Associate Director, Higher Education Partnership

Braven • Chicago, IL

3d • $79,200 - $98,800 • Hybrid

About The Position

Braven is seeking an Associate Director, Higher Education Partnerships to help advance its ambition of serving 80,000–100,000 Fellows over the next decade. The Associate Director serves as a strategic thought partner to Regional Senior Directors leading higher education partnerships and partners with Executive Directors and other senior leaders as needed. Rather than directly managing site-level relationships, this role shapes strategy, frameworks, partnership structures, agreements, and portfolio-level analysis across 5–7 sites. Regional Senior Directors retain ownership of institutional relationships and site-level results; the Associate Director creates leverage across the portfolio through strategic guidance, pattern recognition, complex problem-solving, and independent judgment.

The role leads one of Braven’s two national strategic convening bodies for higher education leaders—the HEP Convening or Faculty Council—and helps shape partnership structures, including grant incentives and MOU renewals, in close coordination with Legal. It sits on the Partnership Strategy & Success team within the Higher Education Partnerships Department and reports to the Senior Director, Higher Education Partnerships.

The position is full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits-eligible. It follows a hybrid schedule, with three office days per week (Tuesday through Thursday) and two remote days (Monday and Friday). The posting lists Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City as locations, while its location section says teammates must live within commuting distance of the Newark hub. The role requires travel roughly 2–3 times per quarter, occasional meetings outside regular working hours, and virtual external meetings about 1–2 times per month. The start date is ASAP. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.; Braven does not offer employment visa sponsorship.

Requirements

• BA/BS degree or equivalent experience.
• At least 4 years of professional experience in higher education partnerships, program strategy, account/relationship management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated track record of making independent strategic decisions and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Ability to work in person in Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City; the location section specifies living within commuting distance of the Newark hub.
• Ability to travel roughly 2–3 times per quarter for team meetings, external convenings, and partner site visits.
• Ability to attend occasional meetings outside regular working hours for the employee’s time zone.
• Ability to participate in virtual external meetings about 1–2 times per month on average.
• Access to reliable internet.
• Authorization to work in the U.S.; employment visa sponsorship is not offered.

Nice To Haves

• Skill as a strategic thought partner who advances thinking, asks sharp questions, and supports senior leaders’ decisions without necessarily executing them.
• Systems-oriented thinking and ability to build frameworks that make strategy consistent and executable at scale.
• Comfort navigating high-stakes senior relationships and influencing across lines of authority, including negotiating or coordinating complex partnership agreements.
• Ability to gather, interpret, and synthesize quantitative and qualitative information to identify patterns and inform strategy.
• Ability to build relationships with stakeholders including senior regional leaders, legal counsel, and higher education partners.
• Sound judgment and independent decision-making with directional guidance from a manager.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities, recognizing when to act independently, involve others, or escalate decisions.
• Solutions-oriented approach focused on outcomes.
• Demonstrated alignment with Braven’s core values.
• Experiences that inform belief in Braven’s mission and prepare the candidate to work with or for Braven’s student Fellow population.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary strategic thought partner to Regional Senior Directors across a portfolio of 5–7 higher education partner sites, shaping strategy and helping navigate complex or high-stakes partner dynamics without taking ownership of direct site-level relationship management.
• Develop and steward frameworks and decision rules for partnership structures, including grant incentives and related funding mechanisms, with the Senior Director and Finance/Development teams.
• Represent Higher Education Partnerships strategy in cross-functional and cross-regional planning conversations.
• Identify portfolio-wide patterns, risks, and promising practices and translate them into recommendations, tools, or frameworks.
• Lead time-bound strategic projects involving cross-site coordination, portfolio analysis, or shared approaches.
• Turn portfolio priorities and challenges into recommendations, action plans, and measures of success while supporting Regional Senior Directors’ execution and accountability.
• Lead either the HEP Convening or Faculty Council, setting its agenda, strategic content, and partner relationships.
• Develop the convening body’s annual strategy, engagement arc, and measures of success using partner feedback and organizational priorities.
• Coordinate year-round convening planning and execution, including milestones, contributors, communications, and cross-functional partners.
• Build and refine engagement strategies, resources, and playbooks to strengthen participation and deepen relationships with higher education leaders.
• Translate convening insights and themes into broader HEP strategy, organizational learning, and partner engagement.
• Lead internal strategy, planning, and coordination of MOU renewals across the portfolio, partnering with Regional Senior Directors and Legal/OGC; may directly lead portions of negotiations when appropriate and within established limits.
• Maintain continuity on agreement terms, precedent, and risk, ensuring consistency and escalating high-stakes or non-standard terms.
• Identify agreement and renewal patterns and recommend standards, decision rules, or improvements to partnership agreements.
• Define and improve strategic frameworks and decision-making infrastructure, including Salesforce, Asana, and related systems, as an architect rather than an administrator.
• Synthesize quantitative and qualitative partnership data to identify patterns, risks, opportunities, and portfolio-level recommendations.
• Establish consistent approaches to partnership health, stakeholder engagement, and portfolio reporting.
• Contribute to department-wide priorities, planning, team development, and time-bound initiatives; perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Unlimited vacation time, in addition to organization-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and at the end of the calendar year; the posting describes this as a minimum of 20 days per year.
• $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health.
• 401(k) contribution match up to 5% of base annual salary, beginning the first full month.
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premiums for the employee and dependents.
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
• One-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff.
• Competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager