Associate Director, Strategic Operations

Braven • Chicago, IL

21h • Hybrid

About The Position

Braven is a national nonprofit dedicated to preparing college students for successful first job opportunities after graduation through a career-accelerating program. This program involves a semester-long course and ongoing support until graduation, in partnership with higher education and employer collaborators. The organization aims to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream. The Associate Director, Strategic Operations will be the operational backbone for the Insights & Strategy team, responsible for managing organizational-level reporting on priorities and goals. This role will oversee the communication of progress to staff, leaders, and boards, enhance cross-functional coordination within the Insights & Strategy team, and manage the team's internal operational rhythm. The ideal candidate is skilled in communication and writing, process design and ownership, and cross-functional collaboration, comfortable with ambiguity, and proactive in taking initiative.

Requirements

• BA/BS in a quantitative field or equivalent work experience demonstrating expertise in quantitative analysis.
• At least 3 years of relevant experience.
• Extensive experience writing and presenting compelling data-driven narratives for internal and external audiences.
• Proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets and SQL.
• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC).
• Authorized to work in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated experience using AI effectively and responsibly to make an actual impact on outcomes.
• Proficiency in SQL.
• Experience designing and building dashboards and visualizations (Tableau preferred).
• Strong strategic thinking skills, including a proven ability to bring clarity to ambiguous solutions.
• Ability to take initiative to solve challenges and tap into opportunities; ability to make complex tasks simple by applying clear logic and processes to component steps.
• Excellent time management and prioritization skills.
• Demonstrated attention to detail.
• Learner’s mindset.
• Strong collaboration skills.
• Proficiency in Google Suite, Slack, and Jira.
• Proficiency in Salesforce.
• Proficiency in Python or R.
• Experiences that inform a belief in Braven’s mission and prepare one to work with Braven’s student Fellow population.

Responsibilities

• Design, own, and continuously improve the infrastructure for preparing progress updates for stakeholders, including project managing and packaging quarterly progress-to-goal (PTG) memos for Braven’s national board, leadership, and staff.
• Draft region-specific progress updates on priorities for regional board meetings.
• Prepare regular updates to Braven leadership and staff on organizational priorities and goals.
• Pull, analyze, and/or visualize data independently to support progress monitoring.
• Build relationships with relevant partners for progress monitoring work.
• Establish expertise and serve as a thought partner on questions and situations related to org-wide progress monitoring.
• Act as a trusted liaison to the leaders of the Product, Systems, and External Affairs teams to evolve their operating model for collaboration.
• Design and help execute a regular central team <> regional team feedback structure at the Alignment Team level.
• Support the Head of Insights & Strategy in leading two internal councils (Data Governance Council and AI Advisory Council) and one external council (Labor Market & Economic Advisory Council).
• Own the coordinated operational rhythm of the Insights and Strategy halves of the team, including annual planning and goal-setting, quarterly alignment, and weekly coordination.
• Design and plan team stepbacks and other meetings, from agenda creation to post-meeting follow-up.
• Own knowledge management for the Strategy half of the team, maintaining shared documentation and ensuring process clarity.
• Lead or support capacity-building and systems/process-building projects for primarily the Strategy half of the team.
• Utilize AI in responsible, smart, and human-valuing ways to enhance work effectiveness and efficiency.

Benefits

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (minimum of 19 days per year).
• $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health.
• Match of 401K contribution up to 5% of base annual salary, starting the first full month.
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents.
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
• One-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff.

What This Job Offers

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