Fast Facts

StriveTogether is seeking an Executive Director for the Pathways Impact Fund, a new initiative aimed at enhancing educational and career pathways for students before high school graduation.

Responsibilities: The role involves launching the Pathways Impact Fund, establishing strategic priorities, managing funding distribution, and fostering stakeholder engagement to support students in achieving high-quality educational and career pathways.

Skills: Ideal applicants will demonstrate strategic planning, operational management, effective communication, and coalition-building skills, particularly in the context of educational and workforce development.

Qualifications: Candidates should have at least 7 years of leadership experience in relevant fields with a strong understanding of systems change, education, and equity, as well as fundraising and stakeholder engagement skills.

Location: This position can be fully remote or based in Cincinnati, Ohio with monthly travel required.

Compensation: $225000 - $275000 / Annually

Executive Director, Pathways Impact Fund

About the Pathways Impact Fund

StriveTogether, in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation and the Gates Foundation, is incubating the Pathways Impact Fund, which will seek to increase the number of students successfully seeing and seizing opportunities to get on promising pathways before they graduate high school.

The Pathways Impact Fund will mobilize increased funding for the regional intermediary organizations that connect the dots across education and workforce systems, making sure that educators and schools have the capacity, resources, and knowledge they need to build and sustain high-quality pathways. The goal is to streamline investment activity for both funders and grantees, and help unlock public and private dollars at all levels.

This new initiative will help the broad swath of organizations and leaders working in this space align on—and mobilize in service of—a definition of the key experiences that help students get on and stay on promising pathways. The Fund will seek to identify bright spots where innovative programs and organizations are effectively serving all students; accelerate the rate of learning in the field; and support existing programs in their evolution from “good” to “great.”

Relationship between StriveTogether and the Pathways Impact Fund

The Pathway Impact Fund aligns seamlessly with StriveTogether’s existing national movement and purpose:helping every child succeed in school and in life from cradle to career, regardless of race, ethnicity, zip code or circumstance. We work to break down barriers, change systems and improve outcomes with the Cradle to Career Network, made up of nearly 70 communities across the country. StriveTogether provides resources, best practices and processes to give every child every chance for success.As an organization with experience incubating new initiatives and an extensive, diverse network of education and community organizations, we will be recruiting a leader to launch this initiative.

About the position

The Executive Director, Pathways Impact Fund (PIF) will lead a transformative initiative poised to accelerate promising education and career opportunities. As the founding leader, you will launch and drive a bold vision that empowers young people across the country to access and thrive in high-quality pathways toward successful futures.

This role places you at the forefront of an emerging national effort, where you will lead the Pathways Impact Fund towards:

Articulating the key experiences that build the evidence base of high-quality pathways for high school students, leveraging research and advocacy to develop consistent frameworks and guiding principles.
Facilitating the flow of critical funding to communities advancing coordination across the education, workforce, and government sectors to scale high-quality career pathways. Manage and attract ongoing investments to sustain this multi-million-dollar fund.
Enabling the implementation of pathways at scale by serving as a “learning hub,” enabling technical assistance, connecting stakeholders to essential resources, and aggregating public goods that enhance pathway quality.
Tracking and communicating field-level impact by measuring outcomes, cataloging evidence-based practices, and elevating success stories to inspire and inform future efforts

The Pathways Impact Fund will launch as an incubated initiative within StriveTogether, providing you with the credibility, expertise, and infrastructure to focus on strategic priorities and build the foundation for long-term success. This collaborative model ensures that you can lead with confidence, supported by a network of experienced partners and stakeholders deeply committed to your success.

The Executive Director, PIF will report to the Chief Executive Officer at StriveTogether and a steering committee composed of key partners and funders.

About you

Your experience reflects a deep understanding of systems change, particularly in education, workforce development, and/or economic mobility. You have been successful in uniting diverse stakeholders around a common vision and a deep commitment to creating access to high-quality education and career opportunities for young people. You bring the ability to strengthen a national movement while remaining responsive to regional impact. Your leadership combines strategic acumen with an unwavering commitment to equity and inclusion.

As a visionary leader, you are passionate about driving transformative change at scale. You excel at taking bold ideas and turning them into actionable strategies that deliver measurable impact. As an entrepreneurial thinker, you’re driven by the opportunity to build something from the ground up, and you thrive in dynamic environments where collaboration, innovation, and big-picture thinking are essential. You’re skilled at navigating complex challenges, forging partnerships, and mobilizing resources to drive meaningful outcomes. Whether articulating a compelling vision, securing investments, or enabling high-quality implementation, you are a builder who ensures that ideas become reality.

