Early Career Program Manager

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely, we employ uniqueness.

Selective is a midsized U.S. domestic property and casualty insurance company with a history of strong, consistent financial performance for nearly 100 years. Selective's unique position as both a leading insurance group and an employer of choice is recognized in a wide variety of awards and honors, including listing in Forbes Best Midsize Employers in 2025 and certification as a Great Place to Work in 2025 for the sixth consecutive year.

Employees are empowered and encouraged to Be Uniquely You by being their true, unique selves and contributing their diverse talents, experiences, and perspectives to our shared success. Together, we are a high-performing team working to serve our customers responsibly by helping to mitigate loss, keep them safe, and restore their lives and businesses after an insured loss occurs.

Selective Insurance is recruiting for an Early Career Program Manager to define, develop, and execute the company's early career talent strategies and programs, including university relations, intern program management, and acquire and build the next generation of talent that aligns with our overall business strategies. This role will also be responsible for all aspects of full life cycle talent acquisition of intern/early career talent for our corporate and regional offices' current and future staffing needs for professional roles. This role partners with the business unit leaders, regional offices, and HR Business Partners to understand future talent needs, creating and executing programs and strategies to support those needs. All job duties and responsibilities must be carried out in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

This position will be located in our future Short Hills, N.J. location. Until the new Short Hills headquarters is operational, the successful candidate will work in our Branchville, N.J. location during the interim.

• Collaborate with HR and business leaders to define, create, and drive recruiting strategies and programs-including intern and early career initiatives-that support organizational talent needs, with a key focus on identifying, attracting, and developing diverse talent across the organization.
• Lead recruitment efforts for intern & early career hiring, partnering with professional organizations, universities, social media, and various networking opportunities to source qualified candidates. Screen and interview candidates to determine potential fit and recommend top qualified candidates to hiring managers with a continuous focus on sourcing candidates to build strong pipelines for future talent.
• Partner with the HR Business Partners, Talent, and IT Program Manager to identify staffing needs and the design, modification, and execution of various workshops, training, and program enhancements for early career talent throughout organization.
• Lead the continuous improvement and design of our early career strategies and programs, including branding, recruitment, selection, and placement. Oversight and coordination of program, workshop facilitation, coaching, mentoring, and development, ensuring alignment with our overall organizational talent strategies.
• Implement on-campus strategies and develop recruitment partnerships with colleges, universities, and organizations aligned with early career development to enable acquisition of top talent. Organize and ensure internal representation from the business teams. Provide coaching and guidance to leaders in their efforts to grow early career talent.
• Mentor and coach early career talent, ensuring close alignment with managers; lead interns and assist corporate trainees through action learning projects as capstone work of program(s).
• Continuously assesses early career recruiting and program outcomes using data and insights to inform planning, guide improvements, and align strategies with evolving business and workforce needs. Assist in the development and management of internal and external metrics and trends to identify areas for improvement and/or upcoming opportunities. This may include areas such as college workforce trends, market insights, program effectiveness, hiring rates, early career program performance.

Knowledge and Requirements

• Ability to travel, approximately 10-15% of the time.
• Proven project/program management skills.
• Excellent organization, planning and strategic thinking skills.
• Must demonstrate strong relationship management skills.
• Strong public speaking, written and verbal communication skills.
• Interpersonal, coaching, influencing and communication skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into talent strategies.
• Ability to work cooperatively in a team and in a cross-functional environment.
• Proficient with MS Office Suite products (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams and Outlook).

Education and Experience

• Minimum 5+ years of talent acquisition, talent management and development or relevant work experience including managing organizational programs and recruiting for early career roles.
• Bachelors' degree or equivalent experience; SHRM-CP designation preferred.
• Leadership / mentoring experience strongly preferred.
• Experience in the Insurance industry is a plus.

Selective Insurance offers a total rewards package that includes a competitive base salary, incentive plan eligibility at all levels, and a wide array of benefits designed to help you and your family stay healthy, achieve your financial goals, and balance the demands of your work and personal life. These benefits include comprehensive health care plans, retirement savings plan with company match, discounted Employee Stock Purchase Program, tuition assistance and reimbursement programs, and 20 days of paid time off. Additional details about our total rewards package can be found by visiting our benefits page.

The actual base salary is based on geographic location, and the range is representative of salaries for this role throughout Selective's footprint. Additional considerations include relevant education, qualifications, experience, skills, performance, and business needs.

Selective is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. That means we respect and value every individual's unique opinions, beliefs, abilities, and perspectives. We are committed to promoting a welcoming culture that celebrates diverse talent, individual identity, different points of view and experiences - and empowers employees to contribute new ideas that support our continued and growing success. Building a highly engaged team is one of our core strategic imperatives, which we believe is enhanced by diversity, equity, and inclusion. We expect and encourage all employees and all of our business partners to embrace, practice, and monitor the attitudes, values, and goals of acceptance; address biases; and foster diversity of viewpoints and opinions.

For Massachusetts Applicants

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.