Learning and Development Specialist

Mission and Organizational Background

First Children’s Finance (FCF) mission is to grow the supply and business sustainability of excellent child care. Founded in 1991, FCF provides business and financial assistance to business owners and leaders in the field of early care and education.

We work on three levels:

• Business level – supporting care business owners with training, consultation and tools to improve financial sustainability.
• Community level – supporting local planning efforts to increase the supply and sustainability of child care.
• Systems level – partnering with state, tribal and local systems to improve investments, policies, and processes.

FCF is headquartered in Minneapolis and has active programs in multiple states, with offices in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, and Vermont. Learn more at www.firstchildrensfinance.org.

Job Summary

First Children’s Finance seeks a collaborative, mission driven and self-starter Learning & Development Specialist to design, implement and lead onboarding and professional development for our program staff. This role is essential to ensuring that our staff—especially those delivering training and consulting to child care business owners – have the knowledge, skills, and support they need to succeed and grow. This role will design and implement engaging learning experiences including onboarding pathways, skills-based training, mentorship opportunities, and communities of practice. This role will use data, feedback, and observation to identify knowledge and skills needed and drive continuous improvement and consistency in service delivery across FCF’s national footprint. They will work closely with the product development and implementation teams in our state and national offices to create and facilitate inclusive and engaging learning experiences that align with our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across all levels of the organization.

Essential Functions

Onboard new staff

• Improve and implement a comprehensive and inclusive onboarding program for staff who provide business supports to child care entrepreneurs. Provide a clear pathway to understand and carry out staff roles and responsibilities, contribute positively to our organizational culture, retain staff and ensure a high quality and consistent business client experience.
• Collaborate closely with managers to support and supplement their role in the onboarding process. Gather ongoing feedback from recently hired staff, managers and HR to continuously improve the onboarding experience.

Develop the knowledge, skills and competencies of existing staff

• Identify and assess the skills, knowledge and competencies needed to deliver business supports to a diverse range of child care entrepreneurs (e.g. linguistically, culturally, geographically, etc.).
• Use evaluation, observation, feedback and other sources of quantitative and qualitative data to create and improve universal and targeted supports for staff.
• Design and implement multiple types of learning experiences – training, communities of practice, mentorship, observation and feedback, etc. – to develop existing staff.
• Create learning experiences and feedback loops that are grounded in adult learning principles, instructional design methods, and inclusive practices.

Ensure business supports are delivered with integrity. Support continuous improvement

• Develop and implement quality standards, guidelines and assessment for implementing business supports with entrepreneurs to ensure consistency, effectiveness, and relevance.  o Regularly analyze the effectiveness of business training and consulting services through feedback, surveys, and performance metrics to assess satisfaction, knowledge retention and change in practice among business owners.
• Conduct observations to evaluate and provide feedback on delivery methods to ensure supports are engaging, inclusive, clear and aligned with learning objectives. Develop and carry out universal and targeted program staff development plans accordingly in collaboration with managers.

Partner with the product team and staff across the organization to inform, recommend and support product development improvements and the creation of new products and services

• Using data, observations, feedback from staff and trends in the field, recommend areas where products and services need to be improved or created, identify possible solutions, contribute to the development of new or updates to current products, and lead the (re)launch of products with staff, including “train-the-trainer” type approaches.
• Inform and contribute to the continuous improvements of business support evaluation methods and approaches with an eye towards leveraging data to inform program staff development. o Collaborate with division leaders, managers and subject matter experts across the organization to identify and support staff development that is specific to a division, team or geographic location.

Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Thorough understanding of adult learning theory and instructional design practices
• Skilled at inclusive facilitation practices with a diverse range of adult learners
• Skilled at creating structured yet flexible learning pathways
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in formal and informal settings in live and asynchronous settings with diverse audiences
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills and ability to give/receive feedback with empathy, clarity and curiosity (rather than defensiveness)
• Ability to lead, influence and mentor without formal supervisory authority
• Analytical mindset with experience using both quantitative and qualitative data to improve outcomes; ability to hold the bigger picture and strategy while attending to detail
• Cultural competence and the ability to design equitable learning experiences
• Self-directed, highly organized, proactive and comfortable working in a fast-paced and evolving environment

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in education, instructional design, organizational development, early childhood education, nonprofit management, business, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• At least 4 years of experience, including:
  • Leading staff training or development in a nonprofit, educational, or servicedelivery setting.
  • Designing and facilitating adult learning experiences o       Using data and feedback for continuous improvement
• Experience working with diverse populations and a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion
• Excellent project management and communication skills

Preferred: 

• Familiarity with the child care industry, or experience running a small business
• Proficiency in instructional design or learning experience design processes and associated digital tools and learning platforms
• Experience conducting coaching, staff observations and feedback
• Experience managing onboarding, staff development or similar initiatives

Supervisory Responsibilities

• None

Work Environment

• This is a remote position with the option to work out of our Minneapolis office

Physical Demands

• Prolonged periods of sitting at desk and working on the computer

Travel 

• Up to 10% annually, as needed for team meetings, trainings, conferences and organizational events

Additional Notes:

This job description represents the major functions of the position but is not intended to be all-inclusive. The incumbent is also responsible for taking direction from FCF representatives in completing projects or performing duties deemed necessary for the program and FCF success.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Benefits

Our benefits package includes four (4) medical plans, two (2) dental plans, a vision plan, basic life coverage of $50,000, short-term and long-term disability insurance, nine (9) holidays, personal holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), pro-rated paid time off in the first year, partial paid family medical leave, and home office allowance. Allowable travel costs are reimbursed. Flexible work environment.

First Children’s Finance honors candidates’ time and effort in job-seeking by providing transparency regarding compensation. Creating transparency regarding salary information reduces the gender pay gap, and eliminates salary negotiation, which rarely benefits people of color or women. It is a value of our organization to support equitable hiring practices. 

First Children’s Finance is an Equal Employment Opportunity /Affirmative Action Employer

To Apply Click the Link: 

Learning and Development Specialist