Director Workforce Development Jobs in Newark, NJ

Essen Health Care is the largest privately held, multispecialty medical group in New York, providing high-quality, compassionate care to some of the state's most vulnerable and underserved residents.

Founded in 1999, we've grown from a single primary care office into a network of 50+ locations offering urgent care, primary care and specialty services, from women's health to endocrinology and psychiatry. We also provide nursing home support, care management, and in-home care through our Essen House Calls program. Guided by a Population Health model, our team of 500+ providers deliver care in-person, at home, or via telehealth, ensuring patients get the support they need when and where they need it.

We're looking for talented, motivated individuals to join our growing team. Whether you're a medical provider, administrator, or operations professional, there's a career here for you. Join us in making a real difference in the health of our community.

Position Title: Senior Director, Clinical Education & Workforce Development

Department: Academics 

Working across Academics, clinical operations, Talent Acquisition, People & Culture, and executive leadership, the Senior Director translates organizational workforce priorities into scalable academic partnerships, experiential learning opportunities, and career pathways. The role requires a hands-on leader who can move comfortably between strategy, program execution, stakeholder management, compliance, data analysis, and continuous improvement.

Strategy, Program Leadership & Growth

• Develop and execute the department's clinical education and workforce development strategy in alignment with Essen's organizational goals and anticipated workforce needs.
• Lead the design, implementation, expansion, and evaluation of workforce programs across existing and emerging Centers of Excellence.
• Assess healthcare trends, clinical service-line priorities, and workforce gaps to recommend new training models, academic pathways, and CoE initiatives.
• Establish annual program goals, implementation plans, performance measures, and continuous-improvement priorities.
• Prepare business cases, proposals, and executive-level presentations to support program expansion, resources, and strategic decisions.

Academic Partnerships & Workforce Pipelines

• Cultivate and manage strategic relationships with universities, colleges, medical and allied health programs, training institutions, community organizations, and other workforce partners.
• Negotiate and operationalize partnership arrangements in coordination with legal, compliance, clinical, and administrative stakeholders.
• Build scalable pipelines for clinical and non-clinical talent through internships, externships, rotations, shadowing, fellowships, bridge programs, apprenticeships, and other experiential learning models.
• Represent Essen at academic, workforce, and community events to strengthen visibility, engagement, and recruitment pipelines.

Program Operations, Quality & Compliance

• Provide oversight of program operations, including cohort planning, schedules, learning experiences, faculty and preceptor assignments, training materials, onboarding, and participant progression.
• Create and maintain standardized policies, procedures, documentation, and service expectations across academic programs and CoEs.
• Ensure programs operate in accordance with applicable organizational policies, affiliation agreements, credentialing requirements, privacy standards, and regulatory or accreditation expectations.
• Identify operational risks and barriers, resolve escalated issues, and implement corrective or preventive actions when needed.
• Manage assigned budgets, vendor relationships, contracts, and program resources responsibly.

Data, Outcomes & Executive Reporting

• Define and monitor key performance indicators, including enrollment, completion, conversion to employment, retention, participant satisfaction, partner engagement, workforce impact, and return on investment.
• Develop dashboards and recurring reports that provide leadership with clear visibility into program performance, pipeline health, risks, and opportunities.
• Use data, feedback, and outcome trends to improve program design, participant experience, operational efficiency, and workforce results.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Lead, coach, and develop assigned program staff, coordinators, interns, faculty, preceptors, or project teams; establish clear expectations and accountability for results.
• Partner closely with clinical leaders, Talent Acquisition, People & Culture, operations, compliance, legal, finance, and other departments to align academic programming with workforce demand.
• Serve as a primary point of contact and escalation for academic partners, trainees, internal leaders, and other program stakeholders.
• Facilitate meetings, presentations, planning sessions, and governance forums related to Academics and CoE initiatives.
• Perform other duties and lead special projects as assigned in support of the Academics Department and Essen's workforce strategy.

Required

• Bachelor's degree in healthcare administration, public health, education, business administration, human resources, organizational development, or a related field.
• Bilingual Spanish speaking is required
• Five to seven years of progressive experience in academic program management, clinical education, workforce development, healthcare operations, or a related area, including experience leading complex programs or initiatives.
• Demonstrated success developing programs, managing strategic partnerships, and translating organizational needs into measurable workforce or education solutions.
• Strong project and change-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, timelines, stakeholders, and deliverables.
• Experience using data and performance measures to evaluate programs, identify trends, and communicate recommendations to leadership.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to work onsite in the Bronx five days per week and travel locally as program needs require.

Preferred

• Master's degree in healthcare administration, public health, education, business, organizational development, or a related discipline.
• Prior people-management or formal team-leadership experience.
• Experience working with academic institutions, clinical training programs, affiliation agreements, healthcare pipeline initiatives, or Centers of Excellence.
• Knowledge of clinical and non-clinical healthcare workforce structures and the needs of underserved or community-based healthcare settings.

Key Competencies

• Strategic leadership and sound judgment
• Program development and operational execution
• Partnership development and stakeholder influence
• People leadership and accountability
• Data-driven decision-making and executive communication
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Adaptability, initiative, and problem-solving
• Commitment to workforce equity, education access, and community impact

Work Environment

This is a full-time, onsite position based at 2626 Halperin Avenue in the Bronx, New York. The role requires regular interaction with internal departments, academic partners, students, trainees, and community stakeholders. Local travel and occasional schedule flexibility may be required based on program activities.