Position Overview
The Managing Director, National Partnerships is responsible for translating local insight into national impact – for scaling what works. This role serves as the primary relationship owner for national platforms and intermediaries that operate across states, with accountability for partnership stewardship, co-funding strategies, and pathways to institutional adoption.
This role leads Rockefeller’s efforts to align philanthropic, public, and private actors around proven approaches to creating and sustaining good jobs, ensuring that community-based work informs policy, institutional practice, funding strategies, and national platforms.
Reporting to the Vice President, U.S. Economic Opportunity & Civic Innovation, this role works in close partnership with the Managing Director, Community Strategy, and cross-functional leaders to ensure that local proof is translated into durable, scalable change. The position is highly external-facing and plays a central role in shaping Rockefeller’s influence as a national field builder advancing modern economic development.
Deadline to Apply: Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Work Schedule: This role follows a hybrid schedule and is required to be on-site Monday through Thursday.
Hiring Range: $216,400 - 257,590. This represents the present low and high ends of the Foundation’s pay range for this position. Actual pay will vary based on various factors, including but not limited to experience.
Principal Duties And Responsibilities
- Lead the Foundation’s approach to scaling impact, defining how community-based insights translate into national adoption through policy, funding alignment, standards setting, and institutional practice change, and identifying where the Foundation can play a catalytic role as a field builder and convenor.
- Build and steward strategic partnerships with national intermediaries, philanthropic peers, financial institutions, employers, and public sector leaders, serving as a senior relationship owner and ensuring partnerships are aligned, durable, and outcomes-driven.
- Serve as the primary relationship owner for national platforms and intermediaries designed to scale across states (e.g., multi-state workforce or economic transition platforms), owning partner management, co-funding tables, and scaling pathways, while partnering closely with the Managing Director, Civic Innovation & AI on programmatic strategy, guardrails, success metrics, and learning agendas.
- Design and lead networks and coordinated efforts—including funder collaboratives, communities of practice, and aligned investment platforms—that mobilize actors around shared goals, evidence, and scalable solutions.
- Structure and align capital at scale by developing co-funding strategies, pooled funds, and investment approaches in partnership with catalytic finance colleagues, ensuring resources are deployed in ways that maximize impact, reduce fragmentation, and support long-term sustainability.
- Translate local learning into field-level adoption by partnering closely with the Managing Director, Community Strategy to identify which community-based insights are ready for broader adoption, and by packaging those insights into actionable tools, frameworks, and platforms that enable uptake across diverse contexts.
- Advance policy-relevant scaling efforts by collaborating with policy teams and external stakeholders to inform funding reforms, administrative practices, and public investments that support the expansion of effective economic opportunity models.
- Represent The Foundation externally in high-level forums and partnerships, shaping national narratives on economic opportunity, workforce systems, and place-based development, and positioning the Foundation as a credible and influential leader focused on institutional adoption, funding alignment, and durable systems change.
- Provide direct supervision and leadership for managers and staff supporting national partnerships, workforce development, and communications/policy coordination, ensuring alignment across functions and effective execution of scaling strategies.
Education, Experience, And Skills
- Generally expected to have 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in philanthropy, government, finance, economic development, or related fields, with demonstrated impact at a national or system-wide level.
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
- 5+ years of experience building and leading complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks, including aligning diverse actors across sectors toward shared outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to design and execute scaling strategies that translate localized innovation into broader adoption through policy, capital, or institutional change.
- Experience in structuring or influencing significant funding strategies, including philanthropic, public, or blended capital approaches.
- Strong understanding of the intersection of policy, funding, and institutional systems in driving durable economic and workforce outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and influence cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment.
- Exceptional judgment and prioritization skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and focus efforts where scale is both feasible and impactful.
- Executive presence and credibility with senior leaders across philanthropic, public, and private sectors, with the ability to represent the Foundation externally.
- Ability to travel as required.
Competencies
- Action Oriented: Takes on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.
- Collaborates: Builds partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
- Manages Complexity: Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
- Nimble Learning: Learns through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder.
- Strategic Mindset: Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
- Develops Talent: Develops people to meet both their career goals and the organization's goals.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity in food, health, energy, and finance, including through our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation .
The Rockefeller Foundation offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that includes health insurance programs, tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment, a generous 401K, parental leave, and various forms of paid time off, all to help our employees feel energized, cared for, and engaged.
As an organization, we focus on six values to advance our culture and continue our success. We are dedicated to being Transparent, Optimistic, Accountable, Collaborative, Trusted, and Equitable. We expect all employees at the Foundation to contribute by developing their unique perspectives and talent, challenging conventional wisdom through evidence and reason, and amplifying marginalized voices.
The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and compliance with all federal, state, and local laws concerning employment discrimination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. To this end, the Foundation ensures equal opportunity to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, lawful alien status, physical, mental, and medical disability, veteran status, liability for service in the United States Armed Forces, or any other protected status.
The Rockefeller Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
