NORTHEAST ECONOMIC REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

State of Illinois•Chicago, IL

6d•$8,571 - $9,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Drive economic growth across Northeast Illinois by building strategic partnerships with businesses, government leaders, and community stakeholders while connecting organizations with State resources, incentives, and economic development opportunities. As the Northeast Regional Economic Development Manager (Public Service Administrator, Option 1), you will lead projects from initial engagement through completion, develop regional economic development strategies, and serve as a key representative promoting Illinois as a premier location for business investment, innovation, workforce development, and job creation.

Requirements

Requires knowledge, skill and mental development equivalent to the completion of four (4) years of college in economic development, marketing or business administration.
Requires three (3) years professional administrative experience in business or economic development.
Requires completion of a background check and self-disclosure of criminal history.
Requires ability to travel in the performance of duties, with overnight stays as appropriate.
Requires appropriate, valid driver’s license.

Nice To Haves

Prefers four (4) or more years of progressively responsible administrative experience in business development, marketing, stakeholder engagement, sales, economic and workforce development, and/or government (I.E. Community Relations, Business Attraction, Expansion, Retention, External Affairs, government affairs, project management, strategic planning, small business support).
Prefers three (3) or more years of experience working with tax incentive programs, grants, workforce training assistance, infrastructure programs, and other economic development tools.
Prefers a Master’s degree in business administration or a master’s degree of Science in Economics or Rural and Urban Planning.
Prefers three (3) years of experience serving as a public-facing representative, including delivering presentations, facilitating meetings, conducting outreach events, and speaking before business and governmental audiences.
Prefer two (2) or more years of experience working with a Customer Relations Management platform (CRM) to track business engagement, project activity, stakeholder outreach and performance metrics. (Examples include but are not limited to Sales Force, Razors Edge, Microsoft Dynamics).
Prefer an Economic Development of Finance Professional Certification or a Certified Economic Development Certification.
Prefers two (2) or more years of experience analyzing economic, demographic, workforce, and industry data to identify regional opportunities, challenges, and emerging market trends.

Responsibilities

Under general direction of the Deputy Director, serves as Regional Economic Development Manager and represents the Agency for the North East Region.
Acts as a senior field representative, executes critical assignments in providing technical assistance to, linchpin industries, specifically Manufacturing and technology commercialization, business and workforce development, and clean energy initiatives related to Electric Vehicles and other creation of new infrastructure development throughout the northeast region.
Creates Regional Economic Development Plans that coordinate and synchronize regional development, transportation, workforce and other related government entities.
Establishes and maintains working relationships with business representatives and government officials.
As a spokesperson and senior representatives, travels and conducts seminars at regional level meetings with business representatives and local government officials.
Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties enumerated above.

Benefits

A Pension Program
Competitive Group Insurance Benefits including Health, Life, Dental and Vision Insurance
3 Paid Personal Business Days annually
12 Paid Sick days annually (Sick days carry over from year to year)
10-25 days of Paid Vacation time annually - (10 days in year one of employment)
13 Paid Holidays annually, 14 on even numbered years
Flexible Work Schedules (when available dependent upon position)
12 Weeks Paid Parental Leave
Deferred Compensation Program - A supplemental retirement plan
Optional Pre-Tax Programs such as Medical Care Assistance Plan (MCAP), Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP)
Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program eligibility
GI Bill® Training/Apprenticeship Benefits eligibility for qualifying Veterans
5% Salary Differential for Bilingual Positions
Commuter Savings Program (Chicago only)