You are energized by the opportunity to lead a groundbreaking initiative, leveraging your skills and expertise to empower young people and transform communities nationwide. As a champion of equity in opportunity, you are committed to ensuring all young people succeed regardless of race, socioeconomic status or zip code. At StriveTogether, we’re dedicated to creating equitable pathways to economic mobility, this shared commitment is expected of the Pathways Impact Fund. To be successful in this role, you must understand the challenges faced by marginalized communities — including but not limited to barriers of race, ethnicity, class, ability, immigration status, gender, and their intersections.

Responsibilities and Duties

Launch the vision & direction for the Pathways Impact Fund

Build alignment toward a shared perspective on the set of key experiences that help students get and stay on promising pathways, leveraging insights from the field to guide action.
Create a blueprint to inform and mobilize learning, strategy, and decision-making at local and national levels.
Establish strategic priorities for fundraising, funding distribution, programmatic focus, impact measures, and partnership engagement.
Position the Pathways Impact Fund as a central facilitator and connector within the pathways ecosystem, driving alignment across grassroots and grasstops stakeholders.
Anticipate and respond to opportunities and challenges with agility, ensuring sustained focus on shared goals.

Stakeholder Engagement

Collaborate with diverse partners to align proposals, ideas, and priorities, driving collective impact through informed and inclusive communication strategies.
Navigate complex stakeholder dynamics, making and delivering on critical decisions, even in contentious circumstances.

Establish and manage the operating framework

Determine operational capabilities, creating accountability structures to achieve measurable outcomes. Including, but not limited to:
Hiring and staff development
Determining impact metrics and the methods to evaluate and report to stakeholders
The process and strategy for funding distribution
Establishing an annual budget and creating long-term sustainability

Demonstrate authentic leadership values aligned with StriveTogether values and foster a strong culture that prioritizes anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Qualifications

Nonprofit and Pathways Experience

Deep familiarity with the integral sectors of pathways work such as intermediaries, employers, policy, research, K12, and postsecondary. Maintains a well-established network of key partners regionally and nationally.
A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible leadership roles, including experience in senior management. Experience leading in regional and national capacities is beneficial.
Demonstrated ability to lead organizations or significant teams effectively.
Experience and success with fundraising, grant management, and donor relations.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Skilled in building rapport and establishing shared goals with diverse groups, including staff, board members, community leaders, and funders.
Experience in building partnerships and aligning coalitions focused on a common goal across various sectors or regions.
Ability to work effectively within complex governing structures, providing stakeholders with information and guidance needed for informed decision-making.

Strategic Planning and Implementation:

Proven ability to establish clear direction and strategic plan, achieve buy-in, and realize results.
Experience with data analysis and impact measures with the ability to effectively evaluate, synthesize, and communicate outcomes and key learnings.

Operational and Financial Management:

Experience hiring and managing teams, overseeing operational systems, and achieving organizational goals in a start-up environment. Ability to leverage central, shared services is highly valued.
Experience with nonprofit finances, including budgeting, fundraising, grantmaking, financial reporting, and resource optimization.

Location and Work Requirements

This role has the opportunity to be fully remote, or based out of StriveTogether’s downtown Cincinnati headquarters. Monthly travel required.

Candidates must be able to effectively use remote work technology, including Slack, Zoom, and other technology.

Compensation and Benefits

The anticipated salary range for this role is $225,000-$275,000 with an opportunity for a 20% annual performance bonus. The salary range accounts for Cincinnati-similar geographic regions and will be adjusted based on geographic market.

StriveTogether also provides competitive benefits and professional development opportunities including:

Fifteen days paid time off with four personal days, eleven holidays and a five-day break at the end of the year. PTO increases to twenty days after five years and staff members are able to apply for sabbatical in their seventh year of employment
Competitive health and dental with up to $2,500 contribution from the organization for HSA for HDHP participants
Automatic 3% employer contribution to retirement plan and up to another 1% based on a total of 5% employee contribution
Options for professional development internally and externally including webinars, conferences and trainings
Paid parental leave
100% paid vision, short-term and long-term disability, basic life insurance and access to Employee Assistance Program
Cell phone, internet and $250 yearly home office stipend

Application and Interview Process

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with a priority for those who apply by February 17th target start date in April 2025 The process below is reflective of the typical process but may adjust slightly based on need and timing.

Phone Screen
StriveTogether Interview
Performance Task
StriveTogether CEO and Steering Committee Interview
Reference Checks

If you need resonable accommodations during the application process, please contact us at px@strivetogether.org.

Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

StriveTogether seeks to disrupt inequitable practices that impact historically marginalized individuals and communities. We recognize that you may not have an exact match with every qualification for this role, and that's okay — we encourage you to apply. Research indicates that individuals from marginalized groups, particularly women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community, often hesitate to apply unless they meet all criteria. We value diverse experiences and perspectives, and we welcome your application.

Equal Opportunity Employer

StriveTogether provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, domestic partnership status, gender identity or expression or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

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Executive Director, Pathways Impact Fund