Partnership Associate Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

Job Title: Associate, Employer Partnerships

Team: External Affairs 

Location: Hybrid in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), New York City (NY)

Employment Type: Full-time 

FLSA Classification: Exempt 

Start date: ASAP

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.

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring an Associate, Employer Partnerships. This individual will lead the recruitment of thousands of volunteers from our employer partners. As a member of the Employer Partnerships team, you will build and scale systems that enable Braven to recruit 6,000+ volunteers over the next two years, while also contributing to the team's broader efforts across fundraising, employer stewardship, and student-facing programs. This role involves a mix of behind-the-scenes strategy and systems development, as well as some external-facing work in collaboration with key employer contacts and Braven teammates. You will partner cross-functionally to drive recruitment results, deepen engagement from Braven's employer partners, and ensure we deliver a strong return on investment to the professionals and companies that make our program possible.

This role is on the External Affairs team and reports directly to the Head of Employer Partnerships.

Partner Research, Communications, and Stewardship (40%)

• Support Braven's Employer Partnerships strategy by researching prospects, surveying the changing employer landscape across industries and sectors, and staying on top of and circulating trends and news.
• Ensure the Employer Partnership Team has the materials and resources needed to cultivate and effectively manage 75 - 150 employer partnerships by crafting persuasive presentations and drafting communications that motivate action across a portfolio of new and existing employer partners.
• Provide hands-on support to Employer Partnership Directors and Head of Employer Partnerships managing Braven's top-tier accounts, especially for student-facing events and key partner engagements.
• Collaborate with Braven's marketing team to design compelling materials that elevate Braven's value proposition for both partners and volunteers.
• Triage and manage the partnerships inbox, ensuring timely, thoughtful responses to partner inquiries and requests.

Team Operations and Systems (40%)

• Elevate the operational excellence of the Employer Partnerships Team by designing and refining systems, processes, and tools that support scale and make impact possible.
• Facilitate weekly team meetings and project manage follow-through on internal and external priorities -  including meeting prep and follow-up, regional team coordination, pipeline review, and internal communication.
• Support Head of Employer Partnerships in preparing for check-ins, tactical meetings, and ensuring we are meeting our goals and KPIs  
• Manage and maintain high-quality data across accounts, contacts, meetings, and engagements in Braven's CRM, ensuring accuracy and accountability.
• Steward partner relationships through thoughtful campaigns - like thank-you efforts, recognition in Braven's impact reports, and donor acknowledgment letters.
• Support the planning and execution of bi-annual Braven Employer Council meetings, overseeing logistics and project management.
• Collaborate with the Data Insights and Data Operations teams to create and improve dashboards that help the team use data to drive decisions.
• Create and maintain a centralized resource hub to ensure internal stakeholders have easy access to the materials and information they need to engage partners effectively.

Engage Employer Partners in Volunteer Recruitment (20%)

• Help project manage 100+ volunteer referral points of contact across employer partners in close collaboration with Braven's Employer Partnerships Directors, using email campaigns as a primary strategy to engage and mobilize volunteers at scale.
• Ensure seamless communication and collaboration between the Volunteer Engagement team and the Employer Partnerships team by acting as the primary liaison between the two.
• Deliver operational excellence - using tools like mail merges, CRMs, Tableau dashboards, trackers, calendars, and project plans to execute large-scale, high-stakes, deadline-driven recruitment campaigns efficiently and effectively.
• Monitor data and performance in real time, using insights to refine strategies and drive continuous improvement.

Requirements

• 3-5 years of program management, project management, partnership management experience or related experience with a track record of achieving ambitious outcomes and building efficient systems.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills
• Highly-developed attention to detail, systems, and customer service 
• A builder's mindset: you bring energy and creativity to building systems from the ground up, pressure testing them, and iterating to improve efficiency and impact
• Comfort making sense of complex data and using it to develop tailored strategies, clear priorities, and actionable next steps
• Thrives in ambiguity and finds joy in collaborating deeply with others and being a part of a rapidly growing organization
• Learns quickly and manages large volumes of feedback on a regular basis
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse teams
• Proficiency in Salesforce, Jira, Google Sheets, and generative AI tools, or similar systems
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others.
• Exemplification of Braven's core values
• Experiences that 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) 3 days per week
• Travel: 4-8 times annually out of state for team events.
• Occasional evening hours for work events and/or to ensure we hit key campaign deadlines

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

Benefits

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 ranges, by geographic market, for this role are $59,500-$74,300 in Atlanta, $62,700-$78,300 in Chicago, and $69,000-$86,200 In New York City or Newark. This is based on a 50-hour work week at an hourly rate. This is a full-time, regular, non-exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.  

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

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 19 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

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, Newark, or New York City. 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.