Lead Associate, Public Partnerships - Lexington - Save The Children

Description

Lead Associate, Public Partnerships (P2)

Job Category: New Business

Requisition Number: LEADA007993

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• Posted : January 28, 2026
• Full-Time
• Hybrid

Locations

Showing 1 location

• Lexington, KY — Hybrid-Lexington, KY, 800 Corporate Dr., Lexington, KY 40503, USA
• US-DC Home Office — Hybrid-Washington, DC, 899 N Capitol St NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA
• US-CT Home Office — Hybrid-Fairfield, CT, 501 Kings Hwy E, #400, Fairfield, Town of, CT 06825, USA

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been fighting for the rights of children. The right to a healthy start in life. To have access to education. To be in a safe environment, protected from harm. We work in some of the world's hardest-to-reach places – over 100 countries, including the U.S. No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you're creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

The Role

As the Lead Associate, Public Partnerships, you'll be integral to our work in helping vulnerable children achieve a brighter future. You will develop new, and increase existing, state and federal public funding and partnership opportunities for U.S. Programs. In this role, you will cultivate champions, elected, appointed, or serving state and/or federal public entities, who can help us build awareness, promote funding, and generate support for Save the Children's work in rural communities. You will be responsible for building non-partisan relationships, tracking policy developments, sharing information about our work, and maximizing public funding and partnership opportunities in your assigned states. Additionally, you will work closely with teams across the agency like marketing, communications, private fundraising, programs and advocacy to create materials, support site visits, draft proposals and reports, and influence policy.

Location

Hybrid – Washington DC, Fairfield, CT or Lexington, KY office locations

What You'll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Government Public Funding and Partnerships (50%)

• Prospect for new public partnerships and new funding opportunities within assigned program states and federal scope of work.
• Promote programs and services targeting new grants, earmarks, and other designated funding opportunities.
• Deliver proposal pitches and presentations, negotiate terms and conditions, close funding asks and follow up regularly with status reports.
• Contribute to, and coordinate, proposals and reports for government targets and ensure that they are completed and submitted on time.
• Steward relationships to maximize long-term engagement and financial support.

Government Relations Support (25%)

• Monitor and analyze government budgets and authorizing and appropriations legislation.
• Work with internal teams to execute a public funding agenda that advances the states' strategy and influences resource allocations to rural education, Head Start, and/or emergency responses.
• Coordinate with SCAN and the Policy and Advocacy team to collaborate effectively, execute on strategies to address new state legislation or regulations that affect the divisions' interests.
• Attend, lead, or help coordinate special events and advocacy activities, including field visits, opinion leader gatherings, briefings, and issues forums to cultivate champions among elected leaders in USP states. Travel will be a significant percentage of time, including regional state travel and national travel (car and airline options).
• Ensure accurate reporting of lobbying activities as mandated by relevant state and federal law.

Partnership Development Operations (25%)

• Contribute towards the implementation of partnership development plans as required and assigned by the Managing Director.
• Offer advisory support to the State team in creating and sustaining a pipeline of schools, communities, and partners that help move our programs and strategies forward in rural communities.
• Coordinate scheduling, logistics, and the execution of other administrative matters as requested.
• Generate materials and presentations to provide updates at various meetings with internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain records of contacts with elected officials entering all information into required systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to collect, maintain, and organize department one-pagers and key documents in a centralized repository for our team access and use.

Required qualifications for the role

• Minimum of a High School Diploma or equivalent, plus at least 3 years of relevant experience
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Demonstrated ability to convey clear understanding of issues related to poverty in rural communities
• Demonstrated organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize and attend to multiple complex tasks
• Demonstrated experience in advocacy, lobbying, or public policy work at the state or federal level
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English, particularly in interpersonal communication and public speaking skills
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally
• Willingness and ability to travel within the assigned states and domestically up to 30% of the time

This position may require the incumbent to operate a motor vehicle to fulfill certain essential functions of the job. The incumbent should maintain a valid driver's license and remain in compliance with any Save the Children policies pertaining to the safe operation of motor vehicles.

Compensation

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $72,250 - $80,750 base salary
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $65,450 - $73,150 base salary
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $59,500 - $66,500 base salary

The salary ranges listed above are for US based candidates. For candidates located outside of the US, salary ranges will be based on the salary scales of the local employer of record. Actual base salary may vary based on, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here ).

About Us

We are looking to build an inclusive team at Save the Children. We offer a range of outstanding benefits to support this goal:

• Flexible schedules and time off: Flexible schedules, generous PTO, 11 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays and hybrid working opportunities
• Health: Competitive health care, dental and vision coverage for you and your family
• Family: A variety of paid leaves: caregiver, parental/adoption, critical child illness and fertility benefits
• Employee Rewards Program: Annual merit increases and/or additional incentives for eligible employees
• Retirement: A retirement savings plan with employer contributions (after one year)
• Wellness: 15 safety and wellness days annually (if hired on or after July 1, safety and wellness days prorated to 8 days), mental health benefits and support through Calm and company-hosted events
• Employee Assistance Program: free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services
• Learning & Growth: Access to internal and external learning & development opportunities and mentorships

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in you.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities. This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.