Director, External Affairs

Team: Greater Boston Region

Location: Hybrid in Greater Boston Region

Employment Type: Full-time

Start Date: August 2025

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. This role is critical to meeting the Greater Boston Region's $7M fundraising goal in the first year. It involves cultivating and managing philanthropic and employer partnerships, supporting volunteer recruitment, engaging and helping to build the Greater Boston Board, and advancing Braven's brand. This role is on the Greater Boston Region team and reports directly to the Executive Director (ED), Greater Boston Region.

What You'll Do

Development (35%)

• Support the ED to establish the Greater Boston region's fundraising strategy, and work with ED and Braven's development team to complete the Greater Boston region's annual revenue gameplan.
• Track the Greater Boston region's revenue progress to goal and overall weighted pipeline; project managing the implementation of the Greater Boston region's quarterly action plans and adjust as needed based on lessons learned.
• Support the ED in stewarding donor relationships with excellence; leading prep/follow-up, joining most regional meetings, and owning a portfolio of relationships.
• Partner with the ED and Braven's development team to identify, vet, and cultivate new prospects; conduct research on priority prospects and create individualized cultivation plans.
• Strategize with the ED to secure and prepare for donor meetings by leading meeting prep and follow-up (e.g. drafting emails, creating agendas, and customizing meeting collateral).
• Strategize with the ED on how to engage donors through the Moves Management stages and project manage the execution of next steps, from making an ask to securing a commitment and stewarding relationships effectively to win a renewal.
• Review grant application and report drafts, and support the central development team in submitting high-quality narratives/data on time.

Employer Partnerships & Volunteer Recruitment (15%)

• Partner with the ED to create the Greater Boston region's Employer Partnership (EP) strategy for revenue, volunteer, and program opportunities - identifying EP prospects, building a pipeline, researching and creating engagement plans.
• Serve as a conduit of information about the Greater Boston region's program needs, deeply understanding nuances and priorities, and advocating for shared-value solutions for Fellows and EPs.
• Manage a portfolio of ~5-10 Greater Boston region local EPs, recruiting volunteers, preparing meetings, sourcing opportunities, and (co-)hosting events.
• Collaborate with the central EP team on local contacts for EPs in the national portfolio, joining the ED or taking lead with the central EP director in meetings.
• Support in-person events at EPs for Fellows.
• Support volunteer recruitment through in-person info sessions, tabling, and personal outreach with national and local partners.

Board Management (15%)

• Support the ED in the recruitment of Greater Boston board members, including identifying and vetting board prospects, partnering with the central team on briefs, and developing cultivation and engagement plans.
• Prepare the ED for their 1:1 meetings/engagements - customize meeting collateral, lead meeting prep, and follow-up.
• Project manage all board meetings. Collaborate and coordinate across teams on the draft of the management memo, run of show, deck, pre- and post-follow-up emails, and note-taking during meetings.

Operations (15%)

• Create action plans for the quarter, month, and week to achieve goals across workstreams, adapting and adjusting when we're not hitting shared goals.
• Ensure systems are accurate with external stakeholder information (e.g., Salesforce, Asana/Jira, Confluence).
• Ensure strong preparation and follow-up for all internal meetings.
• Attend key program events (e.g., Learning Lab 1, Mock Interviews, Capstone Challenge Kickoff, Capstone Challenge Presentations) and ensure a strong flow of information with Greater Boston's program team and between the external affairs team.

Steward Regional Relationships (10%)

• Support ED in setting local strategy and project managing the ongoing cultivation and stewardship of all Greater Boston region stakeholders except schools.
• Project manage and execute on national cultivation cross-functional campaigns (e.g., jobs report, impact report, holiday campaign).
• (Co)-Plan and execute external affairs-focused events such as site visits, lunch and learns, treks, and jobs/impact report events.
• Support the ED in stewarding and owning a portfolio of community influencers.
• Develop relationships with champion Fellows / Post Accelerator Fellows and volunteers, and prepare / train them to represent Braven to external audiences.
• Monitor higher education partner and new site updates to understand the high-level strategy, Fellow recruitment, Memorandum of Understanding renewal context, and key relationships.

Marketing & Communications (5%)

• Partner with the central communications team to conduct research on and secure opportunities for the region to build brand visibility and awareness, including speaking opportunities, awards, and media.
• Collaborate with the ED and the central communications team on social media strategy and write/review drafts of content to post weekly.
• Partner with the central communications team on the Jobs Report and Impact Report processes - review draft content, project manage photo shoots with Fellows, prepare stakeholder list and draft notes for personalized outreach.
• Support efforts for the ED to attend/speak at, prepare for, and follow up from conferences.

Policy (5%)

• Support the building of a local policy agenda and cultivation plans in conjunction with the ED and the Managing Director of Policy.
• Assist with meeting prep and follow-up for ED.
• Assist with applications for public funding.
• Other duties as assigned