Senior Director, BravenX

Senior Director, BravenX

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 achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Senior Director on the BravenX team to drive growth and ensure the programmatic success of BravenX, an initiative in Braven's innovation portfolio.

As a member of the broader Innovation Team, you will build upon several years of rapid growth and continue to grow the number of students and nonprofit partners served through BravenX. This includes maturing the nonprofit partner experience to reflect the size and diversity of our current partner base, including how partners are involved post-course. You will partner closely with central teams like Insights and Fellow Recruitment to ensure BravenX has the central support and systems it needs to operate at growing scale, and with regional teams in the cities where most BravenX Fellows are based. You will also help execute pilots that BravenX runs on behalf of the broader organization, test new approaches, and surface what works for Braven as a whole. Topline measures of success include: student recruitment and retention, student internship & job outcomes, new nonprofit partner acquisition, earned revenue, and partner satisfaction rates.

This role is on the Innovation team and reports directly to the Chief Regional Success and Innovation Officer. This role will directly manage 3-4 full-time team members.

BravenX is what we call our program offering typically for non-University partners. National in scope, the experience typically targets college sophomores in sites where we currently do not have a university partnership. This program is 14 weeks long, follows the same curricular scope and sequence as the model in place with our university partners (i.e., Rutgers University - Newark, Northern Illinois University, etc.), and provides the same continuing career supports until a student graduates from college.

To date, most of our partners for this initiative have been college access and persistence organizations, scholarship organizations, and the alumni offices of large high school networks, given their increased attention to alumni college and career outcomes.

What You'll Do

Deliver Program Outcomes (40%)

• Shape a shared vision for BravenX in partnership with the Chief Regional Success & Innovation Officer and key stakeholders.
• Own overall BravenX program implementation and performance across recruitment, the course experience, and post-course supports, ensuring the program meets established goals and outcomes.
• Lead the program elements owned by BravenX, including local programming and jobs campaign data collection, and partner with Braven's Product and Central Accelerator teams on centrally owned elements, supports, and interventions needed to achieve program outcomes.
• For program elements delivered by other central teams, including Communications and Development, represent the BravenX partner and student perspective by monitoring fit and satisfaction, surfacing needs and gaps, and providing actionable feedback to strengthen delivery and outcomes.

Business Development & Relationship Management (40%)

• Own the end-to-end BravenX partnership and sales cycle, including:
• Source and qualify new prospects and lead external BravenX pitch presentations.
• Secure new nonprofit partner relationships and generate revenue through partnerships with nonprofit, scholarship, college-success, and other organizations interested in BravenX.
• Manage and deepen existing BravenX partnerships, ensuring strong partner satisfaction, retention, and opportunities for renewal or growth.
• Lead all partner acquisition deliverables, ensuring required communications and documentation are received, acknowledged, and accurately reported for contracts, grants, and other internal needs.
• Build and maintain standard operating procedures and tracking systems for the partnership and sales cycle, including effective use of Salesforce.
• Serve as the primary relationship owner for BravenX partners throughout the Accelerator & Post Accelerator experience, proactively identifying needs, elevating priority areas to the Chief Regional Success & Innovation Officer as needed, resolving issues, and ensuring a strong overall partner experience
• Represent Braven externally as needed at conferences and events

Team and Organization Leadership (20%)

• Manage and develop a high-performing team of full-time employees, fostering an inclusive and supportive culture and modeling Braven's core values and competencies
• Invest in team members' growth through regular coaching and feedback, clear development plans, performance reviews, and structures that support ongoing learning and development
• Own BravenX budgeting and forecasting, proactively monitoring performance and adjusting resource allocation to ensure financial sustainability and achievement of program and revenue goals
• Recruit, hire, and onboard strong talent as needed to meet team priorities
• Contribute to organization-wide strategy and decision-making, bringing insights from BravenX partners and Fellows and recommending changes that strengthen program impact and sustainability
• Lead effective team planning, including the design and facilitation of team stepbacks and retreats.
• Other duties as assigned