Managing Director, Portfolio Lead, The Studio

About Us

Blue Meridian Partners is a pioneering philanthropic model for finding and funding scalable solutions to the problems that limit economic mobility and trap America’s young people and families in poverty.

We know solutions exist, but even the most promising strategies cannot reach far enough, fast enough without significant, long-term investment. We bring an innovative investor mindset backed by a decades-long track record to the pursuit of upward economic mobility for individuals and communities. By pooling resources, our Partners can unlock substantial philanthropic capital and invest effectively and efficiently.

Anchored by our tested and continuously improving, performance-based investing approach, Blue Meridian makes strategic, long-term investments across multiple portfolios aimed at boosting economic mobility from cradle to career. We support nationwide and place-based strategies to amplify impact across the country and within specific communities. We identify visionary social sector leaders who address key drivers of poverty and invest the flexible, upfront capital they need to dream bigger and exponentially expand their reach, influence, and impact. 

We are constantly learning, exploring, and seeking out new collaborations in relentless pursuit of creating lasting impact at scale that can change the life trajectories of millions of young people and families in America. Blue Meridian is staffed by an experienced team of results-focused leaders, and we welcome other mission-driven champions to join us. 

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Position Profile

The Portfolio Lead, Managing Director provides senior leadership of The Studio portfolio, with responsibility for its strategic direction, near- and long-term goals, people and culture outcomes, and the continuous evolution of portfolio strategy. The Studio portfolio embraces experimentation and provides flexible resources to help organizations accelerate their readiness for significant scaling. The Portfolio Lead holds accountability for synthesizing performance and impact across the portfolio, communicating strategy and methodology to investors, and driving strategic and operational change grounded in portfolio-level insights. In this role, they also carry the core Managing Director responsibilities of sourcing investments, advising investee CEOs, and stewarding long-term investments in organizations addressing significant social problems at scale.

Reporting to the Managing Director, Investment and Impact Lead, this role operates with great flexibility and freedom while working closely with other Portfolio Leads, the CEO, and investors to provide the leadership necessary to advance Blue Meridian’s mission.

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Primary Responsibilities

Career Path Classification

E1

Position Type

Exempt

Location

New York City. Hybrid working arrangement allowed.

Primary Responsibilities

The Portfolio Lead oversees and manages, delegating and working with other team members where appropriate, activities that may include but are not limited to the following:

Lead Portfolio Strategy

• Lead the development of Blue Meridian’s Studio portfolio strategy and business plans, and the continuing evolution of its investment practices. Stay abreast of trends that affect Blue Meridian and its investments.
• Serve as an external spokesperson/representative of Blue Meridian and assist as needed with fundraising, Partner engagement, and other activities.
• Serve as the primary communicator of Studio portfolio strategy and methodology, clearly articulating the rationale for strategic choices, investment theses, and portfolio-level priorities.
• Capture ongoing learning from investments and broader trends to continuously inform and improve Blue Meridian’s and investee’s strategy and operations.
• Lead the evolution of portfolio strategy, translating Blue Meridian’s broader investment thesis into portfolio-specific approaches and ensuring strategy remains current and responsive to field trends and investee performance.

Lead Portfolio-Level Accountability

• Serve as the accountable leader for portfolio-level goals, ensuring that the portfolio is tracking toward its strategic and impact objectives. Set clear performance expectations, monitor progress across investees, and take ownership of portfolio-level outcomes.
• Hold ultimate accountability for team people and culture outcomes within the portfolio, including talent development, engagement, team effectiveness, and a healthy, inclusive working environment. Model and reinforce Blue Meridian’s Ways of Leading across the portfolio team.
• Oversee and participate in the recruitment, development, and management of top talent to build and sustain a high-performing team.
• Perform other general management duties including recruiting, developing and providing oversight to more junior staff.
• Craft portfolio-level insights by synthesizing investee performance data, impact evidence, and field learning. Translate these insights into clear narratives for internal leadership and external stakeholders, and propose strategic or operational changes to maximize portfolio impact.
• Contribute to and participate in Partner and committee meetings.

Lead Investing Strategy

• Partner with Sourcing team leadership to ensure a robust pipeline of new investment for the Studio that align to the portfolio’s scale-readiness development goals
• Lead the team to ensure right-sized and rigorous due diligence and selection processes lead to high quality investment opportunities.

Coach to team to ensure investee leaders and their teams receive excellent relationship management and support from Blue Meridian.

• Earn and maintain the respect of investees and serve as a trusted partner and advisor to their CEOs and boards. This includes representing Blue Meridian Partners with investee boards and advising on strategy, scaling plans, and milestones; evaluation and evidence building; board development; fundraising; organizational design; and human capital and communications.
• Ensure high-quality execution of Studio investee engagements (Impact Labs and other supports) that effectively improve the scale-readiness of participants over time

Lead Innovation Initiatives

To expand its work and enhance its competitiveness, Blue Meridian will develop from time to time “innovation initiatives.” These will usually be staffed on a part-time basis by Blue Meridian team members, depending on their skills and experience as well as their interests wherever possible.

A Portfolio Lead may lead or co-lead one or more innovation initiatives and oversee activities including:

• Conduct research and engaging in landscaping exercises to determine opportunities in a given field.
• Develop concepts, strategies and proposals for future areas of potential investment.
• Plan, manage, and evaluate initiatives.
• Provide guidance and direction to other team members.

Required Qualifications

• Portfolio Leads must believe in Blue Meridian’s mission and be driven by personal values that align closely with Blue Meridian’s core values.
• At least 15 years of professional experience, with leadership experience in for-profit and/or nonprofit settings and with strategic philanthropy being essential
• A Bachelor's degree is required.
• A track record of leading organizations or teams to innovative, measurable results — with demonstrated ability to set strategic direction, navigate complexity and ambiguity, and hold accountability for outcomes across diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Experience serving as a primary strategic voice to investors, funders, or board-level stakeholders — communicating with clarity and confidence on strategy, methodology, and performance.
• Strong skills in developing and managing external and internal relationships and partnerships, working directly with senior executives, boards of directors and investors, leading teams, building and stewarding relationships, networks and agreements, and managing complex business associations.
• Proven experience building and leading high-performing teams, with accountability for people and culture outcomes including talent development, engagement, and inclusive team effectiveness. A visible and consistent model of values-aligned leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex performance and impact data across a portfolio of organizations, draw actionable insights, and translate those insights into clear strategic recommendations for senior and external audiences.
• Highly energetic, self-motivated, and entrepreneurial, able to balance a meticulous and highly rigorous professional approach with a flexible and empathetic responsiveness to the needs of others. While skilled at thinking and working independently and advocating own point of view, respects and solicits the contributions of others.
• Strategic understanding of AI applications relevant to the role, including experience guiding teams in responsible AI adoption, evaluating AI tool effectiveness, and ensuring appropriate use of AI technologies in professional contexts.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills with a professional and genial demeanor, and the ability to work with and lead people with different backgrounds and experiences
• Strong computer skills with extensive knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and the ability to master new software quickly. Willing to travel frequently.

Preferred Qualifications

• A demonstrated track record of leading at the portfolio or enterprise level — setting strategic direction, driving accountability for outcomes across multiple workstreams or organizations, and operating with significant autonomy in senior leadership environments.
• An advanced degree in business, law, public policy, or a related field.
• Experience with Salesforce CRM and SharePoint.

At Blue Meridian, we value building a diverse, inclusive workplace. Even if your experience does not fully align with our preferred qualifications, we still encourage you to apply.

Hiring Salary

Blue Meridian Partners aims to provide a comprehensive and competitive total compensation package.

The hiring salary for this position is $417,000. In addition to the base salary, each member of Blue Meridian is eligible to receive a performance based variable incentive bonus.

Blue Meridian also provides generous benefits including:

• Employer contributions to a retirement savings plan
• Medical, dental and vision coverage with minimal employee contribution
• Life and disability insurance
• Paid time off including vacation/personal days, paid holidays, half-day summer Fridays, and week-long office closures in the summer and winter
• Internal and external professional development opportunities
• Home Office set-up allowance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Hybrid work arrangement

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This position description is a guide to the primary duties and functions of the job, not an all-inclusive list of responsibilities, qualifications, physical demands and work environment conditions. Position descriptions are reviewed and may be revised to meet the changing needs of Blue Meridian Partners at the sole discretion of management.

Blue Meridian Partners is committed to equal employment opportunity, without regard to race, color, gender, religion, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, disability, veteran status, prior record of arrest or conviction, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law. These opportunities include all terms, conditions and privileges of employment, including (but not limited to) recruiting, hiring, job assignment, training, compensation, benefits, discipline, promotion, and termination.