Job Title: Director, Volunteer Recruitment and Stewardship

Team: External Affairs

Location: In-Person in Chicago (IL) preferred, Atlanta (GA), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC)

Employment Type: Full-time

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

We believe that the next generation of leaders will emerge from everywhere. We empower promising college students with the skills, confidence, experiences, and networks necessary to transition from college to strong first jobs, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact.

Learn more about Braven’s impact:

https://impactreport.bebraven.org/

https://jobsreport.bebraven.org/

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring its first Director, Volunteer Recruitment and Stewardship who will join us in recruiting, engaging, and retaining a community of 12,000 volunteers over the next three years. As a member of Braven’s External Affairs Team, you will develop and execute a strategy for recruiting volunteers to fuel all Braven’s nationwide Fellow programs, ensure seamless operations and deep cross-functional collaboration across the organization, and grow a world-class experience for all Braven volunteers that increases volunteer retention.

This role is on the External Affairs team and will report to the Director, Employer Partnerships, initially, then the newly created Vice President, Partnerships - Employers and Volunteers in the near future.

What You’ll Do

Set vision, direction, and strategy for a mission-critical, organization-wide workstream - 40%

• Oversee the end-to-end user experience of Braven volunteers, working closely across departments (e.g. collaborating with Product, Marketing, Employer Partners, Systems and Regional teams) to ensure brand fidelity and flawless execution
• Develop strategy for recruiting enough volunteers to fuel all Braven’ programs, particularly Leadership Coaches, Professional Mentors, and Mock Interviewers, while ensuring priority demographic goals are met or exceeded
• Develop and implement strategy for volunteer stewardship, community and re-engagement, increasing NPS and retention through recognition and appreciation events, ongoing communication, community-building, and opportunities for skill development and growth; include strategies for leveraging VIP volunteers
• Communicate across Braven subteams to ensure alignment on goals, strategies, deadlines, and resources
• Codify and maintain standard operating procedures and processes for volunteer recruitment

Lead year-round operations for org-wide volunteer recruitment and retention - 60%

• Deploy a multi-pronged recruitment strategy that includes targeted email campaigns, social media marketing solutions, and deep community outreach to partners, alumni, staff members, and past volunteers
• Collaborate cross-functionally with a dozen program managers to ensure that volunteer assignments are aligned with program needs and volunteer skills; anticipate volunteer surpluses and shortages to ensure a steady equilibrium; create and facilitate staff trainings to ensure they feel prepared to execute volunteer recruitment and stewardship programs effectively
• Organize large-scale exit interviews with a critical mass of volunteers
• Own and execute project tasks as a critical member of multiple teams, aligning with a Project Manager and the Manager of Volunteer Operations to prioritize work on a weekly and quarterly basis
• Analyze weekly data to identify program strengths and improvement opportunities; manage and maintain volunteer records and provide regular reports on volunteer recruitment and retention metrics
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years of experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's or master’s degree
• Experience: 5-7 years experience leading strategy & operations for talent acquisition or volunteer campaigns, preferably in a nonprofit setting, with a track record of achieving ambitious outcomes.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong ability to collaborate effectively with staff, volunteers, and external partners by setting others up for success.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing volunteer recruitment and retention strategies.
• Proactive and data-driven problem solver and decision maker.
• Entrepreneurial thinker who thrives in a fast-paced environment, even in moments of ambiguity and organizational change.
• Extremely detail-oriented and sweat the small stuff. You enjoy making complex tasks simple by applying clear processes to operate efficiently.
• You love constructive feedback and are eager to identify and discuss areas for growth, so that you can quickly learn and grow in them.
• You have a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion.
• You exemplify Braven’s core values.
• Your experiences have informed your belief in Braven’s mission and have prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC)
• Will be expected to travel 5% of the time
• Will be expected to work approximately 20-25 nights and/or weekends per year to lead or support Braven events
• Will occasionally be asked to help with physical tasks like setting up for an in-person event: lifting boxes, setting up tables, hanging banners, etc.

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Must be fully vaccinated and have received the Booster vaccination against COVID-19 and provide proof of such by the date of hire. Individuals may claim exemption from the vaccine requirement for medical or religious reasons. Exempted individuals will be subject to weekly testing if they engage in any in-person work activities.

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Performance Task
  
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Finalist Interview + Reference Checks

Compensation and Benefits

The salary for this position, which depends on prior work experience and our assessment of your demonstrated fit for the role, will likely be between $78,900-$98,600 in Atlanta, $83,000-$103,700 in Chicago, $89,600-$112,000 in Newark or New York City. Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. 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 and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking. You will have an opportunity to discuss salary in more detail after you begin the application process.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include:

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office two to three days a week. Therefore, we require teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City. Each teammate can use at least two flex days per week of their choosing to work remotely. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At Braven, we are committed to attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining a diverse team. Braven operates in the context of our American culture, against the backdrop of systemic racism and oppression of marginalized people since our country’s founding. We are committed to assembling leaders at our organization who have emerged from everywhere, with a particular emphasis on those who share the racial and income backgrounds of our Fellows, and creating an inclusive culture that allows all teammates, of all experiences and identities, to thrive.

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.