Manager, Craft Workforce Development

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Manager, Craft Workforce Development

Job Description:

 

HITT Contracting is looking for a Craft Workforce Development Manager to help build the next generation of skilled construction talent. Our current team of craft professionals perform complex work supporting semiconductor, advanced manufacturing, and other highly technical construction environments. As investment in these sectors continues to drive demand for skilled labor, we have an opportunity to build the talent pipelines and learning experiences needed to support our own growth while contributing to a challenge facing the construction industry as a whole.

This role will lead and elevate an already registered apprenticeship program, which currently supports development across electrical, pipefitting, carpentry, and sheet metal trades. The manager will create a rigorous, high-quality experience that connects technical instruction with hands-on learning, mentorship, and meaningful career progression. Just as importantly, this individual will bring the operational discipline required to manage a registered apprenticeship program across multiple states and complex project environments.

The work also carries meaningful operational and compliance responsibility. Many of our projects are subject to complex federal, state, and project-specific workforce requirements associated with registered apprenticeship, the Davis-Bacon Act, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, prevailing wage, apprentice utilization, and certified payroll. The leader will ensure the apprenticeship program is exceptionally managed, documented, and audit-ready while navigating requirements across multiple states and project environments.

The opportunity extends beyond the apprenticeship program itself. HITT is committed to expanding access to careers in construction and investing in the skilled workforce our industry needs. This leader will help us think differently about how we engage future craft professionals, develop experienced tradespeople into exceptional teachers and mentors, apply new approaches and technologies to hands-on learning, and use HITT's resources, facilities, partnerships, and expertise to strengthen craft development within our own workforce and across the broader construction community.

The ideal candidate combines strong apprenticeship and workforce development expertise with exceptional program management and a genuine commitment to developing people. This individual will be comfortable navigating the details and rigor of a highly regulated program while also seeing the larger opportunity to create an exceptional learning experience and build sustainable pathways into the skilled trades.

Responsibilities 

Apprenticeship Program Leadership & Governance

• Lead the day-to-day management and continued development of HITT’s registered apprenticeship program across multiple states, projects, and trades, creating a consistent and high-quality program as the business grows.

• Establish and maintain clear program governance, policies, procedures, and workflows across HITT, Brycon, and external partners, ensuring accountability for key decisions and program requirements.

• Lead the Apprenticeship Program Committee, maintaining required representation, meeting cadence, documentation, decision-making processes, and follow-through on program priorities.

• Own the apprentice lifecycle from enrollment through progression and completion, establishing clear and consistent processes for onboarding, registration, attendance, performance, advancement, status changes, and offboarding.

• Coordinate program delivery across operations, instructors, external training partners, and project teams, ensuring instructional schedules and apprentice requirements remain aligned with workforce and project needs.

• Develop and manage the annual program budget, forecast enrollment and resource needs, monitor program costs, and identify opportunities to improve financial sustainability through partnerships, grants, and other funding sources.

• Establish and report meaningful program KPIs across enrollment, retention, progression, completion, skill attainment, cost, and workforce demand, using data to identify risks, demonstrate program value, and guide continued improvement.

• Build a scalable operating model that can support expansion into additional states, trades, and projects and, over time, a broader multi-employer apprenticeship structure.

Craft Learning & Apprentice Experience

• Create an exceptional apprentice experience that combines the rigor of a registered apprenticeship program with meaningful learning, hands-on development, mentorship, and clear opportunities for career progression.

• Oversee the connection between related technical instruction and on-the-job learning, ensuring apprentices build and demonstrate the knowledge and skills required to progress through their trade.

• Partner with operations, Safety, and experienced craft professionals to ensure learning reflects the realities of the work, project environments, evolving construction practices, and the technical capabilities our workforce needs.

• Recruit, onboard, develop, and support instructors, ensuring appropriate certification, instructional coverage, curriculum pacing, classroom quality, and ongoing coaching and feedback.

• Develop journeyworkers, supervisors, and other experienced craft professionals as teachers and mentors, equipping them to demonstrate skills, coach apprentices, provide meaningful feedback, and reinforce learning in the field.

• Continually evaluate barriers to apprentice success and retention, including academic readiness, scheduling, transportation, family responsibilities, program expectations, and the transition into structured learning. Identify practical ways to support participants while maintaining program standards.

• Bring contemporary adult learning practices to craft development and evaluate new approaches including simulation, immersive and AR/VR experiences, mobile and point-of-need resources, visual instruction, and other methods that can complement hands-on learning and improve skill development.

• Use apprentice feedback, instructor input, performance, progression, retention, and completion data to continually strengthen the learning experience and program outcomes.

Compliance & Operational Excellence

• Maintain a compliant, well-documented, and audit-ready registered apprenticeship program across all applicable states, projects, trades, and regulatory environments.

• Ensure accurate and timely management of apprentice registration, related technical instruction (RTI), on-the-job training (OJT), attendance, wage progression, status changes, completion, and other required program records.

• Monitor apprentice progress against classroom and OJT requirements, proactively identifying risks and coordinating mitigation plans with apprentices, instructors, supervisors, and operations.

• Partner closely with Human Resources, Accounting, Payroll, and operations to ensure apprentice classifications, apprentice-to-journeyworker ratios, wage requirements, certified payroll, and workforce reporting are accurate and aligned.

