Director, External Affairs - New York City

Job Title: Director, External Affairs - New York City

Team: NYC Regional Team

Location: In-Person in New York City

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.

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Director, External Affairs -  NYC.  The Director, External Affairs will be a key leader on our New York regional team, advancing Braven’s brand, cultivating and stewarding philanthropic and employer partnerships, supporting volunteer recruitment, and engaging with our New York City Board. 

Reporting to the Executive Director (ED) of New York, this role combines strategy, relationship-building, and operational leadership to drive regional growth and impact.

What You’ll Do

Development & Strategic Leadership (45%)

• Partner with the ED and Braven’s central development team to shape and execute the New York region’s strategy, including revenue targets, growth plans, partnership prioritization, and brand representation.
• Track progress toward revenue goals and pipeline development; create and project-manage quarterly action plans and adjust based on outcomes.
• Own a portfolio of philanthropic relationships, including cultivation, stewardship, meeting prep, and follow-up.
• Partner with the ED to strategically steward key relationships, own meeting preparation and follow-up, collaborate with Braven’s development team to identify and cultivate new prospects, and develop individualized cultivation plans for priority relationships.
• Review grant applications and reports, supporting the central development team in timely, high-quality submissions.
• Attend local events to expand Braven’s brand and networks.
• Monitor developments in the New York region’s higher education partnership expansion.

Employer Partnerships & Volunteer Recruitment (25%)

• Partner with the ED to shape and execute the New York City region’s Employer Partnership (EP) strategy for revenue, volunteer, and program opportunities: identifying prospects, building pipelines, and creating engagement plans.
• Manage 15-20 local employer partnerships, including volunteer, stakeholder engagement, and co-hosting events.
• Support the central EP team with national partnerships that have a New York presence, joining or representing the ED when needed.
• Support in-person EP-related events.

Cross-Cutting Operations & Regional Support (20%)

• Create monthly and quarterly action plans across workstreams to achieve shared goals, adjusting course as needed.
• Lead regional communications, brand opportunities, and campaigns in partnership with the central communication team, including: Jobs Report, Impact Report, Holiday Campaign, ED’s media and speaking engagements, and social media strategy and content.
• Plan and execute external affairs-focused events (ie: site visits, lunch-and-learns, treks, jobs/impact report events, development/brand events ).
• Maintain accurate stakeholder information in systems (Salesforce, Asana/Jira, Confluence).
• Ensure strong preparation and follow-up for all internal meetings.
• Attend key program events to ensure alignment between the NYC program team and the external affairs team.
• Manage a portfolio of community influencers, including champion Fellows and volunteers and prepare them to represent Braven to external audiences.
• Support the ED and Head of Policy on local policy initiatives, public funding applications, and the partnership with a lobbyist firm.
• Manage an external affairs intern.

Board Management (10%)

• Support ED in recruiting and cultivating New York board members: identifying and vetting board prospects, partnering with the central team on briefs, developing cultivation and engagement plans.
• Prepare the ED for 1:1 board meetings/engagements, including meeting materials and follow-up.
• Project manage board meetings: draft management memo, run-of-show, deck, pre- and post-meeting communi