Director of Strategic Partnerships

Job Title:	Director of Strategic Partnerships
Reports To:	Chief Officer, Partnerships & Engagement
FLSA Status:	Exempt
Location:	Remote position within MO or IL, with travel

Why Wyman

At Wyman, you will contribute to mission-driven work that centers young people—their voices, strengths, and futures—both in St. Louis and across the country. You will join a team that values relationships, equity, learning, results, and thoughtful stewardship of resources. Your leadership in the space of strategic partnerships will help expand Wyman programs and trainings, strengthen relationships with aligned organizations, and build sustainable pathways for more young people to benefit from Wyman’s work.

Mission-Centered Partnerships and Engagement

The Director of Strategic Partnerships is responsible for growing and strengthening Wyman’s partnership pipeline for programs and training, converting opportunities into active relationships, and supporting sustainable expansion of Wyman’s mission impact. This role identifies new partnership opportunities, cultivates and stewards relationships, coordinates internal follow-through, and helps ensure partner engagement leads to clear outcomes, including new contracts, expanded program implementation opportunities, increased visibility, and stronger long-term partner commitment.

Partnerships and Engagement Responsibilities

• · Develop and execute a partnership growth strategy for the Teen Outreach Program (TOP) that advances Wyman’s mission, strategic plan, revenue opportunities, implementation reach, and long-term sustainability.
• · Build, manage, and actively move a partnership pipeline from prospect identification to qualification, cultivation, proposal development, agreement, and implementation.
• · Identify, cultivate, and steward relationships with nonprofit, philanthropic, institutional, business, school, and community partners that can support program replication, quality implementation, and expand mission impact.
• · Collaborate with partner support, partner development peers (specifically Teen Connection Project - TCP), administration and finance teams to assess partnership fit, clarify needs, support pricing or scope of conversations, and ensure timely follow-through.
• · Collaborate with partner support team to ensure clear alignment around deliverables, timelines, etc. to ensure seamless and quality partner experience.
• · Represent Wyman in coalitions, networks, cross-sector initiatives, conferences, partner briefings, and external forums to generate qualified leads, deepen relationships, and elevate Wyman’s brand, credibility and reach.
• · Collaborate with communications team to develop partner-facing materials, presentations, outreach content, talking points, and follow-up resources that support cultivation, conversion, retention, and expansion.
• · Maintain accurate records in Salesforce of prospects, active partners, relationship status, next steps, risks, and opportunities to support accountability and informed decision-making.
• · Track, evaluate, and communicate partnership growth performance, including pipeline activity, conversion progress, partner satisfaction, renewal opportunities, and expansion potential.
• · Identify trends, partner needs, sector opportunities, and field developments relevant to Wyman’s programs and the broader youth development field.

Mission-Aligned Leadership Competencies

· Partnership Growth Orientation: Identifies viable opportunities, builds strong prospect pipelines, advances relationships through clear next steps, and helps convert partner interest into active, sustainable mission-aligned work.

· Strategic Thinking: Understands Wyman’s long-term partnership needs; anticipates opportunities, risks, trends, and partner dynamics that affect youth development; and develops engagement strategies that support mission growth, sustainability, and adaptability.

· Cultural Intelligence: Builds relationships and represents Wyman in ways that support equity, inclusion, belonging, and mission-centered results; connects partnership growth to equitable outcomes for young people and communities; and models ongoing learning, respect, and cultural awareness with partners, team members, and stakeholders.

· Collaboration and Influence: Works effectively across teams, consultants, and external partners to build alignment, clarify next steps, remove barriers, and support shared ownership of goals.

· Relationship Development: Demonstrates genuine interest in building trust with partners and stakeholders; communicates clearly and consistently; and strengthens Wyman by expanding partner knowledge, confidence, and follow-through across teams.

· Business Acumen and Critical Thinking: Interprets partnership, funding, and organizational information to guide decisions that positively impact mission results; applies sound judgment, financial awareness, and relationship strategy to strengthen opportunity development, sustainability, compliance, and stewardship.

Success in this role will be reflected in measurable, quality partnership growth, a healthy and active prospect pipeline, increased implementation opportunities, clear internal visibility into the status, value, and next steps of key relationships, and meeting identified annual revenue goals through partner development, trainings, etc.

Partnership Growth Measures

· Partnership Strategy and Pipeline: Maintain a documented pipeline of 25 to 35 qualified prospects and update pipeline stages, and next steps at least monthly.

· Prospect Development: Identify 8 to 10 new qualified leads each quarter through partner research, referrals, external forums, conferences, coalitions, and cross-sector engagement.

· Relationship Cultivation: Complete 10 to 15 cultivation or stewardship meetings each quarter with prospective partners.

· Opportunity Advancement: Support 4 to 6 partner-facing proposals, scopes, presentations, or partnership concepts each quarter and help move qualified opportunities toward agreement, implementation, or expansion.

· Conversion: Convert 20% to 30% of qualified opportunities into active or expanded partnerships.

· Visibility and Engagement: Complete 10 to 14 targeted outreach or visibility activities each quarter, such as conference connections, partner briefings, coalition participation, presentations, or community engagement meetings.

· Reporting and Internal Coordination: Provide monthly updates to relevant internal stakeholders on pipeline activity, conversion progress, partner needs, relationship health, risks, opportunities, and recommended next steps.

· Mission and Capacity Alignment: Ensure 100% of pursued opportunities are assessed for alignment with Wyman’s mission, values, equity commitments, revenue goals, program capacity, and desired impact before advancing to proposal, scope, or agreement stage.

Qualifications and Experience

• · Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in nonprofit management, communications, business, community engagement, or related field.
• · Five or more years of relevant experience in partnerships, engagement, external relations, partner development, community engagement, sales or nonprofit work.
• · Demonstrated ability to build and steward strong relationships with partners, funders, coalitions, business partners, and community stakeholders.
• · Strong communication, strategic thinking, relationship management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• · Experience working with nonprofit, mission-driven, youth-serving, or community-based organizations preferred.
• · Commitment to/knowledge of social emotional learning and Positive Youth Development/strengths-based approach.
• · Commitment to inclusive, equitable, collaborative, and accountable work.
• · Working knowledge of Salesforce is a plus.

Work Location and Travel

This role is a remote (within Missouri or Illinois) professional role, with travel as needed (i.e., all-staff meetings, conferences, partner meetings, other business needs, etc.). Travel within and beyond the St. Louis region is estimated at approximately 40% of time.