Senior Manager - Business Solutions (South LA County Region)
17 days ago
Los Angeles
Job Description Job Title: Senior Manager, Business Solutions Reports To: Senior Director, Industry and Business Promotion Department Industry & Business Promotion FLSA Status: Exempt Salary: $125k-$145k Summary: The Senior Manager of Business Solutions has a pivotal role dedicated to driving regional economic growth by designing and delivering small business solutions and programs across LA County and in strategic industries in collaboration with government, philanthropic, business, and community-based stakeholders. The Senior Manager's programming furthers LAEDC's mission of promoting good jobs for all Angelenos through inclusive economic development and strategic sectors. The Senior Manager will oversee a team and programs that meet LA County small business needs in the form of both direct service delivery and systems-based ecosystem solutions in capital access, financial counseling, supply chain procurement, permitting, market access, workforce, and resilience. The Senior Manager will lead a team to deploy these solutions directly with small businesses, and they will promote systems solutions across the ecosystem of small business by collaborating with partners in government, business, and community-based organizations. This role requires a strategic leader experienced in economic development, program management, stakeholder engagement, and team leadership. Business Solutions is the arm of LAEDC that supports small businesses across a range of business sizes and readiness to meet their capital, market access, workforce, permitting, resilience, and know-how needs. This is achieved through both direct service delivery and systems solutions by engaging the broader ecosystem of small business services to deploy solutions at scale. Direct service solutions include technical assistance, counseling, and training, and systems-based solutions include toolkits, train-the-trainer, county-wide consortia coordination, and ecosystem capacity-building. The solutions are developed and adapted for small businesses of varying sizes, industries, and stages of readiness, particularly for accessing capital, permits, and markets. Industry Clusters is the team that focuses on key industries to foster growth where LAEDC can have the most significant impact, create high-quality jobs, and promote innovation for LA's industries to remain competitive. This targeted approach ensures that resources are efficiently utilized, driving sector-specific advancements that benefit the broader economy. LAEDC integrates its programming across economic research, engagement, business solutions, workforce, and international trade through its industry cluster development, and small businesses play a critical role in filling industries' supply chain, promoting innovation across the sector, and creating jobs. Duties: The Senior Manager will lead a team to achieve these programmatic and organizational objectives: Business Solutions Team • Small Business Solutions: Develop solutions for small business needs, particularly capital, recovery, resilience, and market access (supply chain / procurement), including but not limited to toolkits, pop-ups, train the trainer series, and ecosystem-wide capacity-building, • Small Business Services: Oversee team of business advisors to provide high-touch small business counseling services across LA County and deliver on small business service contracts, • Contract and Project Management: Manage delivery of contracts and contract deliverables in the form of direct services, economic research, convenings, toolkits, and policy briefings to funders from local and state government, philanthropy, and fee for service models, • Stakeholder Engagement: Liaise with multi-sector stakeholders at the public (State, County, and City governments), private (industry Fortune 500 and interim), and community-based organizations, • Convene: Strategically engage stakeholders around business solutions to build ecosystem capacity and drive coordinated action in addressing LA County's small business needs, such as repository, consortium, and best practice sharing, • Community Engagement: Engage with the community and translate needs and trends on the ground and in economic data into LAEDC programmatic insights, • Problem-solving: Independently drive problem-solving through problem scope, identification of hypotheses solutions, testing and validation, operationalization of solutions, and monitoring, • Team Leadership: Lead team with positive morale, planning, standards, coaching, and collaboration, • Industry Cluster Alignment: Where relevant, adapt business solutions for LA's strategic industry clusters: clean energy, bioscience, aerospace/defense, manufacturing, sports & entertainment, and trade & logistics Organizational • Program Oversight: Oversee program budgets, tracking, and reporting on contractual and programmatic progress, metrics, and performance and opportunities for improvement for funders and internally, • Program Management: Deliver project management standards and structure across programs and in alignment of organizational program management, • Alignment with Organizational Goals: Align activities with LAEDC's mission, objectives, and strategic plan and participate in additional duties and organizational projects as assigned, • Information: Stay up to date on occurrence within LA County's economic development landscape, • Learning Culture: Embody and promote a culture of productive feedback, growth, and learning Qualifications: Team player motivated by problem solving and delivering excellence for LA County's small businesses through both direct service and systems level solutions, robust internal operations, effective stakeholder engagement, and a strong and collaborative team environment while being willing to roll up sleeves in a rapidly evolving environment. Requirements • Professional Experience: 10+ years of experience, with majority in economic empowerment, small business, and/or industry development, • Project Experience: Experience managing and overseeing complex projects involving internal and external stakeholders and deliverables, • Delivery Experience: Experience developing and deploying small business solutions, particularly involving capital, procurement, resilience, and/or permitting, • Stakeholder Experience: Experience engaging with stakeholders in government, community-based organizations, and the community, • Technical Understanding: Economic development understanding, including the pillars of economic development and how small business plays a role in the economy, • Team Leadership: Vision for promoting performance-driven, collaborative team, • Technical Skills: Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint) and project management tools, • Learning Mindset: Skilled in responding to and providing feedback, coaching, and learning opportunities all within a fast-paced environment, • Mission Alignment: Commitment to LAEDC's mission of promoting jobs for all Angelenos through inclusive economic development, • Education: Bachelor's degree or related field or work experience equivalent Preferred • Administration: MBA, MPA, or PMP Certification, • Experience: Direct experience in small business development in government or non-profit, • Network: Strong economic development and/or industry network across Los Angeles region The LAEDC will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with state and local Fair chance laws including the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO). The LAEDC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. For further information about LAEDC please visit our website at . LAEDC Competencies To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies: • Achievement Focus - Demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles; Measures self against standard of excellence; Recognizes and acts on opportunities; Sets and achieves challenging goals; Takes calculated risks to accomplish goals, • Communications - Exhibits good listening and comprehension; Expresses ideas and thoughts in written form; Expresses ideas and thoughts verbally; Keeps others adequately informed; Selects and uses appropriate communication methods; Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; Listens and gets clarification; Responds well to questions; Demonstrates group presentation skills; Participates in meetings., • Job Knowledge - Competent in required job skills and knowledge; Displays understanding of how job relates to others; Exhibits ability to learn and apply new skills; Keeps abreast of current developments; Requires minimal supervision; Uses resources effectively, • Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; Contributes to building a positive team spirit; Exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; Gives and welcomes feedback; Puts success of team above own interests, • Project Management - Communicates changes and progress; Completes projects on time and budget; Coordinates projects; Develops project plans; Manages project team activities, • Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; Listens and gets clarification; Responds well to questions; Demonstrates group presentation skills; Participates in meetings., • Planning/Organizing - Prioritizes and plans work activities; Uses time efficiently; Plans for additional resources; Sets goals and objectives; Organizes or schedules other people and their tasks; Develops realistic action plans., • Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; Exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; Gives and welcomes feedback; Contributes to building a positive team spirit; Puts success of team above own interests; Able to build morale and group commitments to goal and objectives; Supports everyone's efforts to succeed; Recognizes accomplishments to other team members., • Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; Edits work for spelling and grammar; Varies writing style to meet needs; Presents numerical data effectively; Able to read and interpret written information., • Professionalism - Approaches others in a tactful manner; Reacts well under pressure; Treats others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position; Accepts responsibility for own actions; Follows through on commitments., • Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; Applies feedback to improve performance; Monitors own work to ensure quality LAEDC's Culture of Inclusion LAEDC is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of belonging and connectedness. We recognize that, like the communities we serve, our team members bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives, which makes us stronger and more effective. LAEDC fosters an environment where every individual is valued and encouraged to express themselves freely. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer rooted in the dynamic fabric of Los Angeles County, and we remain dedicated to our mission by ensuring that anyone regardless of background, origin, orientation, or life experience can find a welcoming and supportive place on our team. Work Environment: This position will operate in a hybrid schedule. The employee will base work from the DTLA office 40% of the work week and additional time as needed with the option to work remotely on the remaining time. Employees are required to reside in the Los Angeles County Region. The organization will continue to assess the hybrid environment and adjust to meet programmatic needs accordingly. The characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is frequently required to talk or listen. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and distance vision. The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.