The Role: Director, Strategic Partnerships
Location: Boston, MassChallenge HQ; Hybrid with two days in the office (additional to support and attend meetings and events) and some travel required.
Reports to: Will Magruder, Vice President of Partnerships
Compensation: $100,000- $110,000
MassChallenge is the global network for innovators who are working to solve massive challenges. We connect startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and economies. Our mission is to equip bold entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and create meaningful change. Our mission is BIG, and thus we are a team that gives 100% every day.
Position Summary
You will work collaboratively with the Partnership team to design and deliver programs outside of standard "early stage accelerator" activities. This role will focus on growing MassChallenge in one of our key focus areas:
- Finance
- HealthCare
- Safety and Security
- Sustainable Food Systems
- Climate and Environment
The ideal candidate has direct experience and subject matter expertise in Finance, HealthCare or Safety & Security.
The work will include custom accelerator programs, pitch competitions, specialized startup sourcing programs, training events, and organizing community events. You will work directly with our partners to identify the innovation goals within their organizations and structure engagements to achieve the desired outcomes as our resident champion of corporate innovation. This means you must be comfortable working as both a strategist and a project manager, have a passion for building partnerships, and be capable of working within a team across multiple geographies both internally and externally.
This is a "front of house" role - meaning this role will represent MassChallenge frequently at conferences, local events, and most importantly, with startups and our expert network.
Depending on the size and scope of the work, the person in this role may be a people manager.
Location
This role is hybrid and will be expected to work from the Boston office for at least two days per week, typically Tuesday and Thursday.
What You'll Do
- Design and deliver strategic programs to help accelerate startups and simultaneously achieve innovation objectives as defined by the sponsoring partners.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned partner relationships.
- Work with partners to scope deliverables including the development of project plans, timelines, delegation of responsibilities, and staffing needs.
- Manage cross-program staffing process to ensure internal alignment on roles and responsibilities.
- Support the development of key partner operating and management tools related to data collection, impact reporting, and ROI measurement.
- Engage the extended MassChallenge community to recruit subject matter experts to serve as judges, speakers, and mentors.
- Advise and support new sales processes including solution shaping and timeline development.
- Advise and oversee implementation of major in-accelerator deliverables including design and execution of industry tracks to ensure consistency across programs.
Who You Are & What You Bring
You have at least 7 years of experience, ideally in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment and with some experience as a manager.
You have knowledge of and a passion for the HealthCare, Finance or Safety and Security space.
You take a highly collaborative approach and are able to work across teams and functions to achieve success. You have an ability to lead, a willingness to be led, and comfort with situational leadership.
You have both an operational and product development mindset; you are able to help shape deliverables to meet partners' specific needs and "productize" custom offerings over time.
You have an ability to connect and engage with all stakeholders at varying levels.
You are extremely organized with a high attention to detail and a very strong ability to prioritize, manage time, and manage others. You are execution-oriented. You are not just a planner but also a doer.
You have excellent interpersonal, written, speaking, and customer relationship-building skills, across multiple levels of management.
You are skilled in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel required. Knowledge of Salesforce is preferred.
Who We Are
MassChallenge is the global network for innovators who are working to solve massive challenges. We connect startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and economies. At MassChallenge we:
- Help entrepreneurs build the next generation of transformational businesses by connecting them with the resources, partnerships, and communities that help them launch, grow, and scale their startups.
- Help our partners build, grow, and evolve their corporate innovation practices.
- Leverage the power of entrepreneurship to strengthen global innovation ecosystems.
Why You Should Join Us
We believe working at MassChallenge is fulfilling because of the mission, challenging because of the pace and work, and rewarding because you get to build to the next step in your career here. When you join MassChallenge you join an incredible team and network of innovators and entrepreneurs, you take ownership over significant and strategically important projects, you focus on impact and output, and you help strengthen the global innovation ecosystem.
Our Core Values:
- Founder Mindset: Optimism, Tenacity, Love the Problem
- Connect & Collaborate: Empathy & Inclusion & Fun, Build Community, Connect the Dots
- Progress over Perfection: Build on experience, Fail Fast, Demonstrate Traction
Compensation
MassChallenge offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment.
Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and commensurate with skills and experience.
For this position, the base salary range is $100-110K.
Internal equity considerations and the average salary of the peer range will be reviewed before making a final offer.
MassChallenge is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We seek individuals from a broad variety of backgrounds with varying levels of experience who have a desire to do meaningful work. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, color, gender, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.
