are determined by the responsibilities and level of authority required by each position as opposed to individual candidates’ qualifications or pedigree. This is an intentional attempt to mitigate pay inequities that are in part driven by systemic and implicit racism and gender bias impacting career trajectories and negotiation. 

This is a full-time position with full benefits, including CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield health insurance, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, paid parental leave, cellphone and mileage stipends, and support for professional development opportunities. 

Baltimore’s Promise provides a hybrid working environment that gives staff the flexibility to work remotely when not required for in-person meetings or tasks. Evening and weekend hours are required to support the organization's events and initiatives occasionally.

Please visit https://www.baltimorespromise.org/benefits to view the many additional benefits that Baltimore’s Promise offers its staff.

Travel

Travel around Baltimore City for in-person meetings and into the office for staff meetings is a regular occurrence. Additional travel may include national conferences, staff retreats, and statewide meetings.

To Apply

Submit the following application materials as PDFs by clicking the link below.

  • Resume

  • Cover Letter

  • A brief statement (max 250 words) describing how you apply a race equity and inclusion lens to employer engagement and partnership-building.

  • Please include a portfolio of at least 2 artifacts that demonstrate your ability to excel in the competencies for your position.

  • Names, titles, and relational context of three professional references. We will not contact references unless you advance in the application process, and we will inform you before contacting your references

Note: Should you advance to round 2, you will be asked to participate in a final assignment that further demonstrates your ability to excel at the role. (You will be compensated for your time).

We are reviewing application submissions and scheduling interviews on a rolling basis until July 15, 2025, and will close the position when it is filled. Please submit your materials as soon as possible.

Application materials submitted through online job platforms or by email will not be considered.

ABOUT BALTIMORE’S PROMISE

Baltimore's Promise is a citywide collaborative composed of public, business, higher education, nonprofit, community, and philanthropic leaders. We serve as a catalyst for organizing efforts and resources around a shared vision: all Baltimore City youth will travel a safe, healthy, and successful educational path from cradle to career. Baltimore’s Promise uses data to report on outcomes for children from birth through their early careers in order to understand the complex needs of our city’s children. 

We promote a data-based approach to program and policy design--one that is informed by context and lived experience of the communities affected and conducted with the participation of all stakeholders. Recognizing enduring inequalities resulting from persisting racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, and the intersections thereof, we employ a race equity lens to all aspects of data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Studies have shown that women, BIPOC, and other people from marginalized groups are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet all the qualifications described in the job description. If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization, and to considering a broad array of candidates, including those with diverse work experiences and backgrounds. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interest in this position, and what you hope to bring to this role.

Baltimore’s Promise is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity. It is our policy to recruit, hire, train, and promote individuals, as well as administer all personnel actions, without regard to race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin or ancestry, status as an individual with a disability who is otherwise qualified to perform the essential functions of his or her position, or any other protected characteristic in accordance with applicable laws. Baltimore’s Promise will not tolerate any unlawful discrimination, and any such conduct is prohibited.