Director, Growth & External Relations

Organizational Overview

To solve the world’s most pressing issues, we need to empower those closest to inequity to be drivers of liberatory innovation. trubel&co (pronounced "trouble and co") is a tech-justice nonprofit that mobilizes youth and communities to leverage local data to tackle the challenges that matter most. Bridging technical skills to civic action, we provide data civics curricula, workforce training, and digital learning platforms to drive socio-environmental advocacy. Democratizing access to data, design, and tech, our programs equip learners, educators, and nonprofits with mapping tools and spatial analysis skills to investigate local problems, craft data-driven stories, and spark good trouble. Whether modeling flood risk, mapping health disparities, or documenting food deserts, advocates make local problems visible and design community-driven interventions. See more.

In our approach to democratizing access to technical education, trubel&co grounds career technical education and experiential learning with liberatory design and abolitionist frameworks. Our STEM curricula and curated spaces of civic discourse center identity & place while mobilizing students as agents of change in their own communities, resulting in trubel&co diversifying the fields of STEM and innovation, building critical consciousness, and instilling self-efficacy as the next generation reimagines society for the better.

Our services fall under three core pillars: Learn, Build, and Connect.

• Learn: Accelerating technical capacity and civic discourse via learning environments integrating STEM & liberation, including youth programs like Mapping Justice and teacher training, enabling students to learn geospatial analytics, explore the intersection of Race, Power, and Technology, and create digital apps for social change
• Build: Filling the technical deficit within civic initiatives through service-learning, job placements, and advisory work, mobilizing students and staff to directly apply their skills in data, design, and technology to tackle societal and environmental challenges
• Connect: Extending the impact of our pedagogy & amplifying the capacity of alumni via programs on storytelling, upskilling, and networking around liberatory innovation, including public workshops, professional development, conference talks, and more!

trubel&co was founded in 2022, and currently operates at a $1M annual budget. This role is to help extend our pedagogy to new communities through our workshops, products, and capacity building. trubel&co has impacted 6000+ students and practitioners across the Gulf Coast, California, Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri, and Colorado, with strong aspirations for scale. We are a team of ambitious, motivated, creative doers who have a strong passion in data civics, liberatory innovation, educational equity, and startup culture, supporting a growing community of diverse tech-enabled trubelmakers. trubel&co is backed by National Geographic, National Science Foundation, Echoing Green, Fast Forward, NewSchools Venture Fund, Walking Softer, Camelback Ventures, 4.0 Schools, CIV:Lab, Society for Science, and other institutional and individual donors.

Learn more about our mission through this pitch video. The team is 100% remote.

Learn more about our workshop offerings, Mapping Justice, and CivicScape.

Position

trubel&co is looking for a Director of Growth and External Relations to lead our sales and revenue strategy, partner with our Executive Director on foundation and funder cultivation, and drive the storytelling and branding that connects our work to the many audiences we serve. This is a senior, hands-on role for someone who has run a team and a sales pipeline before, who can move fluidly between a room of teachers, a corporate sponsor, and a foundation program officer, and who is energized by pace and by closing. You will manage our Growth Manager and a part-time grant writer/communications support, and you will be the person most responsible for building the systems and follow-through that turn our existing relationships and early wins into sustained, growing revenue.

The Director will own the strategic vision for our growth, and the role involves a mix of sales generation, relationship cultivation, storytelling (written, verbal, visual), and being a core representative of our mission across virtual and in-person settings. You'll own the workshop sales pipeline from prospecting through close, design and execute corporate engagement strategies, lead marketing efforts to promote our programs, and represent trubel&co at conferences and partner meetings. You'll make strategic decisions about where to focus outreach, how to price and package offerings, and which partnership models to pursue based on market data and organizational goals.

This is a new role, built to meet the demands of a growing portfolio of programs and products centering data civics, geospatial storytelling, and responsible tech education. The role will report directly to the Executive Director. As with many start-up organizations, there may be additional ad-hoc support needed across the organization, including partnership development, communications, and client sourcing. You will build systems and manage people, and you will also be in the room, closing deals and cultivating relationships yourself, modeling the hustle you're asking others to deliver. The ideal candidate is a closer who has grown into strategy — someone who can pitch a climate nonprofit on a training package on a Tuesday, sit across from a foundation program officer making the case for a multi-year gift on a Wednesday, and then turn around and sharpen the language in a grant narrative before it goes out the door.

