AI Jobs Institute - Director of Strategy and Partnerships

About Pursuit

Pursuit is a social impact organization building the future of economic mobility in the age of AI. For over a decade, we’ve transformed lives through immersive training programs that propel adults from low-income backgrounds - often without college degrees - into high-growth tech careers. Our graduates have already generated nearly $1 billion in lifetime wage gains. 

Now, as AI reshapes every industry, Pursuit is evolving into an AI-native organization. We’re training AI-native talent, embedding AI into our operations, and building scalable software to extend our impact. From grassroots partnerships to national policy, we’re not just filling jobs—we’re rethinking how economic opportunity works at scale.

About the Engagement

In 2026, with $13M of public funding from the State of New York and New York City, Pursuit is launching the New York AI Jobs Institutes (AIJI) - a new hub - one of the first of its kind in the country - built to ensure every New Yorker has access to economic opportunity in the AI economy. The Institute will be based in a state of the art skyscraper and serve as a hub for training +20,000 low income New Yorkers, small businesses and will bring together large employers, thought-leaders, five of the largest AI companies in the world, community colleges and community organizations across the city to directly build training programs, workforce pathways, innovative financing models and other AI training solutions to  ensure New York City is building the most resilient AI workforce in the world and one with opportunity for all

To support the successful launch of this Institute and ensure it has maximum impact, we are hiring an AI Jobs Institute (AIJI) Director of Strategy and Partnerships to help co-lead strategy, partnership creation, and help oversee go-to-market execution. This role is responsible for turning strategy and conversation into action: ensuring decisions are translated into plans, stakeholders are effectively managed, initiatives are successfully launched, and high-quality Institute content is  produced.

Role Description

The AIJI Director of Strategy and Partnerships will own the cross-functional program management and execution required to launch AIJI. They will drive progress across leadership, programs, partnerships, fundraising, design, and operations, consolidating perspectives, surfacing tradeoffs, and pushing the organization toward alignment and resolution on key questions to enable successful launch of AIJI HQ. 

You’ll report directly to the CEO, and work alongside other leaders at Pursuit to advance AIJI moving from idea to launch. This includes helping inform the strategic direction and goals of the Institute, helping forge strong partnerships and ecosystem activation to ensure AIJI success, help develop and execute on a strong launch strategy, support fundraising efforts in the tens of millions, help develop and activate an AIJI advisory board, and support AIJI marketing, branding and communications efforts. This is a hands-on, high-ownership operator role for someone who thrives in ambiguity and loves turning loose ideas into concrete outputs.

What You’ll Do

• Develop strategy & set goals: Report to the CEO and work with Pursuit leadership to develop strategy of the Institute, define goals and focus areas of the Institute in preparation for launch.
  
  
• Develop and lead Go-to-Market Execution: Lead internal process and execution of a strong go-to-market strategy for AIJI, including ecosystem activation, achieving key benchmarks and milestones, marketing and communications, and stakeholder management.
  
  
• Drive and Manage Internal Alignment: Bring together differing perspectives from leadership, staff, and partners; synthesize inputs; surface tradeoffs; and push toward clear decisions, next steps, and ownership.
  
  
• Advance Funder & Partner Follow-Up: Proactively drive post-meeting follow-up and activation across funders and partners and pushing next steps forward with the CEO and CDO.
  
  
• Translate Inputs Into Plans: Continuously update AIJI strategy, plans, and recommendations as new information emerges from funders, partners, construction realities, and internal feedback.

• Coordinate Across External Stakeholders: Work closely with external partners such as an AIJI advisory board, funders, employer partners, and NYC ecosystem of public officials and organizations.

About You

• Strategy Consulting or MBA Background: 5+ years of experience in consulting or similarly structured strategic roles, and/or an MBA with strong analytical and project-based training.
  
  
• Strategic Program Design: Ability to take early-stage concepts and translate them into structured program models, operating plans, and clear option sets.
  
  
• ​​Executive-Level Partnership Execution: Experience advancing partnerships with senior leaders and decision-makers.
  
  
• Experience with Go-to-Market Initiatives: have supported, led or familiarity with launch of large new initiatives, go-to-market efforts.
  
  
• Synthesis & Insight Development: Strong skill in gathering input from diverse stakeholders, extracting key insights, and surfacing coherent pathways forward.
  
  
• Facilitation & Alignment-Building: Comfortable guiding leadership and cross-functional teams through complex or ambiguous decisions to reach shared alignment.
  
  
• Cross-Functional Management: Skilled in organizing complexity, driving clarity across teams, and keeping multiple stakeholders accountable and moving forward.
  
  
• Comfort with Ambiguity: Thrives in iterative, evolving environments where the plan is built through cycles of feedback, analysis, and refinement.
  
  
• Mission-Aligned: Belief in Pursuit’s mission and the vision for AI to expand opportunity for New Yorkers.
  
  
• Experience with Ecosystem, Workforce of Place-Based Initiatives: Familiarity with innovation hubs, multi-stakeholder collaborations, or workforce/economic mobility programs is a strong plus.

Pursuit offers: 

• An opportunity to work at the intersection of tech and social impact, and make a direct impact on the communities of those we serve.
• Competitive compensation in base, plus bonus and a full benefits package
• 401k Match
• Unlimited PTO and an all-Pursuit summer break the last week of August and a week-long holiday the last week of December
• Hybrid and flexible work policy, with flexible hours
• Catered lunches once a week and delicious snacks
• Dedicated time to build in AI and hone your AI skills

Salary & Benefits:

This is a full-time role with an expected annual salary between $140,000-$150,000, with the option to start as a contractor for 8-12 months in an effort to provide upfront flexibility.