Manager, Craft Workforce Development

About the Role

HITT Contracting is seeking a Craft Workforce Development Manager to build the next generation of skilled construction talent. This role will lead and elevate an existing registered apprenticeship program supporting electrical, pipefitting, carpentry, and sheet metal trades. The manager will create a rigorous, high-quality experience combining technical instruction with hands-on learning, mentorship, and career progression while ensuring operational discipline across multiple states and complex project environments.

The role carries significant operational and compliance responsibility, navigating federal, state, and project-specific workforce requirements such as the Davis-Bacon Act, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, prevailing wage, apprentice utilization, and certified payroll. The leader will ensure the program is exceptionally managed, documented, and audit-ready.

Beyond the apprenticeship program, this role will help expand access to construction careers, develop experienced tradespeople into mentors, apply new learning technologies, and strengthen craft development within HITT and the broader construction community.

Responsibilities

Apprenticeship Program Leadership & Governance

• Lead day-to-day management and continued development of HITT’s registered apprenticeship program across multiple states, projects, and trades, ensuring consistency and quality as the business grows.
• Establish and maintain clear program governance, policies, procedures, and workflows across HITT, Brycon, and external partners, ensuring accountability for key decisions and program requirements.
• Lead the Apprenticeship Program Committee, maintaining required representation, meeting cadence, documentation, decision-making processes, and follow-through on program priorities.
• Own the apprentice lifecycle from enrollment through progression and completion, establishing clear processes for onboarding, registration, attendance, performance, advancement, status changes, and offboarding.
• Coordinate program delivery across operations, instructors, external training partners, and project teams to align instructional schedules and apprentice requirements with workforce and project needs.
• Develop and manage the annual program budget, forecast enrollment and resource needs, monitor costs, and identify opportunities to improve financial sustainability through partnerships, grants, and other funding sources.
• Establish and report meaningful program KPIs across enrollment, retention, progression, completion, skill attainment, cost, and workforce demand, using data to identify risks and guide improvement.
• Build a scalable operating model to support expansion into additional states, trades, and projects, and potentially a broader multi-employer apprenticeship structure.

Craft Learning & Apprentice Experience

• Create an exceptional apprentice experience combining the rigor of a registered apprenticeship with meaningful learning, hands-on development, mentorship, and clear career progression opportunities.
• Oversee the connection between related technical instruction and on-the-job learning, ensuring apprentices build and demonstrate required knowledge and skills.
• Partner with operations, Safety, and experienced craft professionals to align learning with real-world project environments, evolving construction practices, and technical workforce needs.
• Recruit, onboard, develop, and support instructors, ensuring appropriate certification, instructional coverage, curriculum pacing, classroom quality, and ongoing coaching.
• Develop journeyworkers, supervisors, and experienced craft professionals as teachers and mentors, equipping them to demonstrate skills, coach apprentices, and reinforce learning in the field.
• Evaluate barriers to apprentice success and retention (e.g., academic readiness, scheduling, transportation, family responsibilities) and identify practical support solutions while maintaining program standards.
• Incorporate contemporary adult learning practices and evaluate new approaches such as simulation, AR/VR, mobile resources, and visual instruction to complement hands-on learning.
• Use apprentice feedback, instructor input, performance data, and retention metrics to continually strengthen the learning experience and program outcomes.

Compliance & Operational Excellence

• Maintain a compliant, well-documented, and audit-ready registered apprenticeship program across all applicable states, projects, trades, and regulatory environments.
• Ensure accurate and timely management of apprentice registration, related technical instruction (RTI), on-the-job training (OJT), attendance, wage progression, status changes, completion, and other required records.
• Monitor apprentice progress against classroom and OJT requirements, proactively identifying risks and coordinating mitigation plans with apprentices, instructors, supervisors, and operations.
• Partner with Human Resources, Accounting, Payroll, and operations to ensure accurate apprentice classifications, ratios, wage requirements, certified payroll, and workforce reporting.
• Manage apprenticeship requirements with the Department of Labor and state apprenticeship agencies, including program standards, registrations, modifications, reciprocity, and reporting.
• Ensure program practices support project and workforce obligations under the Davis-Bacon Act, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, prevailing wage, and other federal, state, and project-specific mandates.
• Maintain compliance with NCCER requirements and lead preparation for audits by NCCER, state apprenticeship agencies, the Department of Labor, and other entities.
• Stay current on changing apprenticeship, prevailing wage, and workforce development regulations, partnering with experts to implement necessary changes.
• Build strong administrative controls and documentation practices to reduce risk, eliminate single points of failure, and ensure continuity as the program grows.

Workforce Development & Industry Partnerships

• Advance HITT’s broader approach to craft learning and workforce development, using apprenticeship as a foundation for building sustainable skilled trades pipelines.
• Build a network of industry, education, and workforce partners to expand HITT’s reach, strengthen program quality, and accelerate growth without duplicating existing resources.
• Develop and maintain relationships with organizations such as ABC, AGC, ACE Mentor Program, NCCER, high school CTE programs, community colleges, workforce development boards, and apprenticeship agencies.
• Evaluate existing curriculum, training facilities, and workforce infrastructure to determine when partnerships provide stronger or more scalable solutions than internal development.
• Partner with Recruiting and external organizations to engage students and prospective talent earlier, increasing awareness of skilled trades careers and creating clearer pathways into apprenticeship.
• Identify and pursue grants, public workforce funding, educational partnerships, and other resources to expand access to apprenticeship and reduce program costs.
• Build relationships across the apprenticeship and workforce development community to share best practices and identify collaboration opportunities on shared workforce challenges.
• Evaluate opportunities to expand apprenticeship and craft learning into additional trades, markets, and workforce populations based on HITT’s future talent needs.
• Explore ways to extend HITT’s learning resources, facilities, and expertise to subcontractors and trade partners to strengthen the skilled workforce supporting projects.
• Represent HITT in relevant apprenticeship, workforce development, education, and industry forums, bringing new ideas and proven practices back to the organization.
• Contribute to HITT’s broader commitment to addressing the construction talent shortage by expanding pathways into the trades and investing in the long-term health of the construction workforce.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, workforce development, education, business, human resources, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience considered.
• 5+ years of progressive experience in apprenticeship, workforce development, craft training, or a related field, with demonstrated responsibility for complex programs and multiple stakeholders.
• Direct experience managing a registered apprenticeship program, including program governance, apprentice registration/progression, related technical instruction (RTI), on-the-job training (OJT), recordkeeping, reporting, and audit requirements.
• Significant experience supporting skilled trades in semiconductor, advanced manufacturing, or other highly technical construction environments is a plus.
• Strong program management skills with the ability to navigate highly regulated environments while creating exceptional learning experiences.
• Genuine commitment to developing people and building sustainable pathways into the skilled trades.