Growth & Community Development Lead

About Pursuit

Pursuit is a social impact organization building the future of economic mobility in the age of AI.

For over a decade, we've created life-changing outcomes through training programs for adults from low-income backgrounds—especially those without college degrees. Our graduates have generated nearly $1 billion in lifetime wage gains. Now, as AI reshapes the future of work, Pursuit is evolving as a leader at the intersection of AI, jobs, economic opportunity, and tech innovation. We're becoming an AI-native organization: training AI-native talent, embedding AI across our operations, and building software to scale our impact. Beyond direct training, we’re driving systems change. Through initiatives like the Good Jobs Guarantee, we’re advocating for outcomes-based funding and national policy to make economic mobility possible for millions.

About the Role

Our programs have grown through deep community trust, strong partnerships, and operational excellence. As the AI training landscape becomes increasingly crowded, we're looking for someone who can help us stand out, strengthen our community presence, and build scalable systems that drive sustainable enrollment growth.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys both strategy and execution. You'll analyze funnel performance, identify opportunities, build and improve systems, manage external partnerships, and roll up your sleeves to ensure prospective Builders have an exceptional experience.

You should be equally comfortable presenting to a community organization, analyzing enrollment data, designing an outreach campaign, and experimenting with AI tools to automate workflows.

Key Responsibilities

Growth Strategy & Enrollment Operations

• Own key recruitment and enrollment metrics, including applicant volume, conversion rates, enrollment targets, and pipeline health
• Develop and manage dashboards to monitor performance, identify bottlenecks, and generate actionable insights
• Design and test growth strategies across outreach channels, partnerships, events, referrals, and marketing campaigns
• Partner with internal stakeholders to forecast enrollment needs and develop plans to meet program targets
• Ensure operational excellence and exceptional applicant experience across the admissions funnel, from first touchpoint through enrollment

Community Partnerships & Ecosystem Development

• Develop and execute Pursuit's community partnership strategy across NYC
• Build and maintain relationships with community-based organizations, workforce development providers, city agencies, libraries, educational institutions, and other mission-aligned partners
• Identify and cultivate long-term partnerships that expand awareness, trust, and access to Pursuit programs
• Serve as a key external representative of Pursuit at community events, workshops, information sessions, and stakeholder meetings
• Manage partnership performance and identify opportunities to deepen engagement over time

AI-Native Systems & Process Improvement

• Identify opportunities and leverage AI to automate, streamline, and improve workflows across recruitment and admissions
• Collaborate with Product and Program teams to build and iterate on AI-powered admissions and engagement tools
• Build systems that reduce manual work and increase the team's ability to focus on high-impact relationship-building

Recruitment Execution & Team Leadership

• Plan and oversee information sessions, workshops, recruitment events, and applicant engagement activities
• Coordinate staffing plans and event logistics across the recruitment calendar
• Support applicants throughout the admissions process through clear, timely, and empathetic communication
• Recruit, manage, and develop additional team members, contractors, Builders, or volunteers to support enrollment efforts
• Step into day-to-day execution as needed to ensure program goals are achieved

You're a Great Fit If You...

• Have 5+ years of experience in growth, recruitment, community engagement, partnerships, workforce development, nonprofit operations, or a related field
• Have experience owning metrics and driving outcomes, not just executing activities
• Are highly analytical and comfortable using data to diagnose problems, develop hypotheses, and test solutions
• Have strong operational instincts and enjoy building systems, processes, and structures that scale
• Are excited by AI and actively use AI tools to improve your work
• Are an exceptional communicator who can build trust with both community leaders and internal stakeholders
• Can balance long-term relationship development with short-term enrollment goals
• Are highly organized, detail-oriented, and persistent in following through on commitments
• Thrive in ambiguity and are comfortable building new approaches where playbooks don't yet exist
• Are passionate about expanding economic opportunity and supporting historically underserved communities

Bonus (but not required):

• Experience managing people, contractors, volunteers, or cross-functional teams
• Familiarity with NYC's workforce development and community-based organization ecosystem
• Experience running growth, marketing, outreach, or enrollment campaigns

Success in This Role

After 12 months, you will have:

• Built a predictable and measurable enrollment pipeline
• Established a dashboard-driven approach to recruitment and admissions management
• Strengthened Pursuit's presence across key community and workforce development partners
• Reduced manual operational work through automation and AI-enabled systems
• Developed scalable processes that improve applicant experience and enrollment outcomes
• Helped position Pursuit as a leading pathway into the AI-native workforce

Salary & Benefits:

The salary range for this role is $120,000-130,000 base + incentive compensation.

The compensation range above is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however, we are often open to a wide variety of profiles and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted.  If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated to you as a candidate.

Pursuit offers: 

• An opportunity to work at the intersection of tech and social impact, and make a direct impact on the communities of those we serve.
• Competitive compensation in base, plus bonus and a full benefits package
• 401k Match
• Unlimited PTO and an all-Pursuit summer break the last week of August and a week-long holiday the last week of December
• Monday and Friday work from anywhere policy
• Catered lunches once a week and delicious snacks
• Dedicated time to build in AI and hone your AI skills

Pursuit values diversity: 

Our team has a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and we value the richness that diversity brings to our organization. We welcome new perspectives and affirm that all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, age, familial or marital status, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuit is an equal opportunity employer.