Director of Partnership Engagement

Greenwood Project•Chicago, IL

5d•$90,000 - $180,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Greenwood Project is seeking a Director of Partnership Engagement to own the stewardship, retention, and growth of its partner portfolio. This role reports to the CEO and is designed for experienced relationship managers with a track record in account management, customer success, donor retention, or major gifts stewardship. The Director will take the relationships secured by the business development team and transform them into deep, multi-year partnerships built on trust, consistent engagement, and shared investment in the mission. This role offers an opportunity to build lasting relationships, design tailored cultivation strategies, create consistent touchpoints, and invite deeper investment in the mission. Every interaction directly sustains the programs that help Scholars break into financial services careers. The role blends the relationship discipline of account management with the mission-driven purpose of ensuring partners feel valued and understood. Greenwood Project is growing rapidly, making partner retention and stewardship crucial. This position is dedicated to nurturing these relationships, ensuring partners feel valued, informed, and invited to increase their support over time, thereby building a stewardship practice that fosters partner investment in Scholar success.

Requirements

3+ years managing a portfolio of corporate clients, financial services accounts, or institutional relationships, with measurable retention and growth results (from account management, client success, or nonprofit major gifts and donor retention work).
Excellent relationship management and stewardship skills: Comfortable building trust with C-suite executives, family office principals, foundation program officers, and other institutional partners over the life of a multi-year relationship.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to act as a trusted advisor and advocate for Greenwood’s mission.
Self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset and exceptional organizational discipline, comfortable managing a full portfolio of partners with different needs, timelines, and giving cycles.
Proficiency in CRM platforms (HubSpot preferred), with disciplined logging of every partner interaction.
Deep commitment to Greenwood’s mission of education, access, and workforce development.

Nice To Haves

A track record of growing existing client or donor commitments with clear, quantifiable results (e.g., percentage retention, dollar growth).
Knowledge of foundation grant cycles and corporate sponsorship renewal processes.
Experience managing accounts within financial services, with a demonstrated ability to grow and retain complex institutional relationships.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary relationship manager for an assigned portfolio of partners, building trust and continuity.
Develop and execute cultivation plans to deepen partner engagement and encourage increased participation and giving, working towards measurable retention and expansion targets.
Maintain a disciplined, consistent cadence of meaningful touchpoints per partner each month, including calls, meetings, check-ins, and site visits, logged in the CRM within 48 hours.
Conduct quarterly partner health assessments to identify at-risk relationships and build proactive retention strategies.
Partner with the business development team on smooth partner handoffs and collaborate with the CEO and Programs team to align partner engagement with organizational priorities.
Maintain rigorous CRM hygiene, logging every partner interaction, note, and next step in real time.
Deliver accurate, cash-based forecasting against individual and team portfolio targets.