What the First 6 Months Looks Like

By 3 months, you will have audited our current sales pipeline, funder relationships, and communications output, and identified the biggest points of friction and opportunity. You will have refined our CRM and pipeline tracking system, weekly KPIs defined with the Growth Manager, and a clear read on which existing relationships (network intros, corporate sponsors, foundation contacts) need immediate follow-through versus longer-term cultivation. You will have started building trust with the Executive Director as a true partner on foundation cultivation and early prospects to celebrate.

By 6 months, you will have stood up the core infrastructure: a rigorous, visible sales pipeline, a repeatable grant and foundation prospecting process, and a consistent content and communications cadence across our channels. You will be actively closing deals and converting warm introductions independently, managing our contracted grant writer/communications support with clear feedback on voice and brand, and representing trubel&co at conferences and partner events. Corporate sponsors and foundation funders will see you as a trusted, consistent point of contact, and the Executive Director will feel confident handing off relationship follow-through. You will be identifying where new revenue opportunities and partnerships should go next, and the Executive Director will be coming to you with strategy questions on revenue and partnerships.

Responsibilities

Growth Strategy and Sales Pipeline (40%)

Owning the systems and follow-through turning our pipeline into closed revenue

• Create and execute revenue and go-to-market strategy in partnership with the Executive Director, including packaging, positioning, and pricing new and existing offerings
• Set and drive weekly KPIs tied to lead generation and conversion so the team knows what it takes to hit quarterly and annual revenue goals, and diagnose why deals are moving slower than they should
• Manage and improve our sales pipeline across workshops and services (currently 30%+ of our budget), both renewing existing accounts and closing new ones
• Manage and motivate the Growth Manager toward shared targets
• Convert warm introductions and network access into active opportunities, leading discovery calls, pitch presentations, customized proposals, and contract negotiations through to close
• Oversee our CRM (Hubspot, Asana) for tracking leads, deals, and engagements, with visibility across dozens of live relationships at once
• Track sales metrics (conversion rate, average deal size, sales cycle length) and build repeatable strategies to replicate early wins and improve performance

Foundation Cultivation and Strategic Partnerships (30%)

Sustain and grow funder relationships into durable, multi-year support

• Partner closely with the Executive Director on cultivating cross-sector foundation, institutional funder, and corporate sponsor relationships, helping funders in climate, education, democracy, and tech justice see their priorities reflected in trubel&co
• Move development strategy toward larger, relationship-driven, renewable funding rather than one-off grants, and build a more strategic, less reactive grant pipeline and prospecting process
• Build systems to maintain funder and institutional pipeline, tracking status, renewal timing, and progress toward multi-year commitments, keeping connections warm year-round
• Identify and cultivate partnerships with mission-aligned companies, leading outreach, structuring, and negotiation, and designing engagement models (e.g., sponsorship, employee volunteering, skills-based service) in partnership with the Growth Manager and Associate Director of Programs
• Identify, prospect, and cultivate partnerships with mission-aligned companies for sponsorship, employee engagement, and co-branded initiatives, leading outreach, structuring, and negotiation
• Design corporate engagement models that align partner goals with trubel&co programs (employee volunteering, skills-based service, funded cohorts, impact partnerships), in partnership with the Growth Manager and Associate Director of Programs
• Represent trubel&co at conferences, corporate events, and networking opportunities
• Act as staff liaison to the board's Growth Committee to build diligence and shared accountability around activating executive networks to drive fiscal sustainability

Storytelling, Brand, and Marketing (30%)

Directing how trubel&co's story and impact reaches diversified audiences(The Director sets strategy, direction, and quality bar for this work, and contracted support leads day-to-day writing and production. As with everything at trubel&co, the Director may pitch in directly when needed, but is not the primary or sole executor of this work.)

• Direct how trubel&co tells its story across channels: website, blog, video, newsletter, social, and conference proposals, adapting the throughline for different sectors (climate, education, democracy, tech justice) while keeping the story coherent
• Manage our contracted grant writer/communications support, overseeing the RFP tracker and grant submission timeline, and editing and shaping their drafts so language, brand voice, and grounded examples come through clearly
• Keep messaging coherent across stakeholders and oversee development of promotional materials (program brochures, one-pagers, case studies, decks)
• Set marketing strategy and manage the content calendar across email, social, website, and events, ensuring consistent brand presence and timely workshop promotion
• Track content and engagement metrics (open rates, social engagement, website traffic, conference/proposal acceptance rates)
• Build our thought leadership presence (speaking, op-eds, field visibility) and track what's driving engagement and results, so storytelling actively fuels the sales pipeline and funder relationships

This is a full-time employee position. 100% remote, with semi-regular travel required for key moments (conferences, partner meetings, flagship programs, team gatherings). Must be legally authorized to be a full-time employee in the US. This position includes standard employee benefits, including health insurance and open PTO. This role will report directly to the Executive Director. The Executive Director will communicate when priorities shift or new responsibilities are added. The candidate is encouraged to raise capacity or clarity concerns proactively and contribute input on scope decisions.

