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,…