Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships

Overview of Watson Institute:

Watson Institute powers transformative Fellowships in partnership with leading corporations and foundations to support highly promising entrepreneurs and leaders from underserved backgrounds. The Fellowships provide proven entrepreneurship and leadership skills training, committed mentorship, community development stipends, long-term Alumni support, and access to a global community of peers, mentors, and opportunities.

In partnership with Google, JPMorganChase Foundation, Walmart.org, Wells Fargo, Ford Philanthropy, SAP, Truist Foundation, BMO, Comcast, Western Union, and several private foundations, Watson Institute’s programs will reach over 2,400 rising leaders this year.

Alumni of Watson Institute’s Fellowships have raised over $190 million, created over 2,300 paid jobs, and impacted over 11 million people around the world through initiatives they have helped lead. 93% of Watson Institute alums are employed, continuing their education, or building a venture. 85% of Watson Institute Alumni use a skill they learned while in a Watson Institute-powered program up to 12 years later. Watson Institute’s Alumni have been selected to Y Combinator, the Echoing Green Fellowship, and 11 have been named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 lists. Alums continue their education at Harvard University, New York University, and Princeton University, among others.

Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships - Mission Statement:

The primary mission of the Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships is to build and grow a portfolio of Watson Institute’s corporate and foundation partnerships.

Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships – Role:

Partnership Building - 80%:

Play a critical role in building and growing a portfolio of partnerships with corporations and foundations to create Fellowships powered by Watson Institute.

• Write and design compelling, persuasive, tailored, and well-designed/visual impact updates for Watson Institute’s top prospects and partners. These impact updates may include decks, emails, Alumni and Fellow highlights, Fellow profiles, and more.
• Participate and lead prospect and partner meetings including associated preparation, talking points during the meeting, diligent notes, timely and comprehensive follow-ups, and coordination with appropriate team members on action items.
• Complex Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement: Coordinate and strategically engage a complex map of stakeholders across each corporate and foundation partner.
• Develop compelling concept notes, decks, and grant applications for prospects and partners. These concept notes, decks, and grant applications should demonstrate both business impact (for the partner) and community impact (for the Fellows and their communities) in a strategic and nuanced way.
• Design impactful points of ‘business connectivity’ that create connections across multiple teams and business goals within each corporate/foundation prospect and partner. Points of business connectivity include: Alignment with corporate strategy, impact and business goals; employee engagement; compelling communications content; brand amplification; supply chain connections; among others to deepen the impact of the Fellowship.
• Coordinate with Watson Institute’s VP of Strategic Partnerships, CEO, and other members of the leadership team closely to ensure successful outcomes across all partnerships.
• Collaborate with Watson Institute’s Design Team on the monitoring, evaluation, and learning process and analysis to ensure impact metrics support partner expectations.

Special Projects - 20%:

Serve as the Strategic Partnerships Lead for special projects that are critical to Watson Institute’s corporate partnership strategy and growth. Examples include conducting a landscape analysis for partners who are looking to bring their Fellowship to new markets and developing thought pieces/reports on current trends in corporate impact and community impact.

*New responsibilities may develop as the position evolves.

Requirements

Culture Add:

In order to thrive as the Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships at Watson Institute, a candidate must:

• Eager to join a team with extremely high standards for quality and excellence, recognizing that demonstrating excellence in partnership building is a direct path to scaling impact and achieving outsized results.
• An exceptional eye for detail. You enjoy spending time in the details with words, style, formatting, and talking points in order to make the most compelling product possible.
• Detail Oriented: You are meticulous and have excellent organizational skills. You are especially attuned to spotting mistakes or inconsistencies in writing and external communications. You take pride in completing your work accurately and on schedule. You have a knack for project management and a love for work plans and checklists. You cringe at missed steps and you are the first to identify a typo or formatting error.
• Intentional: Your working style is about creating order and planning ahead. You think systematically and excel at establishing elegant processes.
• Results-Driven: You bring an eagerness to grow and to roll up your sleeves and contribute. You have a go-getter attitude and a drive to solve all sorts of problems, no matter the size or shape. When you take on a responsibility, you find a way to see it through to the end.
• High Integrity: You will be asked to make sensitive and critical judgment calls, and as such, you are known for your integrity and you take that reputation seriously. You always choose to make the right decision versus the easy decision. You know what information is sensitive, and you will protect it accordingly. You are comfortable escalating issues and holding your ground when you think it’s the right thing to do for the organization and mission.
• Systems-minded: Demonstrated experience in building and implementing systems. You are comfortable designing, testing, improving, and smoothly running systems and processes. This could be any system that involves inputs from or serves multiple people and requires consistent and accurate functioning.
• Communication Style: Based on a story from Watson Institute’s early days, ‘Come to the Window’ represents the principles of our communication including:

• Obligation to Dissent: If you disagree with a decision or direction as an organization, you are expected to bring attention to this challenge because true leaders believe dissent is an obligation.
• Disagree and Commit: To complement Obligation to Dissent, there are times when we need to Disagree and Commit. Once all concerns and criticisms are shared, the course of action must be committed to by all involved.
• No Drama: We prioritize purpose and don’t involve ourselves in the drama created by backroom chatter, hearsay, and unnecessary focus on issues that do not place impact first.
• Go to the Source: Our culture is defined by direct, honest, and frequent communication. We expect team members to ‘go to the source’ of concerns by speaking up, communicating frequently, and taking issues directly to the individuals involved.

Candidate Profile:

Top candidates should demonstrate:

• A deep-seated passion for Watson Institute’s mission to develop innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs to solve the toughest challenges facing the world.
• Experience in enterprise sales/strategic partnership roles, specifically with corporations, corporate foundations, and corporate CSR teams. Previous experience should include building and growing impactful corporate partnerships that deliver on business impact (for the corporate partner) and community impact (for the Fellows and their communities).
• A natural inclination to build and strengthen relationships and partnerships to grow Watson Institute’s impact.

• A love and talent for persuasive writing, complex enterprise sales, and communication designed to build and grow impactful corporate and foundation partnerships.
• A systems-oriented and highly organized approach to work.
• Experience with Salesforce (or other CRM platforms) and Canva (or other graphic design platforms) are a strong plus.
• Mandatory skills: Excel mastery, email wizardry, rapid follow-up, and data analysis.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary according to experience: $80,000.00-$95,000.00.

• Annual Happiness Fund that increases with time and seniority.
• Unlimited vacations (3 weeks required vacation time per year).
• Healthcare benefit via Thatch (ICHRA provider), where employees have the option to apply this amount towards their choice of medical plans, with the option to add vision and dental plans.
• Automatic 3% contribution to your retirement account.

The Vitals:

• The Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships is a full-time commitment and reports to the VP of Strategic Partnerships.
• The Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships position can work remotely, but should be based in CO, PA, GA, FL, ME, AZ, DC, OK, SC, IL, or MD.
• Travel: You will likely take short trips each year to spend immersive, hands-on time with our team, Fellows, and partners—whether at events, conferences, or other programming.
• We accept applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
• The start date for this position is July 13, 2026 or sooner.
• We use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.

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