Associate Director - Higher Education Partnerships

Associate Director, Higher Education Partnerships

Braven · Chicago, United States (Hybrid) · Full-time · Posted 2026-10-23

Workplace: hybrid

Department: Higher Education Partnerships

Description

Job Title: Associate Director, Higher Education Partnerships
Team: Higher Education Partnership Strategy & Success
Location: Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC)
Employment Type: Full-time
FLSA Classification: Exempt
Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

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, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs Report.

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000–100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is seeking an Associate Director, Higher Education Partnerships who will serve as a core strategic thought partner to Regional Senior Directors leading our higher education partnerships, while partnering with Executive Directors and other senior leaders as needed.

Rather than executing site-level relationship management directly, you will shape the strategy, frameworks, and partnership structures and agreements that allow Regional Senior Directors and their teams to deepen and scale our higher education partnerships across a portfolio of 5–7 sites. Regional Senior Directors remain the owners of their institutional relationships and site-level results; you create leverage across the portfolio through strategic frameworks, partnership agreements, pattern recognition, portfolio-level analysis, and complex problem-solving, exercising independent judgment over the work that is yours to own.

You will also lead one of Braven’s two national strategic convening bodies for higher education leaders, either the Higher Education Convening or the Faculty Council, and help shape Braven’s approach to partnership structures, including grant incentives and MOU renewals, partnering closely with Legal on agreement terms.

This role sits within Braven’s Higher Education Partnerships Department, specifically on the Partnership Strategy & Success team, and reports directly to the Senior Director, Higher Education Partnerships

What You’ll Do

Strategic Thought Partnership & Portfolio Leadership (40%)

• Serve as the primary strategic thought partner to Regional Senior Directors across a portfolio of 5–7 higher education partner sites, shaping strategy, pressure-testing decisions, and helping Regional Senior Directors navigate complex or high-stakes partner dynamics, rather than owning direct site-level relationship management.
• Develop and steward frameworks and decision rules for higher education partnership structures, including grant incentives and related funding mechanisms, in partnership with the Senior Director and Finance/Development teams.
• Represent Higher Education Partnerships (HEP) strategy in cross-functional and cross-regional planning conversations, bringing a systems-level view to how partnership strategy connects across sites.
• Identify patterns, emerging risks, and promising practices across the portfolio and translate them into recommendations, tools, or frameworks that strengthen partnership strategy across HEP.
• Lead time-bound strategic projects that advance Partnership Strategy & Success priorities and require cross-site coordination, portfolio-level analysis, or the development of shared approaches.
• Translate portfolio-level priorities and challenges into clear strategic recommendations, action plans, and measures of success, helping Regional Senior Directors move from insight to execution while maintaining clear ownership and accountability.

National Convening Leadership (25%)

• Own and lead one of Braven’s two national strategic bodies for higher education leaders — the HEP Convening or the Faculty Council — setting the agenda, strategic content, and relationships that make it valuable to partners year over year.
• Develop the annual strategy, engagement arc, and measures of success for the convening body, using partner feedback and organizational priorities to strengthen its value and impact over time.
• Drive the year-round planning and execution of the convening body, coordinating key milestones, contributors, communications, and cross-functional partners to ensure the strategy translates into a high-quality partner experience.
• Build and refine engagement strategies, resources, and playbooks that strengthen participation in the convening body and deepen relationships with participating higher education leaders.
• Partner cross-functionally to translate insights, recommendations, and emerging themes from the convening body into broader HEP strategy, organizational learning, and partner engagement.

Partnership Agreements & MOU Strategy (15%)

• Lead the internal strategy, planning, and coordination of MOU renewals across your portfolio, partnering with Regional Senior Directors who own the institutional relationship and with Legal/OGC on agreement terms, negotiations, and risk. The Associate Director may directly lead portions of agreement negotiations, when appropriate, and within limits set by the regional team and Legal while the Executive Director remains accountable for the broader institutional relationship.
• Serve as HEP’s point of continuity on agreement terms, precedent, and risk, ensuring consistency across sites and escalating high-stakes or non-standard terms appropriately.
• Identify patterns across agreements and renewals and translate them into recommended standards, decision rules, or improvements to Braven’s approach to higher education partnership agreements.

Systems, Data & Organizational Learning (15%)

• Define and continuously improve the strategic frameworks and decision-making infrastructure — including Salesforce, Asana, and related systems that regional and site-level teams rely on to execute partnership strategy, acting as an architect of how these systems work rather than an administrator of them.
• Lead synthesis of quantitative and qualitative partnership data to surface patterns, risks, opportunities, and recommendations that inform strategic decisions at the portfolio level.
• Establish consistent approaches to partnership health, stakeholder engagement, and portfolio reporting so HEP leaders have timely, actionable information to guide decisions and target support.

HEP Team & Department Contributions (5%)

• Contribute to department-wide priorities, planning, team development, and time-bound initiatives that advance HEP’s overall strategy and effectiveness.
• Perform other duties as assigned in support of Braven’s mission and organizational priorities.

Other duties as assigned

Requirements

Minimum Requirements

• BA/BS or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of professional experience in higher education partnerships, program strategy, account/relationship management, or a related field, with a demonstrated track record of making independent strategic decisions and influencing senior stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• You are a skilled strategic thought partner: you push thinking forward, ask sharp questions, and help senior leaders make better decisions, even when you’re not the one executing.
• You think in systems: you see how pieces connect across a portfolio and build frameworks that make strategy consistent and executable at scale.
• You are comfortable navigating high-stakes, senior-level relationships and influencing across lines of authority, including negotiating or coordinating complex partnership agreements.
• You are fluent in data: you can gather, interpret, and synthesize quantitative and qualitative information to identify patterns and inform strategy.
• You build strong relationships across a range of stakeholders, from senior regional leaders to legal counsel to higher education partners.
• You exercise sound judgment and independent decision-making with only directional guidance from your manager.
• You navigate ambiguity and competing priorities effectively, determining when to move independently, when to bring others along, and when a decision requires escalation.
• You are solutions-oriented when challenges arise and stay focused on outcomes.
• 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 preferred 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, NY.
• Ability to travel roughly 2-3 times/quarter for Braven team meetings, external convenings, and partner site visits.
• Ability to have occasional meetings outside of regular working hours for your time zone to facilitate meeting scheduling.
• Ability to participate in virtual external meetings about 1–2 times/month on average.
• Access to reliable internet.

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship.

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
• Final interview with Chief HEP Officer

Benefits

Total Rewards

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 20 days per year)
• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• 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

Compensation

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.

Starting salary within the range is determined by role scope and qualifications, with new hires starting at the lower end to allow for growth with performance. Braven does not base compensation on individual candidate salary expectations and is committed to maintaining internal equity. The salary range, by geographic market, for this role is $79,200-$85,100 in Atlanta, $83,600-$89,800 in Chicago, and $92,000-$98,800 in Newark and New York City. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.  

Please note that Braven is firm in its compensation philosophy; therefore, only candidates who believe our total rewards package aligns with what they are looking for in their next opportunity are encouraged to apply.

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, New York, or Newark. 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.

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.

Apply

Apply at Braven

---

Powered by Workable