Marketing and Communications Director of Partnership Development
Job Description
Overview
Youth Communication (YC) is growing and seeking a dynamic and experienced Director of Partnership Development to deepen YC’s impact and develop partnerships with schools, districts, government agencies, and community-based youth programs. YC provides curricula and professional development based on true stories written by teens. Our programs enable schools and other youth-serving organizations to create supportive, culturally responsive learning communities. We are committed to teens of color and other young adults whose voices need to be heard.
The Director of Partnership Development will be responsible for building deep and broad relationships with school leaders and other decision-makers. The position requires knowledge of (and the ability to discover) school and agency funding streams and curriculum adoption timelines. It also requires the ability to build relationships with decision-makers at the school, agency, and district levels.
As an ideal candidate for this position, you are energetic, entrepreneurial, highly self-directed, and hands-on, with a proven track record of securing customers and closing sales. You possess strong relationship building skills, the capacity to establish a strong rapport with YC’s existing partners, and a deep passion for YC’s mission to amplify youth voice.
Given the complex nature of the curriculum adoption and professional development purchasing process, this job will require frequent virtual and in person meetings with principals and district staff both in NYC and nationwide. Occasional regional and national travel may also be required. They will also work closely with our Executive Director, Managing Director of External Relations, Marketing Director, and the YC education team to identify potential school partners and funding sources, determine their needs and how YC’s programs and services can meet them, and enlist them in supporting or purchasing YC programs.
Youth Communication is pursuing ambitious growth goals for our culturally responsive, social and emotional learning programs. Over the next three years, we aim to scale our programs across New York City public schools and build roads to expansion across the country. This role is a crucial element of that plan. The Director of Partnership Development must be agile and ready to adapt to these new opportunities for growth.
YC is operating with a hybrid model, with an expectation of at least two days of in-person work a week.
About Youth Communication
YC elevates the power of youth voices to improve the lives of young people who are the furthest from opportunity, including youth of color, youth living in poverty, experiencing housing instability, and in foster care. We provide powerful, teen-written stories and professional development that help educators and youth workers connect with teens and build their social and emotional skills.
Our professional development and curricula are based on true stories written by teens in YC’s intensive writing program. These stories make YC’s professional development programs and services unique in the field and exceptionally engaging for teens.
Youth Communication currently has a $1.9M+ operating budget, with 90% funded through philanthropic support and 10% through earned income from our PD services. This year, our goal is to secure $400K in earned income.
The ideal candidate will be both highly collaborative and self-directed. We are looking for a teammate who brings an outcomes-oriented approach to providing solutions that authentically center youth voice and lead to the creation of safer, more supportive, and inclusive schools and communities.
The Director of Partnership Development will be expected to fully engage in Youth Communication’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work. This will include regularly reflecting on their own intersectional identities, infusing their own work with an equity mindset, and holding themselves and their colleagues accountable.
Responsibilities
Sales (65%)
- Identify and cultivate new potential partners among schools, school districts, community-based organizations (CBOs), and government agencies for YC’s professional development services and curricula.
- Research relevant sources of public funding and identify potential customers for cultivation.
- Cultivate relationships with existing partners and maintain those relationships through a high level of service and professional empathy.
- Research and identify third-party payers (e.g foundations or intermediary organizations), that recognize the value in YC’s programs and services.
- Meet or exceed annual revenue goals. This year, that goal is $400,000.
- Secure payment commitments, manage invoicing, and draft contracts.
- Ensure maintenance of accurate records of sales and prospecting activities in Salesforce (CRM), tracking sales goals on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
Marketing Collaboration (20%)
- Represent YC to the public in meetings and speaking engagements, marketing our revenue-generating services.
- Collaborate with both Marketing and Education on sales-specific external communications opportunities as well as YC’s convention strategy–seeking to attend at least three conferences each year with the purpose of generating leads.
- Work collaboratively and creatively with YC’s marketing and communication staff to create and disseminate messages that convey the value of our programs and services— via YC’s websites, social media, brochures, and other collateral.
Program Collaboration (15%)
- Collaborate with YC program directors to:
- ensure that program services are aligned with sales and organizational goals;
- identify new customer needs to inform curriculum development and training services that are aligned with our strategic direction.
- Assess reports from program evaluations and customer testimonials and integrate them into sales efforts.
Qualifications
- Passionate about YC’s mission to elevate the power of youth voice to improve the lives of youth in New York City and beyond, particularly teens of color and other young adults whose voices need to be heard. Able to communicate that passion to school-based staff, district leaders, community-based organization decision-makers, city agency leaders, etc.
- Sales and marketing experience and track record of closing sales and/or securing revenue and the ability to represent the organization to a wide range of stakeholders and constituencies.
- Knowledge of the NYC educational and youth development landscape.
- Knowledge of broad educational trends and the national market for social and emotional programs and services.
- Familiarity with the complex challenges that educators face in their work to support youth who are the furthest from economic and educational opportunity. Service-minded, supportive, and demonstrates care and empathy for students and teachers.
- Adaptive, flexible, and highly focused, demonstrating a readiness to support organizational growth.
- Strong public speaking and presentation skills.
- Comfortable tracking revenue and managing a pipeline in Salesforce (or comparable CRM).
- Familiarity with software systems for managing contacts, projects, and revenue-generation activities (e.g. Google Suite, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom).
- Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in education and experience.
- 3-5 years of educational sales or similar experience leading communities of educators and/or equivalent experience working in public education and/or youth development in NYC.
Salary
- $75,000-$85,000, based on experience.
Benefits
- Youth Communication offers a generous health care plan (paid 85% by the organization); three weeks of paid vacation in the first year, 11 paid holidays, and other benefits. The office operates on a hybrid model with a mix of work-from-home/in-person.
