Director of Partnerships - New Practice Lab

The New Practice Lab is a force multiplier for social and economic policies that uplift American families. We make the American safety net simpler, easier to access, and more responsive to the lives of real people.

The big idea behind the Lab is simple: when we make policy away from the people it impacts most, or rely on the tools of past eras to administer it, it tends to fail in delivery. The only way to improve delivery is to bring users back into the process through the use of more modern and participatory design tools. This approach can and does improve delivery, and what we learn along the way offers powerful insights that can reshape the way the next generation of policymakers does its work. 

With this cycle in mind, our work rests on two critical pillars of activity: 

• We run delivery “sprints (focused intense projects with clear scope of work to improve implementation of a policy) with families and government partners to improve the public benefits 
• We carry the insights of real families into the policymaking process to center delivery when policy is designed

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:  

Director of Partnerships Role Description

The New Practice Lab is seeking a leader to own the way we partner with governments, nonprofits, and funders as we move from a start-up phase to a three year strategy to improve policies and benefits delivery for 3 million economically vulnerable families with young children.  This leader will be a senior advisor to the lab’s directors and deputy director and will be the director responsible for managing a small circle of strategic partners who invested deeply in the Lab’s vision.  This leader would also be someone who can help manage key relationships in government and throughout our growing network to open, or keep open, key doors for our programmatic work.

Essential functions and responsibilities

The Director of Partnerships will own two  important drivers of the Lab’s success: managing the relationships with the Lab’s key existing investors, and leading the development of key partnerships with state and federal leaders and non-profit partners.

 As part of this work, the Director of Partnerships  will own the development and execution of a plan for engaging key investors in the Lab’s 2023-2025 vision and will drive work including:
 

• Managing high-level relationships strategy with public agency and delivery sector partners.
• Managing core funder relationships and reporting on Lab progress and learning
• Building out a transparent learning feedback loop between partners and our team
• Supporting and air traffic controlling on requests from partners for staff time, network access, professional input and expertise
• Overseeing compliance with all grant agreements and partnership MOUs.

The Director of Partnerships will be part of the senior leadership team at the Lab and will be engaged in all team planning and strategy to keep the portfolio and partnership work deeply connected to sprints and policy. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN YEAR 1: 

Success in year one looks like a plan to and execution of a set of deep partnerships with funders and collaborations which work will require a senior leader to:

•  Successfully stand up a new model of investment in addressing the delivery of policy for 3 million families.
• Develop/own a plan for products and conversations conveying a new way of learning and board of directors-like cadence with these key partners.  This will likely include:
• Designing 2 in-depth, all-partner sessions/year
• Visioning and leading retrospective impact memo annually
• Quarterly partnership check-in calls and learning sessions to advance the practices of the field
• Lead/liaise with product and policy teams in contributing to production of learning sessions and decks
• Develop creative ways to have stakeholders walk in the shoes of partners and families → bringing them closer to the work and visualizing administrative burden that sits on families today.
• Generate a spirit of invested ambassadors for the New Practice Lab’s work through deep relationship building

QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:

 The director of partnership is:

• A seasoned tri-sector leader making change across sectors with strong organizational skills
• Experienced in developing roadmaps and delivering plans 
• Capable of creating and managing trusting, collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders
• An experienced fundraiser and relationship manager
• Someone with strong written and verbal communication; powerful presentation skills, including to senior, high stakes audiences
• Ideally, is experienced managing high-level relationships in government and/or philanthropy 

How to apply:

Submit a resume and cover letter. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

 New America is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels of the organization thereby creating a culture that allows us to better serve our clientele, our employees, and our communities. We value and encourage the contributions of our employees and strive to create an environment where everyone can reach their full potential and drive outstanding results. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law. This policy applies with regard to all aspects of one’s employment, including hiring, transfer, promotion, compensation, eligibility for benefits, and termination.