• Manage apprenticeship requirements associated with the Department of Labor and applicable state apprenticeship agencies, including program standards, registrations, modifications, reciprocity, reporting, and required submissions.

• Ensure program practices support applicable project and workforce obligations associated with the Davis-Bacon Act, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, prevailing wage, registered apprenticeship utilization requirements, and other federal, state, and project-specific mandates.

• Maintain compliance with applicable NCCER requirements and lead preparation for NCCER, state apprenticeship agency, Department of Labor, and other program audits or reviews.

• Remain current on changing apprenticeship, prevailing wage, workforce development, and related regulatory requirements, partnering with internal and external experts to understand impacts and implement necessary changes.

• Build strong administrative controls and documentation practices that reduce program risk, eliminate single points of failure, and ensure continuity as the program grows.

Workforce Development & Industry Partnerships

• Help advance HITT's broader approach to craft learning and workforce development, using apprenticeship as a foundation for building stronger and more sustainable skilled trades pipelines.

• Build an intentional network of industry, education, and workforce partners that can expand HITT's reach, strengthen program quality, and accelerate growth without recreating resources that already exist within the construction industry.

• Develop and maintain relationships with organizations such as ABC, AGC, ACE Mentor Program, NCCER, high school career and technical education programs, community and technical colleges, workforce development boards, apprenticeship agencies, and other regional and national partners.

• Evaluate existing curriculum, training facilities, instructors, apprenticeship programs, career-awareness resources, and workforce infrastructure to determine when partnership provides a stronger or more scalable solution than building internally.

• Partner with Recruiting and external organizations to engage students and prospective talent earlier, increasing awareness of skilled trades careers and creating clearer pathways from high school and technical education into apprenticeship and employment.

• Identify and pursue grants, public workforce funding, educational partnerships, and other resources that can expand access to apprenticeship, reduce program costs, and support sustainable growth.

• Build relationships across the apprenticeship and workforce development community to share best practices, understand emerging approaches, and identify opportunities for employers and industry partners to collaborate on shared workforce challenges.

• Evaluate opportunities to expand apprenticeship and craft learning into additional trades, markets, and workforce populations based on HITT and our subsidiary’s future talent needs and project requirements.

• Identify opportunities to pair external resources with HITT's facilities, subject matter experts, learning resources, and industry relationships to create stronger and more scalable craft development experiences.

• Explore meaningful ways to extend HITT's learning resources, facilities, best practices, and expertise to our subcontractor and trade partner community, helping our partners develop their people and strengthening the skilled workforce supporting our projects.

• Represent HITT within relevant apprenticeship, workforce development, education, and industry forums, strengthening relationships and bringing new ideas and proven practices back to the organization.

• Contribute to HITT's broader commitment to addressing the construction talent shortage by expanding pathways into the trades, developing skilled professionals, and investing in the long-term health of the construction workforce.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in construction management, workforce development, education, business, human resources, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience considered.

• 5+ years of progressive experience in apprenticeship, workforce development, craft training, or a related field, with demonstrated responsibility for complex programs and multiple stakeholders.

• Direct experience managing a registered apprenticeship program required, with demonstrated knowledge of program governance, apprentice registration and progression, related technical instruction (RTI), on-the-job training (OJT), recordkeeping, reporting, and audit requirements.

• Significant experience supporting skilled trades, craft, or field-based workforces required; experience within construction, the broader architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, utilities, energy, manufacturing, or another complex skilled trades environment strongly preferred.

• Extensive knowledge of federal and state apprenticeship, prevailing wage, and workforce compliance requirements required, including demonstrated experience with the Davis-Bacon Act, Department of Labor registered apprenticeship requirements, certified payroll, apprentice-to-journeyworker ratios, wage progression, apprentice utilization, and related documentation and reporting.

• Demonstrated experience navigating workforce and apprenticeship requirements associated with federally funded or incentivized construction, including the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act requirements.

• Experience working directly with the Department of Labor, state apprenticeship agencies, and other regulatory bodies to manage program registration, standards, modifications, reciprocity, reporting, audits, and ongoing compliance.

• Demonstrated ability to manage apprenticeship programs across multiple projects, locations, trades, or jurisdictions and coordinate effectively across operations, instructors, apprentices, corporate teams, and external partners.

• Strong program management skills with demonstrated ability to establish effective controls and processes, maintain detailed and audit-ready records, identify compliance and operational risk, and drive work through completion.

• Experience developing or managing instructors, journeyworkers, mentors, or other subject matter experts responsible for craft learning and on-the-job development.

• Strong understanding of how craft professionals learn, with experience connecting technical instruction, hands-on practice, field application, mentorship, and demonstrated skill progression.

• Demonstrated ability to build productive partnerships with industry associations, apprenticeship and workforce organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, and external training providers.

• Strong business and financial acumen, including experience managing program budgets, measuring outcomes, and leveraging grants, partnerships, or external resources to support program sustainability and growth.

• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to earn credibility with apprentices, craft professionals, field and operational leaders, senior leadership, regulatory agencies, and external partners.

• Highly organized, resourceful, and proactive, with strong judgment and the ability to balance regulatory rigor, operational needs, learner experience, and continued program growth.

HITT Contracting is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to hiring and developing the most qualified individuals based on job-related experience, skills, and merit. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We value a respectful, inclusive workplace where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. HITT Contracting maintains a drug-free workplace, consistent with applicable local, state, and federal laws.