In America, we’ve promised that hard work and ambition will be met with equality of opportunity. The reality is that we have a quiet crisis on our hands. Despite 1.2 million low-income or first-generation students enrolling in college each year, only one in four will attain a strong first job or enroll in graduate school upon graduating.

The Braven Accelerator empowers promising young people on their path to college graduation, meaningful careers, and lives of impact. Alongside educational institutions, Braven provides a scalable model to discover, develop, and connect extraordinary, diverse, and driven young people to high-quality skill-building opportunities and networks. From the Accelerator will come a generation of leaders as diverse as our future demands.

To date, 69% of Braven’s Fellows have landed a strong job within 12 months of graduation, as compared with an average of 54% for all students nationally. Braven currently operates in Newark, NJ, Chicago, IL and in San Jose, CA. We aim to become the nation’s leading accelerator of diverse talent, putting emerging leaders on the pathway to college completion and economic mobility. Our work is highly data driven around the outcomes of college graduation, workforce readiness skills-based proficiency, and employment in a high impact role within six months of graduation.

We believe Braven is a solution and we are on a mission to scale it, equalizing access to the American Dream. We are launching Braven in New York City, at CUNY Lehman College, and are looking for people passionate about ensuring all young people can put their education to work.

The Role:

The Site Director is the inspiring leader who sets a powerful vision for programmatic success at Lehman College and is responsible for ensuring that students who participate as Braven Fellows secure a strong first job or enroll in graduate school within 6 months of graduation. You will lead a team of 2 full-time employees and part-time interns, recruit and select our volunteers, and build and maintain the positive presence of Braven at Lehman College and in the greater NYC community.

Responsibilities:

Reporting directly to the New York City Executive Director, the Site Director will work extensively with Lehman faculty and staff, students, program alumni, volunteers, employer partners,and local organizations to ensure the effective growth of Braven at Lehman College. Specifically, you will:

Lehman Vision, Strategy, and Culture – 20%

Set a powerful vision for the Lehman College site and inspire the commitment of stakeholders towards the shared vision. Build a strategic plan to support the vision. Cultivate a strong and enduring culture that is based on and aligns with Braven and Lehman’s mission and values. This includes:

1) Set goals and key performance indicators for Lehman College aligned with Braven’s local and national priorities

2) Manage and develop a high-performing team of 2 full-time employees and part-time interns to meet outcomes

3) Build a collaborative team culture of individuals committed to achieving excellence, meeting site goals, and living out Braven core values

Programmatic Leadership – 50%

Lead the implementation of Braven’s programming at Lehman College, including the pre-course, course, and post-course experience, to meet programmatic goals. This includes:

1) Lead a team to:

Successfully recruit 150 students into the Braven Accelerator course for the Spring 2020 semester and scale significantly in each subsequent semester

Execute and attend the weekly evening Braven Accelerator course (2 days/week for 15 weeks of a semester), special events and occasional weekend events, ensuring program quality

Execute effective training, support, communication, and coaching for volunteers

Collaborate productively and regularly with CUNY Lehman College professors in running the course

2) Spearhead the recruitment, selection, and on-boarding of volunteers to ensure a high-quality, diverse, and impactful corps of volunteers. Per semester a minimum of 20 Leadership Coaches, 4 Coaching Partners (working professional volunteers who coach and support Leadership Coaches), 75 Mock Interviewers, and 30 Professional Mentors are needed.

3) Assess data continuously and ensure students are on track to graduate and secure strong jobs. Partner with Braven’s Product team to develop supports and interventions to achieve student jobs outcomes

4) Participate in the Program Management Team to drive program model strategy and decisions, recommending changes as needed o Braven’s program model to achieve transformational and sustainable impact

Partnership Development and Stakeholder Management – (30%)

Develop and steward strong and formalized partnerships with CUNY Lehman College leadership and faculty, employers, and community-based organizations that result in additional resources for our students and improvements to our program model. This includes:

1) Cultivate and manage relationships with key Lehman College stakeholders that fosters collaboration and results in a healthy partnership

2) Manage local employer partners to power the Braven Accelerator course experience by providing volunteers, sponsoring events, and hiring talent

3) Cultivate strong relationships within the local ecosystem of nonprofits and companies; collaborate to deepen and scale our impact

Experiences, Skills, and Traits:

The ideal person will be extremely driven, customer-service and results oriented, entrepreneurial and highly resourceful, and excited to dive into an early stage organization poised to change the educational landscape. At Braven we look for people who do what it takes and operate with humility and hunger.

Significant leadership experience (minimum of 7-10 years) with a verifiable track record of achieving excellence and successful outcomes;

Experience in an early-stage environment launching an initiative, program, or team;

Successful in managing and developing people and teams; creates and fosters a strong sense of culture;

Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills; ability to facilitate strong partnerships across a range of stakeholders;

High degree of flexibility and adaptability, excels in a fast paced, team oriented environment and is comfortable with ambiguity;

Proven ability to create, operationalize, and manage project plans, meeting milestones and deadlines

Data-driven manager: mastery of using data and metrics to drive decisions and measure performance;

Strong alignment with, passion for, and commitment to the mission and values of Braven;

Bachelor’s degree required

Total Rewards Philosophy:

Braven is committed to attracting and retaining extraordinary, diverse leaders who believe deeply in our mission and uphold our core values as organizational leaders and stewards within and outside of the organization. Braven provides a “total rewards package” that encompasses benefits, compensation, recognition, and career development. Braven covers 85% of health care costs, has unlimited vacation time, matches up to 5% of your 401K contribution starting your first full month, a paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff, and offers a competitive base salary based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization and take internal equity seriously. Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time.

The salary for this position is competitive and depends on prior work experience. You will have an opportunity to discuss salary in more detail after you begin the application process.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor. We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.

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