Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships

About This Role

This role involves identifying, building, and growing new corporate and foundation partnerships to expand Watson Institute's Fellowship model. It requires extensive prospecting, relationship building, and strategic communication to secure impactful collaborations.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research and lead outreach to aligned corporate and private foundation partners to create Fellowships
• Draft speaking and engagement applications for conferences aligned with Watson Institute's strategy
• Build relationships with conference organizers to secure and strengthen Watson Institute's presence
• Design systems and processes to strengthen tracking and growth of prospective partnerships
• Write and design compelling, tailored impact updates for top prospects and partners
• Participate and lead prospect and partner meetings, including preparation and follow-ups
• Develop compelling concept notes, decks, and grant applications demonstrating business and community impact
• Design impactful points of business connectivity across corporate teams to deepen Fellowship impact
• Coordinate with leadership for cross-functional input in all proposals
• Collaborate with the Design Team on monitoring, evaluation, and learning to support partner expectations
• Serve as Strategic Partnerships Lead for special projects critical to corporate partnership strategy and growth

Requirements

• Deep-seated passion for Watson Institute's mission
• Experience in enterprise sales/strategic partnership roles
• Natural inclination to build and strengthen relationships
• Talent for persuasive writing, enterprise sales, and communication
• Systems-oriented and highly organized approach to work
• Excel mastery
• Email wizardry
• Rapid follow-up
• Data analysis

Qualifications

• Experience in enterprise sales/strategic partnership roles, specifically with corporations, corporate foundations, and corporate CSR teams

Nice to Have

• Experience with Salesforce (or other CRM platforms)
• Experience with Canva (or other graphic design platforms)

Skills

* Required skills

Benefits