Director of Technical Workforce Development & Training Partnership

Director Technical Workforce Development and Training Partnerships

Position Specification

Reports to: Vice President, Business Services and Vice President, Contractor Solutions

Primary functional partner: Director, Technical Excellence

Department: Business Services / Contractor Solutions

Location: To be determined

Travel: Regular travel across Sunstate’s operating footprint and to partner, manufacturer, and customer locations

Support building the technical talent system Sunstate needs to grow, strengthen external relationships, promote program externally, operational scalability and sustainability of the program, and create a differentiated external customer training capability Sunstate can monetize.

The Director supports and co-leads Sunstate’s enterprise approach to attracting, developing, assessing, and advancing technical talent. The role connects external talent pipelines, apprenticeship, Technician I–IV development, manufacturer resources, curriculum, skills assessment, career progression, and workforce planning into a coordinated system that supports safety, productivity, customer service, and growth.

This is an enterprise leadership position accountable for strategy, partnerships, program architecture, resources, governance, and outcomes rather than primarily for personally delivering training. It supports Sunstate’s broader People priorities for career paths, role-based learning, internal talent pipelines, and scalable capability while preserving useful branch ownership.

·       Vice President, Business Services: Executive oversight of technical workforce development, the internal technical apprenticeship program, and technical excellence within the Business Services organization.

·       Vice President, Contractor Solutions: Executive oversight of external equipment safety and operational training for customers and contractors, including its commercial development and delivery model.

·       Director, Technical Excellence: Peer and primary functional partner who leads the apprenticeship program internally, develops technical training manuals, and provides subject-matter expertise on technical skill requirements and standards.

·       This Director: Leads the integrated workforce-development strategy, external partnerships, program architecture, learning and assessment systems, career progression, workforce visibility, and customer-training development. Partners with Technical Excellence to scale and improve apprenticeship while Technical Excellence leads internal program execution and technical content development.

·       Maintain one integrated roadmap with defined workstreams, owners, resources, measures, and decision rights. Align priorities and shared capacity with both reporting Vice Presidents and escalate competing demands for resolution. Commercial objectives must not compromise safety, instructional quality, or internal technician-development capacity.

·       Develop the multiyear strategy, operating plan, budget, and resource requirements for technical workforce development and customer training, aligned with growth, fleet composition, equipment complexity, branch needs, and projected technician demand.

·       Translate demand into coordinated recruiting, apprenticeship, partnership, training-capacity, and progression plans with Business Services, Contractor Solutions, Technical Excellence, Operations, Safety, People Operations, and Talent Acquisition.

·       Build branch, market, regional, and enterprise skills inventories and capability matrices showing readiness, capacity, coverage, and material productivity, equipment-readiness, safety, and succession risks.

·       Use hiring, assessment, progression, retention, fleet, and business data to recommend where to build, hire, partner, or redeploy capability and direct apprentice starts, recruiting locations, investment, and program capacity.

·       Establish regular workforce reviews, appropriate data ownership, access, standards, and controls, and reporting that supports operating decisions. Give both Vice Presidents visibility into progress, business impact, constraints, risks, and decisions needed.

·       Lead apprenticeship strategy, design, governance, expansion, and improvement in partnership with Technical Excellence, which leads internal execution. Establish an accelerated pathway to productive Technician I readiness without reducing technical, safety, or performance standards.

·       Evaluate selection, learning sequence, field exposure, mentoring, assessment, and completion. Define entry requirements, learning milestones, demonstrated-skill expectations, advancement criteria, documentation, administration, and recordkeeping.

·       Combine classroom and digital learning, hands-on training, supervised field experience, manufacturer programs, coaching, and competency validation. Work with Technical Excellence and operating leaders to ensure consistent development opportunities, exposure to required work, and qualified mentors, coaches, instructors, and local program leaders.

·       Evaluate federal and state apprenticeship registration, Department of Labor requirements, GI Bill eligibility, grants, tax incentives, and other resources. Monitor enrollment, progression, completion, retention, time to productivity, and post-program performance; remove unnecessary progression delays.

·       Build the apprentice-to-Technician IV career framework with Technical Excellence’s skill requirements and subject-matter expertise. Define knowledge, demonstrated skills, field experience, certifications, and performance expectations for each level and role-based learning paths tied to branch and equipment needs.

·       Make progression transparent and based on demonstrated capability and readiness rather than course completion or tenure. Coordinate technician step-pay and connect the framework with recruiting, onboarding, performance, compensation, internal mobility, and workforce planning through People Operations.

