About CommunityAid
Our mission is to use Christ-like behaviors to help our neighbors by providing quality, meaningful jobs and supporting local nonprofits for the glory of God.
We are a faith-based, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that employs more than 500 people across our seven Pennsylvania thrift stores. We partner with hundreds of local nonprofit organizations that provide service in our store locations’ communities by donating a percentage of sales and product to support our neighbors in need.
Our vision is to create a lasting difference in our community one neighbor at a time. Come be a part of making this a reality!
About our Culture
At CommunityAid, how we do what we do is the most important thing. Our individual ability to embrace, exemplify, and endorse the following behaviors is key to realizing our vision.
- Core Value Behaviors:
- Express Empathy
- Take Ownership
- Practice Humility
- Fruit of the Spirit Behaviors (see Galatians 5:22-23):
- Love one Another
- Choose Joy
- Invite Peace
- Pause in Patience
- Cultivate Kindness & Usefulness
- Embody Goodness
- Walk in Faithfulness
- Show Gentleness
- Seek Self-Control
About the Role:
The Operational Training & Development Manager is responsible for strengthening and standardizing operational job-training across CommunityAid markets. This role builds structured, role-based training pathways using existing documentation, improves the clarity and consistency of training materials, and develops store-level trainers into capable instructors and coaches. The measurement of success for this role is improvement in three key training metrics: time to competency, retraining frequency, and items sold per labor hour.
Partnering closely with Operational Leadership, Store Managers, and in-store trainers, this role builds practical, repeatable training systems that improve the effectiveness of job-specific training (new hires and cross-training), reduce the need for retraining, and support measurable operational performance. The position ensures training reflects current operational standards and aligns with improvement initiatives supported by the Continuous Improvement (CI) function.
The Operational Training & Development Manager advises Operations and CI leadership on training standards and certification approaches, while providing feedback from the field to strengthen training execution and support process consistency. This role develops capability across stores but does not directly supervise store-level trainers.
KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:
Training System Development
- Builds structured, role-based training pathways for production, retail, donation, and warehouse functions
- Improves clarity, usability, and consistency of existing training guides and SOPs
- Organizes and updates training materials to ensure accessibility and alignment with operational expectations
- Develops practical tools such as training checklists, observation forms, and competency benchmarks
- Build and maintain the training system of record (e.g., HRIS/LMS platforms), ensuring accurate tracking of training completion, certifications, and reporting for operational and leadership visibility.
Trainer Development & Field Support
- Develops in-store trainers, supervisors, and Assistant Store Managers (ASMs) in instructional delivery, observation, coaching, and feedback
- Creates practical guidance for store trainers, supervisors, and ASMs on how to teach, demonstrate, and certify associates
- Conducts in-market training of trainer sessions for store trainers, supervisors, and ASMs
- Provides structured feedback and coaching to improve trainer effectiveness
- Models strong training and coaching behaviors in operational environments
- Store Managers retain personnel authority over store-level trainers.
Training Effectiveness & Continuous Improvement Alignment
- Partner with Operations to identify onboarding and performance gaps and adjust training materials accordingly.
- Track and analyze training effectiveness and operational impact metrics, including time to competency, retraining frequency, and items sold per labor hour.
- Apply structured problem-solving to improve training systems, clarity, and execution.
- Support CI-led improvement rollouts through structured training deployment and provide field feedback to inform refinement.
- Advise Operations and CI leadership on strengthening training systems and certification approaches that reinforce standard adherence and continuous improvement behaviors.
Change Support & Operational Partnership
- Integrates new operational initiatives into training materials and delivery
- Supports adoption of new processes through structured training reinforcement
- Collaborates with Operations and Continuous Improvement leadership to align training with evolving standards
- This role supports change implementation but does not independently lead enterprise change initiatives.
Operational Knowledge
- Maintains working knowledge of donation intake, production processes, warehouse flow, and retail operations
- Ensures training materials reflect real-world operational conditions
CORE COMPETENCIES:
- Embrace, exemplify, endorse, and teach CommunityAid’s Core Behaviors
- Fully endorse CommunityAid’s mission
- Ability to build structured training pathways from existing documentation
- Ability to influence without direct authority
- Strong facilitation and coaching skills
- Ability to develop inexperienced trainers into capable instructors
- Structured thinking and practical problem-solving
- Familiarity with Lean concepts or structured improvement methods preferred
- Strong organizational and documentation skills
- Clear and consistent communication across multiple locations
- Learning agility and adaptability
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree preferred in Operations, Business, Organizational Development, Education, or related field; high school diploma or equivalent required.
- Minimum 3–5 years of operational training and/or training and development experience required.
- Demonstrated experience improving and/or organizing training materials, curriculum, and practices.
- Familiarity with Lean principles or structured problem-solving preferred
- Valid driver’s license and eligibility to work in the U.S.
- Ability to travel up to 60–80% of the time
