Talent Innovation Program and Operations Manager
Salary
$70,000.00 - $80,000.00 Annually
Location
Denver Metro, CO
Job Type
Full Time
Job Number
EDA_TalPrgOpsMgr_6/12/2026
Department
Office of Economic Development and International Trade
Opening Date
06/12/2026
Closing Date
6/15/2026 11:30 AM Mountain
FLSA
Determined by Position
Primary Physical Work Address
1600 N Broadway, Denver, CO 80205, USA
Department Contact Information
oedit.info@state.co.us
Type of Announcement
This announcement is not governed by the selection processes of the classified personnel system. Applications will be considered from residents and non-residents of Colorado.
How To Apply
Please submit an online application for this position at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/colorado. Reach out to the Department Contact to apply using a paper application, including any supplemental questions. Failure to submit a complete and timely application may result in the rejection of your application. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that application materials are received by the appropriate Human Resources office before the closing date and time listed.
Department Information
The Office of Economic Development and International Trade ("OEDIT") was created to foster a positive business climate that encourages economic development through support of local and regional economic development activities throughout the State of Colorado. A comprehensive slate of programs within OEDIT's divisions support economic development efforts for all Colorado businesses - new and expanding, traditional and emerging, small and large - including retention programs to ensure the continued competitiveness of Colorado's economic base, and job training to keep Colorado's workforce the best in the nation.
Description of Job
NOTE: This posting is open only to individuals on a promotional list of the listed department. The posting is for transparency purposes only to comply with the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. Applications from individuals not on the department promotional list will not be accepted.
Note: The position offers full-time employment as an exempt, at-will State of Colorado Employee and the duration of the position is contingent on funding availability.
Colorado is a resource rich state and its most vital resource is its people. Just as we cultivate our natural resources to make Colorado a more prosperous state, so too must we invest in and cultivate our citizens. Colorado must have a supply of skilled talent to attract and keep companies and jobs, these are key underpinnings of an effective economic development ecosystem. To be competitive in the global marketplace, Colorado businesses and industries require innovation to support quality, quantity and capacity associated with talent innovation.
The Program and Operations Manager manages the daily operations and compliance of the Opportunity Now tax credit program within the Talent Innovation division of OEDIT. This role manages the lifecycle of tax credit applications, coordinates the evaluation pipeline, and streamlines program delivery. The manager serves as the primary operational liaison between OEDIT leadership, corporate applicants, industry coalitions, state regulatory partners and the Business Funding and Incentives team at OEDIT to ensure all tax credit certifications are executed in compliance with state talent objectives.
The manager establishes verification protocols to evaluate employer eligibility, verify qualifying training, and ensure adherence to statutory requirements. This includes monitoring application windows, managing compliance reviews when participating employers adjust work-based learning models, and providing technical assistance to businesses during onboarding and reporting. The manager ensures all program activities strictly follow legislative provisions governing tax credit allocation thresholds.
The manager serves as the divisions Salesforce system administrator, configuring and maintaining the database infrastructure to track program performance. This system tracks employer participation, credit allocation balances, work-based learning placements, and verified job placements. Additionally, the manager extracts and analyzes these datasets to generate performance reports and documentation for state legislators, auditors, and the Governors office.
The ideal candidate will have experience in the following areas:
Managing the end-to-end lifecycle of applications, including processing pipelines, compliance verification, and eligibility reviews.
Configuring and maintaining database infrastructure, managing data tracking fields, and generating performance metrics and custom reports.
Interpreting and applying state statutes, legislative mandates, or regulatory guidelines to establish operational workflows and verification protocols.
Providing operational guidance and customer support to corporate applicants, business employers, and regulatory partners during onboarding and reporting.
Managing high-level administrative support, complex stakeholder scheduling, and internal/external event execution.
Designing operational processes for program delivery and navigating state systems, including budgeting, procurement, and invoicing.
Utilizing tools like Salesforce and Google Workspace to monitor compliance and manage daily program operations.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Manager is responsible for performing the following duties, which represent the approximate allocation of time:
Contract Execution: Draft, review, and route tax credit agreements and formal amendments (e.g., scope of work changes, budget reallocations) through the OEDIT procurement system and the State Controller's Office.
Tax Credit Performance Tracking: Monitor tax credit recipient progress against contractual milestones, such as participant enrollment counts, case management touchpoints, and verified job placements.
Technical Assistance: Serve as the direct operational point of contact for tax credit recipients to resolve contract, budgeting, reporting, or timeline bottlenecks.
Fund Tracking & Reconciliation: Maintain the divisions master ledger. Track expenditures across distinct, shifting funding sources.
Modification Processing: Review and process formal Expenditure Modification Forms when tax credit require budget shifts between personnel, contractual costs, and cost categories.
System Architecture: Serve as the division's Salesforce super-user. Build out, test, and maintain the application pipelines, compliance dashboards, and reporting modules used by both staff and external tax credit applicants.
Data Integrity: Design and enforce data-entry protocols to ensure clean tracking of statewide economic metrics. Ensure technical systems accurately capture regional job placement data and industry partner growth.
Tool Procurement: Evaluate, implement, and manage internal project management software (e.g., Asana, Monday.com) and data collection platforms to streamline team workflows.
Statutory Compliance: Build and execute verification checklists to ensure all division activities strictly comply with federal Treasury rules and state statutory mandates.
Audit Preparation: Maintain complete, audit-ready digital archives of all executed contracts, approved invoices, and compliance waivers to support state and federal legislative audits.
Executive Reporting: Extract complex financial and programmatic data from Salesforce to draft clear, data-driven performance updates for OEDIT leadership, the Governor's office, and the state legislature.
Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights
Minimum Qualifications & Required Competencies Experience & Education
Experience: At least 5 years of professional experience directly managing operations, public sector contracts, or complex corporate compliance programs.
10+ years experience working in a professional business environment with a high-level of responsibility.
OR
Concrete Technical Competencies
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS, SUBSTITUTIONS, CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT & APPEAL RIGHTS:
Minimum Qualifications
At a minimum of 5-7 years of professional experience in program coordination, project management, or operational compliance and support.
OR
At a minimum, this position requires a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in bookkeeping, business management, communications, public administration, liberal arts, or a closely related field.
Please Note: Related occupational experience will substitute for degrees on a year-for-year basis.
Required Competencies
Ability to:
Design, implement, and refine workflows to improve program delivery and application pipeline efficiency.
Providing high-level administrative support, managing complex stakeholder scheduling, and planning and executing internal and external events.
Apply experience using Salesforce, Google Workspace, or similar data management tools to monitor compliance, track program performance, and maintain data integrity.
Demonstrate ability to quickly learn and execute public sector administrative processes, including procurement, invoicing, and travel coordination.
Clearly write and verbally communicate to deliver technical assistance and operational guidance to corporate applicants, business employers, and internal leadership.
Managing complex deadlines, facilitating action-oriented meetings, and critically analyzing processes to maximize team efficiency and resource allocation.
Maintaining rigorous compliance documentation, utilizing Salesforce for data management, and supporting basic fiscal tracking and expense reporting.
Navigating public sector workflows (procurement, budgeting, invoicing) while driving clear, concise communication across internal divisions and external partners.
Supplemental Information
Salary Range: $70,000 - $80,000 Annually
This position is considered non-classified, which means the position is not part of the Colorado State Personnel System. Therefore, the individual appointed to this position is considered at-will, and is not covered by the State Personnel Rules or the State Classification System. However, this position does come with the same benefits (retirement, insurance, etc.) as every other State employee, and with the same opportunities, pride and passion that comes with working for the great State of Colorado. Even though employment is at-will, non-classified positions have protections against discrimination and retaliation in state and federal employment laws. "At-will" employment means that either the employee or the State may terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason or no reason, with or without notice or cause, as long as no federal or state law is violated.
A wide salary range is posted for this position and any job offer is based upon a salary analysis to comply with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. The salary analysis considers relevant experience, education, certifications, and state seniority as compared to others doing substantially similar work. While all offers are compliant with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, there is no guarantee an offer will be at the top of the posted range based on the salary analysis.
Benefits
The State of Colorado/Office of the Governor offers generous benefits to full-time employees including:
Annual leave accrued at 13.33 hours per month
Sick leave accrued at 6.66 hours a month
11 paid holidays per year
Medical plans - choice of Cigna or Kaiser; several plan options (including High Deductible Health Plan with HSA); most plans offered with significant state contribution towards premium
Dental and vision plans
Flexible spending accounts
State-paid life insurance policy of $50,000
Choice of 2 retirement plans (defined contribution or defined benefit) with generous state contribution
Optional 401(k) and 457 plans for additional retirement savings
State-paid short-term disability coverage
Additional optional life and disability plans
Access to the Colorado State Employee Assistance Program
Membership opportunity with the Credit Union of Colorado
RTD (transit) EcoPass
Training and professional development
To learn more about State of Colorado benefits, please visit: https://www.colorado.gov/dhr/benefits
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
The State of Colorado believes that equity, diversity, and inclusion drive our success, and we encourage candidates from all identities, backgrounds, and abilities to apply. The State of Colorado is an equal opportunity employer committed to building inclusive, innovative work environments with employees who reflect our communities and enthusiastically serve them. Therefore, in all aspects of the employment process, we provide employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, medical condition related to pregnancy, creed, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, or military status (with preference given to military veterans), or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.
To learn more about the "State of Colorado For All", visit our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion website.
ADAAA Accommodations
The Office of the Governor is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to our ADAAA Staffing Coordinator, the Director of Human Resources: jennifer.salvatore@state.co.us
Application
Your application must provide sufficient detail about your background and experience to allow the screening panel to properly assess your experience in the required elements, including your experience and achievements.
Due to the large volume of resumes we receive, we do not acknowledge receipt of each application and are unable to give status updates. If a strong match is found between your qualifications and the requirements of the position, a member of the recruiting staff will contact you to further discuss the career opportunity.
Please note that each agencys contact information is different; therefore, we encourage all applicants to view the full, official job announcement which includes contact information and class title. Select the job you wish to view, then click on the "Print" icon.
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Colorado Residency: Colorado Constitution, Article XII, Section 13 requires that employees in the state personnel system reside in Colorado unless the work to be performed is primarily within 30 miles of Colorado's border. Ongoing remote work outside of Colorado is not allowed except for positions required to work permanently out of state because the State is required to conduct business in the other state. Any work performed out-of-state for other extenuating circumstances is permissible only on a temporary, non-permanent basis and shall not exceed eight weeks in a calendar year. These arrangements must be approved by the Executive Director and HR Director. I live in Colorado or plan to move to Colorado if I accept this position.
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Have you included both a cover letter and your resume in your application materials?
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Should you encounter any technical issues with the NEOGOV platform, such as trouble with document uploads or attachments for your online application, please contact NEOGOV technical support at 855-524-5627. Their hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 6 am to 6 pm (Pacific Time). Pro-tips for success: If document uploading is failing, please verify that your files are in PDF or Microsoft Word format. Additionally, ensure the document is closed on your computer before attempting to attach it. If you experienced application difficulties, please mark the appropriate yes/no indicator.
Required Question
Employer State of Colorado
Address See the full announcement by clicking
the "Printer" icon located above the job title
Location varies by announcement, Colorado, --
Website https://careers.colorado.gov/