Senior Manager - Business Solutions (South LA County Region)

Job Title : Senior Manager, Business Solutions

Reports To : Senior Director, Industry and Business Promotion

Department Industry & Business Promotion

FLSA Status : Exempt

Salary : $125k-$145k

Summary :

The Senior Manager of Business Solutions has a pivotal role dedicated to driving regional economic growth by designing and delivering small business solutions and programs across LA County and in strategic industries in collaboration with government, philanthropic, business, and community-based stakeholders. The Senior Manager's programming furthers LAEDC's mission of promoting good jobs for all Angelenos through inclusive economic development and strategic sectors.

The Senior Manager will oversee a team and programs that meet LA County small business needs in the form of both direct service delivery and systems-based ecosystem solutions in capital access, financial counseling, supply chain procurement, permitting, market access, workforce, and resilience. The Senior Manager will lead a team to deploy these solutions directly with small businesses, and they will promote systems solutions across the ecosystem of small business by collaborating with partners in government, business, and community-based organizations. This role requires a strategic leader experienced in economic development, program management, stakeholder engagement, and team leadership.

Business Solutions is the arm of LAEDC that supports small businesses across a range of business sizes and readiness to meet their capital, market access, workforce, permitting, resilience, and know-how needs. This is achieved through both direct service delivery and systems solutions by engaging the broader ecosystem of small business services to deploy solutions at scale. Direct service solutions include technical assistance, counseling, and training, and systems-based solutions include toolkits, train-the-trainer, county-wide consortia coordination, and ecosystem capacity-building. The solutions are developed and adapted for small businesses of varying sizes, industries, and stages of readiness, particularly for accessing capital, permits, and markets.

Industry Clusters is the team that focuses on key industries to foster growth where LAEDC can have the most significant impact, create high-quality jobs, and promote innovation for LA's industries to remain competitive. This targeted approach ensures that resources are efficiently utilized, driving sector-specific advancements that benefit the broader economy. LAEDC integrates its programming across economic research, engagement, business solutions, workforce, and international trade through its industry cluster development, and small businesses play a critical role in filling industries' supply chain, promoting innovation across the sector, and creating jobs.

Duties :

The Senior Manager will lead a team to achieve these programmatic and organizational objectives :

Business Solutions Team

• Small Business Solutions : Develop solutions for small business needs, particularly capital, recovery, resilience, and market access (supply chain / procurement), including but not limited to toolkits, pop-ups, train the trainer series, and ecosystem-wide capacity-building
• Small Business Services : Oversee team of business advisors to provide high-touch small business counseling services across LA County and deliver on small business service contracts
• Contract and Project Management : Manage delivery of contracts and contract deliverables in the form of direct services, economic research, convenings, toolkits, and policy briefings to funders from local and state government, philanthropy, and fee for service models
• Stakeholder Engagement : Liaise with multi-sector stakeholders at the public (State, County, and City governments), private (industry Fortune 500 and interim), and community-based organizations
• Convene : Strategically engage stakeholders around business solutions to build ecosystem capacity and drive coordinated action in addressing LA County's small business needs, such as repository, consortium, and best practice sharing
• Community Engagement : Engage with the community and translate needs and trends on the ground and in economic data into LAEDC programmatic insights
• Problem-solving : Independently drive problem-solving through problem scope, identification of hypotheses solutions, testing and validation, operationalization of solutions, and monitoring
• Team Leadership : Lead team with positive morale, planning, standards, coaching, and collaboration
• Industry Cluster Alignment : Where relevant, adapt business solutions for LA's strategic industry clusters : clean energy, bioscience, aerospace / defense, manufacturing, sports & entertainment, and trade & logistics

Organizational

Qualifications :

Team player motivated by problem solving and delivering excellence for LA County's small businesses through both direct service and systems level solutions, robust internal operations, effective stakeholder engagement, and a strong and collaborative team environment while being willing to roll up sleeves in a rapidly evolving environment.

Requirements

Preferred

The LAEDC will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with state and local Fair chance laws including the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO). The LAEDC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. For further information about LAEDC please visit our website at .

LAEDC Competencies

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies :

LAEDC's Culture of Inclusion

LAEDC is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of belonging and connectedness. We recognize that, like the communities we serve, our team members bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives, which makes us stronger and more effective. LAEDC fosters an environment where every individual is valued and encouraged to express themselves freely. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer rooted in the dynamic fabric of Los Angeles County, and we remain dedicated to our mission by ensuring that anyone regardless of background, origin, orientation, or life experience can find a welcoming and supportive place on our team.

Work Environment :

This position will operate in a hybrid schedule. The employee will base work from the DTLA office 40% of the work week and additional time as needed with the option to work remotely on the remaining time. Employees are required to reside in the Los Angeles County Region. The organization will continue to assess the hybrid environment and adjust to meet programmatic needs accordingly.

The characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Physical Demands :

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is frequently required to talk or listen. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and / or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and distance vision.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.