The posting
Start Date: Immediate Role Type: Full-time Title: Partner, Partnerships Development Reports to: Lucerito Ortiz
Priority Application Deadline: October 16, 2026
Location/Travel: Flexible; willingness to travel approximately once a month (~20%)
Who We Are
Transcend is a national nonprofit that helps communities reimagine and redesign schools so every young person can thrive in a rapidly changing world. Across the country, communities are recognizing that classrooms built for the industrial age aren’t preparing learners for what’s next. Instead, schools must be designed for continuous evolution: relevant, resilient, and ready for the future. For more than a decade, Transcend has partnered with school and system leaders to build the capacity for bold, lasting change—change led by the people who live it every day. We’ve worked with nearly 500 schools and 200 districts serving over 225,000 students in 35 states. Together, we’ve seen what’s possible when communities lead redesign with proven methods, insight, and support. From that work, we develop and share tools, research, and models that help schools everywhere make the leap to extraordinary learning—for every child, in every community.
For more information, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn.
The Opportunity
The Partner, Partnerships Development, is a natural connector, who loves spotting opportunities for collaboration, and has the project management skills to translate meaningful conversations into high-impact partnerships. This is an individual contributor role that is highly collaborative and closely connected to both external partners and internal teams. The role sits on Transcend’s SPOT Team (Strategic Partnerships, and Opportunities Team) and reports to Lucerito Ortiz, Managing Director, Partnerships.
The Partner, Partnerships Development, will advance Transcend’s mission in a pivotal way by seeking out, cultivating, and managing revenue-bearing relationships with schools, systems, and nonprofit partners across several of Transcend’s portfolio teams. Working closely with leaders across the organization, this role will serve as the primary relationship manager for a subset of Transcend teams that fulfill our partnerships with schools and school systems (we call these portfolio teams). The Partner, Partnerships Development, will lead scoping, contracting, and stewardship, while also helping codify the systems, routines, and stories that strengthen our partnerships function. This role is equal parts steward, connector, project manager, and executor—supporting existing partners, surfacing aligned opportunities, and expanding Transcend’s network of organizations committed to transforming learning.
If you thrive on connecting people, spotting possible partnerships everywhere, have strong project management chops, and love turning meaningful conversations into partnerships that can create real impact for students and communities, we'd love to get to know you!
In This Role, You Will Get To
Identify, manage, and grow external relationships with current and prospective partners
- Lead cultivation and coordination for an assigned set of Transcend teams whose job is to execute on client projects (we call these portfolio teams). This includes owning partnership cultivation, scope-writing and coordination, contracting, and ongoing stewardship in line with each portfolio’s strategy and needs.
- Expand Transcend’s partner pipeline by building and nurturing relationships across the K-12 education landscape, generating warm introductions, identifying new opportunities, and activating networks through others.
- Lead external cultivation calls for potential partners and active partner meeting check-ins that advance opportunities toward commitments, and prepare/coordinate escalations to Lucerito for complex, high-stakes, or cross-portfolio partnerships.
- Represent Transcend as an ambassador in the field by attending relevant convenings, conferences, and partner meetings—listening, connecting, and translating new relationships into actionable next steps.
Scope, Price, and Contract New Work
- Draft scopes of work and pricing for assigned portfolios, translating discovery into clear and feasible agreements.
- Plan for Lucerito’s review and approval of scopes, as needed, and partner with Finance on contracting workflows.
- Track and report on pipeline and capacity progress, maintaining rigorous accuracy and hygiene in CRM systems.
- Manage the end-to-end contracting cycle—from initial draft through signature and handoff to project delivery teams.
Collaborate across Transcend to strengthen systems, storytelling, and strategy
- Collaborate with assigned portfolio team leads within Transcend and org leadership to ensure relationship plans for current/prospective partners align with Transcend’s partnership development goals.
- Drive internal alignment through the cultivation-to-contracting cycle by proactively sharing field insights, gathering input, and facilitating clear actions and decision-making with Transcend portfolio leads and key stakeholders.
- Surface insights and trends from assigned portfolios to inform cultivation strategy and portfolio learning.
- Work with MarComms to identify and capture stories, case studies, and collateral that highlight the impact of Transcend’s partnerships.
- Collaborate with appropriate teammates on meeting prep, documentation, and knowledge management to ensure smooth cross-functional operations.
- Contribute to the ongoing codification and improvement of systems, routines, and templates that power the partnerships function.
Engage as a Member of the SPOT Team
- Participate in weekly Projects Meetings, Partnership Kickbacks, SPOT meetings, and other cross-functional cadences.
- Represent your portfolios and ensure effective communication across Transcend teams.
- Contribute to quarterly strategy and reflection cycles, surfacing lessons learned and emerging opportunities.
To see a sample week in the life for the role, click here.
Who You Are
You are a strategic relationship-builder and thoughtful project manager who thrives at the intersection of people, process, and impact. You’re energized by cultivating meaningful partnerships, translating insights into clear plans, coaching others to build and manage relationships, and ensuring operational excellence along the way. You move seamlessly between the relational and the tactical—building trust with senior leaders while keeping systems, documents, and details on track.
What You Bring
- You share a deep commitment to Transcend’s mission of transforming education and a passion for designing learning experiences where all students thrive.
- You show up with curiosity, care, and a drive to make meaningful change—living into Transcend’s values through how you work, connect, and lead.
- You’re a strategic relationship-builder who thrives in dynamic, people-centered spaces. Whether coaching others, facilitating high-stakes meetings, or navigating complex dynamics, you bring warmth, clarity, and confidence.
- Your project management skills keep work streams moving smoothly—you juggle details, logistics, and deadlines with precision, ownership, and follow-through. You approach your portfolio like your own practice, taking full responsibility for quality and outcomes.
- Your communication skills—written and verbal—are exceptional. You can “hold the room,” lead conversations, and craft compelling proposals or scopes of work that move ideas into action. You balance velocity with care, moving with purpose and urgency while maintaining accuracy, integrity, and empathy.
- You combine sharp critical thinking with a “roll-up-your-sleeves” mindset. You ask the right questions, identify root causes, and drive toward creative, practical solutions. You make sound judgments in ambiguity, knowing when to push, pause, or pivot, and bring structure to uncertainty.
- You have experience working in or alongside districts, CMOs, or education nonprofits, with a strong understanding of K–12 ecosystems and the ability to navigate diverse stakeholder landscapes. You’re familiar with the full partnership cycle—from discovery and scoping to contracting and sustained relationship management. Your background may include experiences in functions or roles like consultative sales, client services, strategy roles, chief of staff roles, or partnership development with complex stakeholder landscapes.
- You’re coachable and growth-oriented, seeking feedback, learning quickly, and sharing insights to support collective efforts. You’re comfortable in fast-evolving contexts, balancing strategy and execution, and leading through influence rather than authority. Above all, you value relationships as the foundation of meaningful, lasting change.
Application & Hiring Process
We review applications on a rolling basis and are committed to a thoughtful and people-centered hiring experience that helps candidates feel what it’s like to work at Transcend. Here’s what you can expect if you are selected to move forward:
- Initial interview with the team via Zoom to learn more about your interest and experiences. A note on compensation: during your initial interview with the team, we will confirm your location and accompanying salary range. *More on how we determine this is below
- Try-on activity to engage in a role-aligned exercise. This helps us get a sense of how you approach the work and gives you a feel for what the role might be like
- An interview with the hiring manager where we’d debrief the try-on task and engage in some scenarios you are likely to encounter in the role
- A panel interview where you will meet with a small group of Transcend teammates with whom you would most likely collaborate in the role.
- Final interview with our Chief Partnerships Officer and the Managing Partner
- Reference checks to learn more about your superpowers and working style
Salary
As a national team, we apply a cost-of-labor adjustment by adjusting salaries into 3 geographical bands (geo-band) in order to offer competitive compensation for all employees across the US. These geo-bands help us tailor compensation appropriately based on the specific location of each teammate. Below are the three salary geo-bands for this role, and we will confirm the individual range for your location during this initial interview, if you move forward in the process.
- Geo Comp 1: Currently Includes: NYC metro area, CA Bay Area, Boston City, LA City, Washington, D.C, Seattle $156,000-$186,000
- Geo Comp 2: Currently includes locations such as: San Diego; New Haven, CT; Ventura, CA $148,200-$176,700
- Geo Comp 3: Currently Includes: Most other US locations $140,400-$167,400
A Few Nuts & Bolts
We are an experienced team focused on extraordinary learning for all. We welcome candidates who are passionate about ensuring that all students thrive. We are also committed to providing our colleagues with a competitive benefits package and offer medical, dental, and vision coverage options, org-wide holidays, paid time off, paid parental leave, professional development opportunities, and fully remote work. We take pride in our collaborative environment, exceptional team, and shared commitment to principled, impactful work.
We look forward to learning more about you!
