The Organization: Merit America
The American economy is broken. Today 53 million working adults–nearly half of the U.S. workforce–do not earn a living wage. And these talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full-time bootcamp programs don’t offer enough flexibility, and online courses don’t have the structure or support to translate learning into a new career. The result? Talented workers, disproportionately people of color and women, get stuck in low-wage roles with no way to build a better life for themselves and their families.
Merit America is a national nonprofit that creates pathways to family-sustaining careers for Americans stuck in low-wage work. Our fast, flexible solutions are built for working adults: we start by analyzing tens of millions of job postings to identify in-demand, high-paying tech careers and then work with industry-recognized partners to train for these roles with part-time programs that combine flexible online learning with best-in-class coaching. Finally, we work with a broad constellation of local and national employers like JPMorgan Chase and Infosys to place learners into higher-earning, family-sustaining jobs, driving an average wage gain of $24k three months or more after completing the program. Merit America is on a mission to build a scalable pathway for workers to join the middle class through merit, not money. We’re on track to generate $1B in wage gains by 2025.
Role Overview
To achieve that ambitious mission, the Vice President of People is an exempt role and will play a critical role in supporting our 220 employees while driving significant team growth in the coming years. You will also work to strengthen and maintain the organization’s culture while overseeing the strategy and implementation of the team’s core programs, processes, and systems. Top priorities in 2024 include: redesigning the organization’s approach to titling and compensation, implementing a career pathway pilot for the coaching function, and developing an organization-wide promotion policy.
Partnering with Merit America’s leadership team and your broader team, you will continually improve on existing systems and processes and experiment with new ones, with the ultimate goal of finding, supporting, and developing our A+ team and operations.
Ideal candidates will be out-of-the-box, strategic, outcomes-focused thinkers excited to bring one of the country’s fastest-growing nonprofits to scale. You will report to the Chief Operating Officer, Lal Jones-Bey, and will directly manage the Directors of Learning and People Experience, People Operations (including HRBPs), and Talent Acquisition. This is a fully remote role based in the US and is expected to start in Q2 2024.
Responsibilities
Leadership and Management - 40%
Strategy - 25%
Organizational Development - 35%
Skills and Competencies
We recognize that individuals from marginalized backgrounds, including women, people of color, and those with disabilities, are often less likely to apply when they don’t meet 100% of the job qualifications. Don’t let that be the reason you miss out on this opportunity! We want to emphasize that your unique skills, experiences, and perspectives are valuable, and we encourage you to apply if you can demonstrate many of the skills and competencies. Below are the skills that are relevant for thriving in this role:
Must Haves:
Nice to Haves:
Other Logistics:
Our goal is to have competitive and equitable compensation. We have a market-based compensation approach, which means we benchmark each role from reputable data sources. We compare our benchmarks against similarly sized non-profit organizations with comparable annual budgets and geographical areas. We pay the same rate for the same roles and adjust to comply with statutory mandates.
We take care of our employees by providing the following perks and benefits:
Remote Work & Sponsorship
Candidates must reside within the 50 states or District of Columbia and have full authorization to work in the 50 U.S. states & the District of Columbia (international work abroad, including the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and other islands are excluded). In addition, Merit America doesn't offer employment visa sponsorship.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Building an inclusive, high-performing team that is diverse across lines of personal identity is integral to our success and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
This means we do not discriminate against any job applicant or employee because of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This applies to all terms and conditions of employment.
We actively strive and evolve to develop and maintain workspaces that are fully inclusive. We encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply.
Still excited about our work? You can learn more about our work in this video we made with our founding partner, Google.
E-Verify Statement
This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the I-9 Form.
Merit America provides a path to skilled technology careers for Americans who can’t yet compete for these roles. Our program meets the needs of American employers and busy working adults: it takes months to complete, not years, and doesn't result ...
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