Director of Operations

Position Summary

T he W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Michigan Works! Southwest are seeking an experienced Director of Operations to provide operational guidance and strategic oversight while supporting effective service delivery of workforce development systems. This role ensures programs and services consistently meet service standards, customer experience expectations, and performance goals, assuring that services align with compliance requirements and produce positive outcomes for customers and communities. The Director of Operations also builds and maintains strong relationships with community partners and stakeholders to strengthen coordination and service integration. This role supervises the Directors of Talent Solutions and promotes a culture of operational excellence.

This position offers the opportunity to work primarily from the Michigan Works! Southwest Service Center located in Kalamazoo, MI. Candidates should be comfortable with travel to Calhoun County an average of twice per week, as well as occasional travel to other sites within the four-county service area of Branch, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and St. Joesph counties.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversees the ongoing evaluation, continuous improvement, and overall effectiveness of Michigan Works! Southwest’s service delivery systems.
• Ensures the achievement of system-wide performance outcomes and goals in alignment with established targets.
• Provides direct supervision to the Directors of Talent Solutions.
• Ensures service systems support job seekers’ access to employment, training, and career advancement opportunities aligned with regional labor market needs.
• Develops and implements innovative service delivery strategies to address customer and workforce needs.
• Promotes Michigan Works! Southwest through strategic outreach and partner engagement to expand awareness, strengthen community relationships, and connect individuals to workforce services.

Position Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field and at least five years of staff management experience, with demonstrated success in operational leadership and cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of workforce development programs, government agencies, state and federal funding procedures, service delivery systems, and performance management practices.
• Proven ability to standardize processes, analyze trends, improve operations, and support informed decision-making across multiple programs.
• Demonstrated strengths in project management, program administration, and/or community planning, with excellent communication, sound judgment, relationship-building skills, and the ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining confidentiality.

Wages & Benefits

This position offers an annual salary of $95,000, as well as a generous benefit package. The benefits offered include health, dental, and vision insurance, short-term extended medical leave, long-term disability, parental leave, and a retirement plan.

Who We Are

Michigan Works! Southwest strives to build connections between job seekers looking to grow their careers and employers seeking quality candidates with the necessary job skills. This is accomplished by staying abreast of employment trends and maintaining critical relationships with community partners to ensure connections are made between employers, educators, trainers, and employees. Learn more at our website: https://www.michiganworkssouthwest.org/

Michigan Works! Southwest is within the Center for Workforce Innovation and Solutions, a division of the Upjohn Institute, and is committed to pioneering best practices in workforce development through program development, operation, and evaluation, striving to ensure successful outcomes for job seekers, employers, and communities.

Since 1932, the Upjohn Institute has functioned as one of the world’s leading independent, non-partisan, and non-profit labor economics research organizations, seeking to research the causes and effects of unemployment and to devise ways and means of alleviating hardships caused by unemployment.

All applicants and participants of the Michigan Works! Southwest Workforce Development Programs will be provided equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from all programs, activities, and services without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, marital status, disability, arrest record, or political affiliation or belief, or citizenship/status as a lawfully admitted immigrant authorized to work in the United States, or other non-merit factors.

The Upjohn Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and as such, is committed to achieve a goal of equality in the treatment of employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age height, weight, national origin, veteran or disability status in hiring, promotion, training and development, compensation, transfer, termination, disciplinary action, and all other personnel actions and Institute related functions and activities.

How to Apply

Submit your resume and letter of interest to ***email_hidden***.