Senior Partnerships Manager

Empowered is a community of social entrepreneur teachers, bringing the experiential, individualized, self-discovery teaching methodology to life in their classrooms. Their work leads to transformative learning experiences for their students. At scale, the Empowered community is a cultural movement driving bottom-up change throughout the key institution of education.

Empowered is part of the Stand Together philanthropic community.

Empowered is seeking a Senior Partnerships Manager to develop talent, advance strategy, and lead high-value relationships that strengthen our Partnerships capability and create value for educators, partners, and the organization.

In this role, you will lead and develop a high-performing Partnerships team, drive execution of an established vision and strategy, and build the knowledge needed to evolve the capability over time. You will manage your own portfolio of partnerships and contribute to other partnership opportunities where your experience and perspective can add value. As a member of Education Operations leadership, you will contribute beyond Partnerships by bringing external knowledge, challenging assumptions, and helping translate organizational priorities into action.

This role is based in Wichita, Kansas.

• Develop individual team members through coaching, feedback, apprenticeship, and stretch opportunities that strengthen judgment, strategic thinking, and ownership.
• Build a high-performing Partnerships team by aligning talent to where individuals can create the most value, setting clear expectations and decision rights, and holding a high bar for contribution.
• Drive execution of the Partnerships vision, strategy, and priorities while building the business and market knowledge needed to evolve the capability and improve results.
• Translate organizational priorities into focused partnership strategies, using data, experimentation, and learning to prioritize where Partnerships can create the greatest value.

• Personally manage a portfolio of strategic partnerships and contribute to other partnership opportunities where your experience and perspective can add value.
• Develop partnerships grounded in clear mutual value and organizational priorities.
• Evaluate opportunities and make sound decisions about when to advance, deprioritize, or decline them.
• Bring knowledge from partners and the market back into Empowered to inform strategy, products, and new opportunities.

• Serve as an active member of Education Operations leadership, contributing to the success of the broader business unit—not only Partnerships.
• Bring a clear point of view, challenge assumptions, and help turn ambiguity into priorities and action.
• Identify opportunities for Education Operations capabilities to work together to create greater value for educators.

• 3+ years of experience developing talent, with a track record of strengthening the judgment, capabilities, and independence of direct reports.
• 2+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, external relations, or a similar relationship-driven function.
• Strong strategic judgment, with experience translating organizational priorities into strategy, decisions, and results.
• Experience building and managing complex relationships, influencing senior stakeholders, and negotiating toward mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, exercise sound judgment, collaborate across teams, and move work forward.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders across teams and levels of an organization.
• Enthusiasm to contribute to…