Founding State Engagement Manager

Background

Emerge Career is a gov-tech company designing hybrid job training programs for justice-involved individuals. In addition to the training, our program includes several wrap-around services, such as individualized customer support, data analytics, and a job placement platform.

In less than a year of existence, Emerge Career has been added to the eligible training provider list (ETPL) for Connecticut, New York, Philadelphia, and Maine. We have also signed direct training contracts with the cities of San Diego (CA) and Hartford (CT).

Emerge Career’s early results encouraged the Connecticut legislature to pass SB334 allocating funding to us to serve the Connecticut prison population. Through its Department of Labor, the state is providing funds for Emerge to educate hundreds of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons. Our work has most recently been covered by NBC.

To date, 87% of Emerge's students have successfully graduated, and 100% have obtained employment paying on average $78K / year.

We are backed by 776 (Alexis Ohanian), the Softbank Opportunity Fund, Y Combinator, Michael Seibel, Lenny Rachitsky, and Pioneer Fund, among others.

• Recent media coverage: NBC, TechCrunch
• CT Bill: SB334, CBIA
• Here are some of our graduates: Florene, Trevon, Anthony

Who you are:

• Entrepreneurial mindset: Self-starter, and able to take ownership of ambiguous tasks. Every day we do things that have never been done before, and you will need to be comfortable with informed risk-taking.
• You have an owner personality. You're biased toward action, a great collaborator, and obsessed over details. You have strong organizational and project management skills and you never stop pushing toward clarity
• You are gritty. You never hesitate to roll up your sleeves and tackle something hands-on, you persevere when others might give up. You understand that startups are hard, but can be super fun with the right mindset
• You are open-minded, humble, and curious. You are eager to learn and especially capable of active and empathetic listening, particularly with our partners, who are often subject matter experts in their own right.
• You are comfortable with and excited by technology. You’re excited to work with a fast-moving team, helping it bring order and prioritization to complexity, while also respecting—and enjoying—the need to be flexible.
• You’re a process guru. Good ideas are nothing without excellent implementation. You’re excited about building replicable, clear processes internally and externally. You’re a clear communicator and documentation wizard with a successful track record of managing cross-functional teams.
• You have a connection to criminal justice. You have either lived or working experience with the operations and consequences of America's criminal justice system. You don’t need to know everything about the field, but it is helpful if the design and efficacy of our criminal justice processes feel like issues that you and/or your community cannot choose to ignore.
• (Ideally) You have experience influencing state policy. You have a successful track record of stakeholder engagement and relationship management within state government. You have a boundless commitment to the combination of creativity and persistence. Former colleagues describe you as the person who makes sure the changes that matter actually get implemented.

Where you will make an impact

• You'll play a crucial role in supporting students who require assistance to thrive in our program. Your dedication will be focused on providing guidance, mentorship, and personalized support to help these individuals succeed in their vocational training and job readiness journey. By empowering students to achieve their goals, you'll contribute to their personal growth and overall success within the program.

• Sustainable and impactful partnerships: Correctional leaders often have powerful strategic goals designed to offer rehabilitation and support to individuals in their custody. What these leaders don't always have are the tools to achieve them. Leveraging Emerge Career's job readiness and vocational training platform, you'll collaborate with correctional leaders to drive progress towards their vision and demonstrate the value that Emerge Career brings. Your efforts will involve raising awareness of our platform among correctional leaders, engaging with key stakeholders to organize pilot programs and expand contracts, and fostering sustainable partnerships that lead to positive outcomes.

• All-around delight: Technology vendors for government agencies often get a bad reputation. Sometimes they deserve it. You’ll not only make sure that the leadership feels well served by Emerge Career, but that the public understands the progress our partner states are making, that line staff feel appreciated and supported, and that justice-involved individuals are included and represented. These are all key constituents within your states, and you’ll make sure they’re all better because of our work.

Start Date

ASAP

About the Founders

In 2020, Gabe and Zo co-founded Ameelio, an award-winning tech nonprofit that builds education and communication tools for prisons. While scaling Ameelio, they stumbled upon the issue of unemployment post-incarceration which Emerge Career seeks to address.

Zo holds a Masters degree in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, and a JD-MBA from Yale Law and Yale School of Management. He is a 2022 MIT Tech Review 35 under 35 recipient.

Gabriel Saruhashi holds a Computer Science and Psychology degree from Yale. He is a 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 lister in the Social Impact category.

They were both recognized by Fast Company as two of the Most Creative People in Business in 2021.