Director, Employer Partnerships

Job Title: Director, Employer Partnerships 

Team: External Affairs

Location: Hybrid in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC) 

Employment Type: Full-Time

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a career-accelerating program that prepares promising young people—many of whom are people of color, from low income backgrounds, and the first in their families to attend college—to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation. We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, we are helping to open up access to the American Promise, empowering a generation of leaders who mirror the diversity of our country. To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Impact Report and Jobs Report.

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven must continue to build on exciting momentum in one of the organization’s fastest growing workstreams: employer partnerships. In that effort, Braven is hiring a Director, Employer Partnerships, with a focus on Business & Finance Sectors to play a pivotal role in the organization’s corporate fundraising, volunteer recruitment, and Fellow outcomes. As a member of Braven’s national External Affairs team, you will be responsible for both cultivating new prospective partners in the business & finance sectors and managing a portfolio of 20+ existing partners.

This role is on the External Affairs team and will report to the Vice President, Employer Partnerships & Volunteer Recruitment.

What You’ll Do: 

Partnership Cultivation (20%)

• Proactively research a wide array of potential partners, develop cultivation plans, then leverage a relational approach to building and sustaining meaningful connections
• Use your strong communication skills to cultivate new partnerships, craft compelling pitches, negotiate strategic agreements, and renew existing partnerships
• Engage Braven’s CEO and executive directors, setting behind-the-scenes vision and direction, then providing operational support to move partnerships forward toward successful outcomes

Deepening Existing Relationships (50%)

• Manage a portfolio of high-stakes, shared-value relationships with national business & finance industry partners, driving meaningful outcomes and growth in Braven's impact; annual goals include $3.5M+ in revenue
• Develop and share internal memos that communicate the organization’s gameplan for how we want to engage with each of the partners in your portfolio, then refine and iterate

• Recruit 700+ volunteer mentors and coaches from the business & finance sector, mobilizing a network of leaders committed to expanding Fellows’ social capital
• Build partnerships with a dozen recruiters rooted in shared value and focused on sourcing opportunities that align with the career goals of Braven Fellows
• Ensure excellent customer service key stakeholders ranging from executive sponsors to frontline points-of-contact
• Use data and strategic storytelling to build and deepen relationships

Strategy & Operations - 25%

• Collaborate across internal departments, including with executive directors from Braven’s regions and multiple subject-matter experts, to align on a coordinated approach to shared-value relationships with your partners
• Manage efficient and smart systems and infrastructure (tracking our partnership pipeline, creating prospect research, leading national events)
• Other duties as assigned

Brand Awareness & Advocacy - 5%

• Raise Braven’s brand awareness through thought-leadership, media, public speaking, and events

Minimum Requirements

• Work Experience: 5-7 years experience managing partnerships with a track record of achieving ambitious outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• You have 2+ years of experience as account manager or 2+ years of experience leading corporate partnerships for a nonprofit, and you're passionate about using your skills to make a lasting impact.
• You derive energy from relationship building with a variety of stakeholders, and have strong communication skills. 
• You’re a systems thinker at heart. You understand the power of networks and have strong intuition about how and when to involve key stakeholders in an opportunity or decision.
• You’re excited to apply your strategic thinking, stellar storytelling, and organizational skills to support underrepresented college students through college and into strong jobs.
• You plan 2-3 months out and set others up for success. You love timelines and meeting agendas, and ensuring everyone is up to speed.
• You’re detail-oriented and have processes in place for checking and double checking your work, and it’s rare for you to make detail-related errors, either with words (e.g., spelling) or numbers (e.g., data analysis). 
• You’re proactive, like to solve problems, and love the intersection of creativity and strategy. When you don’t know the answer to something you do the research to figure it out, and you’re always on the lookout for opportunities to expand your impact.
• You appreciate constructive feedback and are eager to identify and discuss areas for growth, so that you can quickly learn and grow in them.
• You have a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion.
• You exemplify Braven’s core values.
• Your experiences have informed your belief in Braven’s mission and have prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC)
• Travel: 6-12 times annually out of state for team retreats, events, and meetings.
• Will be expected to work approximately 10-15 nights and/or weekends per year, coinciding with Braven events

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Compensation and Benefits

The salary for this position, which depends on prior work experience and our assessment of your demonstrated fit for the role, will likely be between $ 78,900-$98,600 in Atlanta, $83,000-103,700 in Chicago, and $91,300-$114,100 in New York, NY or Newark, NJ. This is a full-time regular, exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity. Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization, and take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking. You will have an opportunity to discuss salary in more detail after you begin the application process.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office at least 3 days per week (on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and often work remotely 2 days per week (although certain commitments might adjust that from time to time). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Why Join Us?

• Impact: Make a tangible difference in the lives of underrepresented students by creating pathways to meaningful careers.
• Growth: Be part of a rapidly growing organization with opportunities for professional development and advancement.
• Innovation: Work in an environment that encourages creativity, experimentation, and taking bold steps to achieve our mission.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

At Braven, we are committed to attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining a diverse team. Braven operates in the context of our American culture, against the backdrop of systemic racism and oppression of marginalized people since our country’s founding. We are committed to assembling leaders at our organization who have emerged from everywhere, with a particular emphasis on those who share the racial and income backgrounds of our Fellows, and creating an inclusive culture that allows all teammates, of all experiences and identities, to thrive.  

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.  We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.