Position Summary

The Partnerships Manager leads our outreach for education course partnerships, supports our existing custom program clients, and leads growth in both custom client work and targeted open enrollment courses. This position serves as the hub for NWOBS’ key partnership areas: Education partners, Community Service partners, and Scholarship partners. Each partnership area needs differing levels of time and resources, with the Education Course area requiring the greatest dedication of time.

• Examples of Education partners are: Reynolds School District, Word Is Bond, and the Methow Valley School District.
• Examples of Community Service partners are Portland Parks and Recreation, Smith Rock State Park, and Methow at Home.
• Many of our Scholarship partners are also education partners or youth serving organizations that operate in our program areas.

To effectively reach our revenue target for Education partners, the Partnerships Manager will develop and deploy a regional sales and outreach strategy and plan in collaboration with the Student Services Director, Executive Director, Program Directors, and Development Director. Success for this position will be defined by custom contract course development and expansion with values-aligned, diverse organizations and leaders, local and national brand presence and traction, and strong collaborative relationships with other NWOBS leadership.

This position is based in the Portland Metro area and will work remotely from a home office. Employees participate in local team gatherings, which follow CDC guidelines for COVID masking/distancing.  Compliance with our current COVID-19 Vaccination Policy is required for all NWOBS employees.

The successful candidate will also be expected to have prior training and experience in equity, inclusion, and diversity, particularly pertaining to youth education and/or with culturally specific organizations.

Primary Roles and Responsibilities

Sales and Business Development

• Develop and execute an annual outreach plan that focuses on regional secondary schools and colleges, youth serving organizations, corporations, and other organizations.
• Cultivate relationships with businesses and community partners which provide resources to serve students and meet program outcomes.
• Participate in the annual budgeting process, manage sales-related expense budgets, and take responsibility for reaching annual sales goals.
• Develop a robust channel of strategic clients, both new and expanded.
• Using a consultative sales approach, develop programs appropriate for client needs and outcomes in collaboration with Program Directors and Executive Director.
• Collate NWOBS community service project partner information including where and number of hours served for multiple reporting needs. Coordinate Portland area service opportunities for the Admin Team. Coordinate service opportunities with other departments, as needed.
• Maintain relationships with our regional scholarship partners to award annual scholarships. Work with the Student Services Manager to select Pinnacle Scholar courses and ensure students are supported through the enrollment process. Assist Pinnacle Scholars in meeting their service requirement, as needed.
• Assist the Student Services team deliver excellent customer service during peak enrollment periods.
• Participate in other duties as assigned.

Custom Program Management and Reporting

• Manage regular engagement, contracts, and invoicing with existing program clients.
• Collaborate with Program Directors to design and sell programs with achievable, deliverable outcomes in consideration of operational and staff capacity.
• Responsible for tracking sales and revenue and facilitating invoicing for all custom program clients in a timely manner.
• Manage accounts for all past and current clients. Utilize Salesforce for client management and create infrastructure in Salesforce for student management.
• Coordinate program components with Student Services Director and other key staff, including student screening, program evaluation, staff debriefs, and any external required reporting.
• Regularly communicate and report on goals and progress to internal NWOBS stakeholders.

Marketing and Outreach Coordination

• Build and maintain relationships with the national network of Outward Bound for coordination, alignment, and efficiency.
• Oversee the in-person, outreach efforts of the school, including college and gap year fairs, summer activity and camp fairs, trade shows, and specific visits to regional private and public secondary schools, colleges, and universities.
• Actively contribute to organizational communications, providing content for social media and external communications.

Knowledge & Skills

• Minimum 3-5 years of relevant experience (marketing, sales, business) is required, with previous non-profit experience highly preferred. Experience with Outward Bound or other wilderness expeditionary programs is preferred. A Bachelor’s degree (not required) in a related field can replace 1 year of required experience.
• Entrepreneurial, results-driven style with the ability to identify and implement creative approaches to sales, program delivery, and relationships.
• Interpersonal skills and versatility to effectively build relationships across a broad spectrum.
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment with field staff, program management staff, and administration.
• Ability to communicate the Outward Bound mission effectively to gain community support.
• Ability to perform and excel under tight deadlines and meet financial goals.
• Proven track record of managing and growing sales in the outdoor or education marketplace.
• Experience working with a variety of populations, including but not limited to secondary school youth, educators, community leaders, and corporate leaders.
• Sit at a desk or computer for most of the day.

Accountabilities

This position reports to the Student Services Director/EID Specialist.

Compensation

• This is a full-time, year-round, salaried position.
• Salary is commensurate with experience within Northwest Outward Bound School’s annual range of $45,000 - $55,000.
• Full-time benefits-eligible position; benefits package includes comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, 15 days of paid time off and 10 paid holidays in the first year of employment, in addition to one week school closure in December.
• All positions qualify to participate in our gear discount program and course tuition discounts.

Application

To apply, please email a cover letter, resume, and three references in PDF format to hiring@nwoutwardbound.org. In your cover letter, please describe what motivates and excites you about this position and how it connects with your longer-term goals. We recognize that many transferable skills from other experiences may be relevant, and we encourage applicants to highlight those in the cover letter and resume. We are committed to reflecting the diverse communities with whom we work and strongly encourage people of color, LGBTQ+ identifying folks, and women to apply. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

We encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible. The position will remain open until filled with a desired, but negotiable, start date of July 1st, 2022.

No emails or phone calls, please. We appreciate all responses, but due to the high volume of resumes received, we can only contact those applicants whose qualifications best match the position requirements.

NWOBS recognizes that there are barriers precluding people with marginalized identities (e.g., black, indigenous, and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, genderqueer, trans, people from low income communities, rural communities, people with disabilities, and more) from being able to access transformative and inclusive educational experiences. These barriers also prevent people from accessing and having inclusive and culturally relevant experiences in the outdoors. NWOBS believes it has the responsibility, as an educational institution, to dismantle these barriers so that it can full its mission of changing the lives of all who desire a quality outdoor education experience, and not just the lives of those with the privilege of being able to access NWOBS today. As such, NWOBS aspires to be more reflective of and relevant to the communities in the Pacific Northwest, both within its staff and leadership body as well as its student body.

NWOBS is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of NWOBS to provide equal employment opportunity in accordance with applicable law to all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, creed, religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, military status, political opinion, national origin, familial status, mental or physical disability, source of income, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law, in all personnel actions.