·       Provide development paths for experienced technicians to update or broaden skills and become mentors, assessors, instructors, lead technicians, or subject-matter experts. Use career visibility and development to strengthen engagement and retention.

·       Build a national and local portfolio of productive relationships with trade schools, technical institutes, community colleges, high schools, faculty, placement teams, and student organizations. Position Sunstate as a preferred employer and development partner in equipment, diesel, automotive, electrical, hydraulic, industrial-maintenance, construction-technology, and related careers.

·       Create repeatable pathways through internships, apprenticeships, co-ops, job shadowing, scholarships, equipment support, instructor engagement, classroom presentations, career events, and direct hiring. Align partner curricula with Sunstate’s operating requirements.

·       Connect technically capable service members and veterans to Sunstate through military transition programs, veteran-employment organizations, and installations. Engage workforce boards, economic-development organizations, state agencies, community groups, and industry associations in sustainable talent supply, reskilling, apprenticeship, and employment programs.

·       Evaluate workforce grants, apprenticeship and incumbent-worker funding, tuition support, credentialing assistance, and other government or community resources. Maintain compliant documentation, commitments, measurement, and reporting through efficient internal processes.

·       Select and prioritize partnerships by candidate quality, flow, participation, placement, retention, geographic coverage, and sustained training or funding value. Maintain a disciplined portfolio rather than counting relationships or relying on one-time recruiting events.

·       Develop relationships with original equipment manufacturers, dealers, suppliers, industry associations, and external training providers. Inventory and evaluate training, certifications, technical materials, digital content, facilities, equipment, and instructor support for quality, relevance, availability, and cost.

·       Coordinate or negotiate access and incorporate suitable resources into apprenticeship and Technician I–IV learning paths. Align participation with fleet composition, purchases, branch needs, diagnostics, and emerging technology; improve utilization of manufacturer-sponsored programs.

·       Track engines, hydraulics, electrical systems, diagnostics, telematics, alternative power, controls, and other equipment technologies with Technical Excellence. Translate manufacturer updates into timely curriculum, assessment, and field-practice changes so capability remains current.

·       Lead the technical-learning architecture and enterprise curriculum standards with Technical Excellence as the owner of technical manuals and subject-matter requirements. Inventory content and prioritize retention, refresh, consolidation, replacement, or development based on capability gaps, safety, fleet, technology, and operating impact.

·       Define content ownership, technical and safety review, approval, validation, publication, maintenance, and retirement. Establish standards for lesson plans, instructor and participant materials, hands-on activities, field assignments, and assessments; maintain a practical reusable library for apprentice, technician, instructor, and appropriate customer audiences.

·       Design delivery combining instruction, hands-on practice, field application, mentoring, virtual and digital learning, and manufacturer training. Determine what should be delivered centrally, regionally, locally, or through partners while accommodating branch workload and operating requirements.

·       Establish instructor, facilitator, mentor, and assessor qualifications; develop branch trainers, service leaders, and subject-matter experts through train-the-trainer resources. Coordinate capacity, schedules, equipment, facilities, materials, and participant coverage.

·       Evaluate learning technology and vendors for scalability, field usability, integration, data quality, learner experience, and value. Expand access and reinforce learning while retaining hands-on experience. Apply quality assurance to internal and external delivery and measure proficiency and operating impact beyond attendance or completion.

·       Lead assessment development and governance for hiring, apprenticeship progression, Technician I–IV advancement, promotion readiness, and development planning, using Technical Excellence’s skill requirements and expertise.

·       Define consistent competencies and assess demonstrated technical capability, safe practices, judgment, and readiness through appropriate knowledge checks, observed work, hands-on demonstrations, simulations, certifications, and field validation.

·       Establish assessor training, calibration, recertification, documentation, and quality controls for consistent and defensible decisions. Partner with Talent Acquisition and operational leaders to apply assessments consistently across selection, development, and advancement.

·       Validate assessments periodically against job requirements, technology, safety standards, and technician performance. People remain accountable for consequential hiring and promotion decisions; results provide structured evidence rather than acting as the sole decision maker.

·       Develop the strategy, business model, and roadmap under Contractor Solutions. Work with Sales, Safety, Operations, Legal, Finance, and technical experts to identify customer and contractor needs and prioritize equipment categories, safety topics, and operating capabilities.

·       Establish curriculum, instructor qualifications, equipment, facility, participant-material, assessment, documentation, quality-assurance, and customer-experience standards reflecting applicable safety requirements, manufacturer guidance, and Sunstate operating standards.