Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships

Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships for a 100+ employee (and growing) remote education non-profit providing professional learning to K-12 educators nationally

Type of Vacancy: Salaried, full-time
Start date: December 2024-January 2025
Location: Remote/home office anywhere in the continental United States
Report to: Managing Director, Strategic Growth and Finance
Supervises: Proposal Manager and others as assigned
Compensation: The full salary range for this position is $125,000 – $189,074 annually. There are two types of experience being considered for this role: Experience that is directly relevant to the role and Total Working Experience, in all fields. This includes: internships and consulting work. In collaboration with the hiring manager, the People and Culture team calculates experience based on the candidate’s most current resume. When calculating the offer, consideration is given to candidates that possess additional qualifications (i.e., desired qualifications). Teaching Lab will generally cap salaries for new employees at 105% of the midpoint to allow for continued growth in the role over time.

Teaching Lab is an equal-opportunity employer committed to reflecting the diversity of the students we serve. We pursue equity as both a means and an end and enthusiastically welcome candidates of all backgrounds to apply for this role.

WHO WE ARE
Teaching Lab is a nonprofit organization with a mission to fundamentally shift the paradigm of teacher professional learning to achieve educational equity. We envision a world where teachers and students thrive together in communities that enable life-long learning and meaningful lives. In partnership with teachers, we transform professional learning from the ground up to dramatically improve student outcomes. We also work with school, district, and state leaders to create the instructional systems necessary to support these changes. To learn more about Teaching Lab, explore our website at www.teachinglab.org.

SUMMARY OF POSITION
The Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, with the Managing Director, Strategic Growth and Finance (MDSGF), Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), helps set Teaching Lab’s earned revenue goals and executes on strategy to increase earned revenue from states and districts particularly when they require applying through RFP/RFA processes. They create the systems and processes for meeting the goals, delegate work to team members, and supervise the implementation of these systems and processes. They work directly with the MDSGF to create Teaching Lab’s business development strategy, execute on this strategy, and ensure efficient operational processes.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Primary responsibilities for the Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships include:

Set goals and execute strategy

• With the MDSGF, COO, and CEO, develop and implement initiatives and projects to win school system RFPs, federal grants, and generate revenue through states, districts, and strategic partnerships, including strategies aligned with approved vendor list opportunities; define goals, and metrics of success, in alignment with other organizational goals, and strategies
• Work closely with the Senior Director, External Affairs, to align the earned revenue strategy with Teaching Lab’s foundation/corporate fundraising strategy.
• Provide the executive leadership team with strategic direction and decision-making on cultivating new partnerships or federal grant opportunities

Develop and manage revenue-generating initiatives

• Write or manage the writing of federal grants, school system applications, proposals,  briefing materials for meetings and site visits, internal memos, and other funding-related documents and correspondence as needed.
• Identify and help to pursue opportunities to establish new relationships with state and district leaders.
• Direct and track Teaching Lab’s targeted outreach to system leaders where we are an approved vendor or where identified as prioritized geographies to secure new revenue-generating opportunities.
• Represent Teaching Lab at strategic outreach opportunities, including meetings, conferences, and events to cultivate and manage relationships with school system leaders as needed.

Create and execute efficient and effective business operations

• Create and innovate on systems, processes, and tools to meet revenue goals from federal grants and school systems RFPs
• Regularly update and review revenue pipeline data in Teaching Lab’s CRM
• Regularly prepare for and facilitate review of revenue pipeline data and address risks
• Revise response content templates and response project management trackers to ensure Teaching Lab can efficiently and effectively apply to RFPs and federal grants
• Manage the resource and content repository of key or exemplar materials to support high-quality and successful RFP and federal grant responses

Engage in cross-functional collaboration

• Align key messaging with Teaching Lab’s external communication strategy to attract school system leaders and major donors.
• Collaborate with the Program, Learning & Research, Innovation Studio, Finance, and Strategy &
• Communications functions to submit compelling and winning proposals and reports, highlighting Teaching Lab’s unique value proposition, model, and impact

Engage in continuous learning

• Develop  deep knowledge of Teaching Lab’s service and product offerings, current and past partnerships, and staff member expertise
• Develop foundational knowledge in college and career readiness standards, early literacy, science of reading, writing instruction, ELA instruction, math, instruction, adult learning theories, multilingual learner support, support for students with disability
• Continuously develop skills and competencies to leverage AI to increase efficiency in responding to federal grants and RFPs
• Stay abreast of key research and guidance in the field, and engage in learning experiences to build skills and competencies in grant writing, project management, sales, or business development
• Engage in personal and organized learning opportunities as a team member at an organization that champions racial equity and centers anti-racism

Perform other duties as assigned by the MDSGF and/or Executive Team.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND KEY SUCCESS INDICATORS (KSIs)

• The Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships is accountable for achieving goals set in collaboration with their manager, aligned with Teaching Lab’s Annual Goals, and especially, Key Success Indicators (KSI) for their function specific goals. Additionally, if assigned direct reports, this role would have Home Manager goals. Additional information will be shared with candidates during the recruitment and selection process.
• As applicable, within the role, model the radical commitments for our values.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree
• Over ten (10) years of experience in grant writing, development, or a related field
• Over five (5) years of experience leading development functions, setting goals, creating the systems and processes for meeting the goals for educational programming
• Experience leading relationships with diverse stakeholders and revenue decision-makers
• Experience managing a process to apply for federal, state, LEAs, or school network-level RFPs
• Exceptional grant writing skills, particularly the ability to align responses directly and compellingly to the specifications of the federal grant or RFP
• Experience in building and developing essential components of a development function

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Working experience in K-12 education

WORKING CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to work a flexible schedule to support operational needs
• Ability to perform the essential project, duties and responsibilities with or without accommodation
• All team members are expected to support program/project needs which could mean that you play multiple roles at Teaching Lab Ventures (i.e., project lead, support, subject matter expert, etc.).
• Travel could be required for the role.  Travel is determined based on business needs and can vary depending on partnership/contract requirements.

TEACHING LAB’S VALUES AND COMPETENCIES

• Teaching Lab seeks to fundamentally shift the paradigm of teacher professional learning by reaching more educators every year with the highest impact programming.

Teaching Lab’s ultimate goals are:

• Educators learn more than they would without us
• Students learn more than they would without us, in a way that cannot be predicted by race, gender, or family income
• Educators we serve say they love our approach, and they want to keep doing it to advance educational equity

All employees are expected to embrace Teaching Lab Values, which are necessary to develop Teaching Lab Competencies, which help us to achieve our Ultimate Goals.
Collaboration & Responsive Service
Resilient Solution-Finding
Research & Learning With Humility
Accountable Excellence
Equity & Justice

REVIEW DATE
This position opened on November 14, 2024 and will close on November 21, 2024. All applications received between November 14, 2024 and November 21, 2024 will be reviewed by the hiring team.

$125,000 – $189,074 a year
The full salary range for this position is $125,000 – $189,074 annually.  There are two types of experience being considered for this role: Experience that is directly relevant to the role and Total Working Experience, in all fields. This includes: internships and consulting work. In collaboration with the hiring manager, the People and Culture team calculates experience based on the candidate’s most current resume. When calculating the offer, consideration is given to candidates that possess additional qualifications (i.e., desired qualifications). Teaching Lab will generally cap salaries for new employees at 105% of the midpoint to allow for continued growth in the role over time.