Our Startup Culture

trubel&co operates like a mission-driven startup: lean, fast-moving, and collaborative. We all pitch in across functions to get things done. Your role will have a primary focus, but expect to contribute to initiatives outside your core area when your skills can help advance organizational goals. Responsibilities evolve as we scale and as new opportunities emerge. For this role in particular, we're looking for someone who loves to resolve ambiguity: who walks into a fast-moving, under-systematized environment and builds the pipeline tracking, the follow-up cadence, and the KPIs that turn scattered opportunities into closed deals and sustained relationships. You'll often need to figure things out with limited structure or direction, diagnosing the problem yourself and building the solution rather than waiting for a playbook or asking someone to hand you one. We move fast and we're looking to move faster. If you're energized by pace, take ownership without waiting to be asked, and see bringing order to a growing organization as the job, let's talk.

What We’re Looking For

In line with our commitment to equity, candidates do not need to have certain degrees or come from a specific background. What’s important is that you have/are:

• Entrepreneurial Mindset: This is a startup. You are a self-starter who resolves ambiguity rather than waiting for a playbook, building the systems, pipelines, and follow-through that don't exist yet. You bring an ownership orientation, a growth mindset, and a genuine hunger for feedback. You come to the ED with solutions, not just problems. You excel at time-management and appreciate hitting deadlines. You are not afraid of wearing multiple hats simultaneously, with a phenomenal work ethic.
• Sales and Revenue Leadership: You have built and run a sales pipeline at an organizational level, not just closed deals as an individual contributor. You know how to set targets, track conversion, diagnose why deals stall, and build the rigor and systems that turn scattered opportunity into closed, sustained revenue.
• Relationship and Partnership Excellence: You are a skilled relationship builder, equally comfortable pitching a corporate sponsor, sitting across from a foundation program officer, or talking to a room of teachers. You know how to move a conversation forward without losing trust, and you follow through consistently.
• Sector and Content Fluency: You bring deep experience in at least one of trubel&co's core sectors, GIS and data science, advocacy and democracy-building, school/district sales, or nonprofit capacity building (especially in climate), and you can translate our nuanced, interdisciplinary work so a wide range of funders, partners, and clients see their own priorities reflected in it.
• Storytelling and Brand Judgment: You know how to shape a narrative and sharpen someone else's writing so it lands. You have a strong eye for language and voice, and you understand that good storytelling directly fuels sales and funder relationships rather than running as a separate, disconnected function.
• Strategic and Operational Range: You can think about where revenue and partnerships need to be in 12 months and then build the pipeline, KPIs, and systems that get there. You've led teams and departments before and are excited to bring that leadership to trubel&co. You are comfortable holding ambiguity, making decisions autonomously with incomplete information, and proactively flagging when you need help.
• Justice Commitment: You carry an unwavering commitment to tech justice and community-driven change. You understand that communities closest to harm have the most legitimate knowledge to address it, and that philosophy shapes how you sell, partner, and tell trubel&co's story.

Department Structure

The Director, Growth and External Relations manages the following:

• Growth Manager (direct report)
• Contracted Grant Writer/Communications Support (e.g., Development and Communications Fellow)
  • This role executes grant writing, communications, and newsletter production day-to-day. The Director sets strategy, reviews and shapes language and content, and manages this role's output and priorities, but is not the primary writer or producer of this work.
• Fellows and Interns (to support sales, partnership, and communications efforts)

How to Apply

• Does this role sound like a good fit? Please submit an application here with any available (optional) accompanying materials (e.g., cover letter, portfolio, lesson plans, blog posts). Please reach out if you have any questions; we want to set you up for success. Send a note to hiring@trubel.co and our team will be in touch.

This is a full-time employee position. 100% remote, with semi-regular travel required for key moments (conferences, partner meetings, flagship programs, team gatherings). Must be legally authorized to be a full-time employee in the US. This position includes standard employee benefits, including health insurance and open PTO. This role will report directly to the Executive Director. The Executive Director will communicate when priorities shift or new responsibilities are added. The candidate is encouraged to raise capacity or clarity concerns proactively and contribute input on scope decisions.