AI Employment & Partnerships Lead

About Pursuit

Pursuit is a social impact organization building the future of economic mobility in the age of AI. For over a decade, we’ve transformed lives through immersive training programs that propel adults from low-income backgrounds - often without college degrees - into high-growth tech careers. Our graduates have already generated nearly $1 billion in lifetime wage gains.

Now, as AI reshapes every industry, Pursuit is evolving into an AI-native organization. We’re training AI-native talent, embedding AI into our operations, and building scalable software to extend our impact. From grassroots partnerships to national policy (like our Good Jobs Guarantee), we’re not just filling jobs- we’re rethinking how economic opportunity works at scale.

About the Role

Pursuit is hiring an AI Employment & Partnerships Lead to build the engine that gets Pursuit Builders hired. This is a zero-to-one role at the intersection of business development, program management and the future of work. You’ll be the first hire on what will become a new employment function, responsible for creating the pilots, systems and partnerships that unlock AI-native jobs for Pursuit’s community of high-need, high potential Builders.

We’re looking for a scrappy operator who thrives in ambiguity, loves figuring things out, and gets energy from designing something new. You’ll sit between our Builders and potential employers, building pathways, partnerships and products that enable our Builders to land jobs at existing and new partners across startups, small businesses, and government .

This role is ideal for someone with early-stage ops or business development background who wants to apply their skills to use AI for good.

• Build the Employment Engine: Own the end-to-end process of getting Pursuit Builders hired, managing across the demand and supply side to ensure Builder readiness and Employer needs are aligned.
  
  
• Pilot New Programs: Design and run new programs and employer partnerships that lead to Builder hiring. Scope projects, test hypotheses, track outcomes and determine where to double down on efforts
  
  
• Activate Leadership Networks: Manage up and across, partnering with Pursuit’s CEO, CDO, and senior staff to leverage networks, make introductions, and open doors for Builders.
  
  
• Build & Manage Employer Relationships: Cultivate and manage relationships with employers across Fortune 500s, startups, small businesses, nonprofits, and government. Understand their needs, shape opportunities, and ensure Builders are set up to succeed.
  
  
• Build with AI: Build AI-Native dashboards and features for Pursuit’s internal jobs platform, tracking progress, surfacing insights, and improving our placement engine over time. 
  
  
• Set the AI Hiring Bar: Help define what excellence looks like for AI-native roles, guiding employers on what to look for and ensuring Builders meet and exceed those standards.
  
  
• Build new systems and processes:  Create scalable workflows, tools and operating processes that enable cross-functional alignment around placements, employer engagement, and outcomes.
  
  
• Work Directly with Builders: Act as a bridge between Builders, employers, and Pursuit’s internal teams to ensure seamless communication and success across the employment journey.

About You

• 6–10 years in fast-paced, startup environments, where you’ve taken a program, pilot, or initiative from 0 → 1 with external partners.
• Scrappy operator: Demonstrated experience pushing work forward in ambiguity, coordinating with partners, and creating structure where none existed. You don’t let process get in the way of results, but also know how to build cross-functional processes when needed..
• Iterative and Hypothesis Driven: Comfortable running quick experiments without a lot of structure and making decisions about what to iterate, stop or scale.
• Outcomes-oriented: You design programs around a clear goal, track what matters, and use data and insights to improve quickly.
• Project manager: You bring strong project management skills, able to design and maintain shared trackers, coordinate cross-functional work, and build scalable systems from scratch.
• AI Builder: You’re curious, adaptable, and proactively explore AI tools or AI-native workflows.
• Comfortable taking on new challenges, and confident in your ability to think critically and build solutions even without prior subject-matter expertise. 
• Relationship-driven: Skilled at managing up, across, and out—able to activate leadership networks (including CEO/CDO/board) and build trust with diverse stakeholders by building strong relationships rooted in trust and mutual respect.
• Mission-Driven: You care deeply about equity, tech access, and expanding opportunity for underrepresented communities.

Pursuit offers: 

• An opportunity to work at the intersection of tech and social impact, and make a direct impact on the communities of those we serve.
• Competitive compensation in base, plus bonus and a full benefits package
• 401k Match
• Unlimited PTO and an all-Pursuit summer break the last week of August and a week-long holiday the last week of December
• Monday and Friday work from anywhere policy
• Catered lunches once a week and delicious snacks
• Dedicated time to build in AI and hone your AI skills

Salary & Benefits:

The expected salary range for this role is $110,000 - $140,000 base.

Pursuit values diversity: 

Our team has a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and we value the richness that diversity brings to our organization. We welcome new perspectives and affirm that all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, age, familial or marital status, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuit is an equal opportunity employer.