Kiva US Senior Partnerships Manager

About us:

Kiva (kiva.org) is an international nonprofit with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. We run a global marketplace platform to crowdfund microloans for financially excluded entrepreneurs, farmers and students around the world. Through Kiva Capital, we serve as a bridge between large scale impact first investors and underserved populations. Our digital identity platform enables borrowers who don’t have a track record with traditional financial institutions to record and verify their financial history and gain access to less costly mainstream financial markets.

Our organization combines the culture and technological passion of an internet start-up with the compassion and empathy of a non-profit to create impact and opportunity at global scale. Since 2005, we have raised more than $1.66 billion in loan capital for 4.1 million borrowers in 77 countries. Our lenders fund over $10 million in loans every month. With offices in San Francisco, Portland, New York, Nairobi, and Bangkok, Kiva's team includes 100+ employees and 400+ volunteers worldwide. Our team is growing as we pursue exciting new opportunities to create a financially inclusive world.

Our team:

The Kiva U.S. team provides 0%, no-fee loans of up to $15,000 to entrepreneurs and small businesses in the United States that are typically excluded from formal financing products. With no minimum credit score and an inclusive approach to underwriting, Kiva U.S. extends access to capital to small businesses across the country.

In communities and cities where there is an expressed gap in affordable financing options, Kiva offers a plug-in microlending partnership model for small business support centers, city governments, and community development financial institutions called the Kiva Hubs program. In more than 40 cities like Oakland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, partners are developing small business ecosystems and deepening their impact by making Kiva loans accessible to the entrepreneurs they serve.

Role overview:

Kiva US deepens its impact by partnering with local organizations (technical assistance provides, accelerators, local city governments) to find, fund, and support the most financially excluded small businesses in the US. This plug-and-play microlending partnerships model is called the Kiva Hubs program, and this role will be responsible for designing, implementing, and analyzing the frameworks, systems, and incentives that will allow our program to scale sustainably over time. 

In addition to Hubs, there are additional ways to partner with Kiva US, and this role will also oversee those relationships. The first is via our network of a 100+ Trustees - organizations across the US that vouch for the creditworthiness of a small business by publicly endorsing their loan application on Kiva.org. The second is a small but growing set of referral relationships that help the program maintain a robust pipeline of high-quality borrowers.

This role will be a play/coach position. A typical week in this role might include pitching a small business accelerator on becoming a Kiva US Hub, stewarding relationships with existing Hubs to facilitate renewals, and analyzing our partnership data to assess the effectiveness of our partnerships model. This role is perfect for a highly organized individual who loves building and maintaining relationships that support financial inclusion! 

This role reports directly to the Director of Kiva US and will manage 1 full-time colleague.

At this time, we can only consider applicants with authorization to work in the United States on a permanent, full-time basis; unfortunately we cannot provide visa sponsorship.

Key responsibilities include: 

• Develop and implement a framework by which to evaluate the success of the Kiva US hubs program and share findings with the team. 
• Establish robust operations based on your framework for success that position the Hubs program to scale efficiently in 2022 and beyond. 
• Secure 8-10 new Hub partnerships in 2022 that align with your Hub framework. Work closely with the Partner Success team to onboard those hubs and ensure their success.
• Build and maintain a compelling menu of partnership options to appeal to potential partners such as CDFI’s, accelerators, local city governments, and small business technical assistance providers.
• Work cross-functionally with finance and legal departments to develop and manage a renewals process for all existing Kiva US Hubs.
• Analyze data as it pertains to our Hubs to constantly learn what works and what doesn’t and quickly adjust our strategy accordingly. 
• Manage one team member, the Kiva US Partnerships Manager.

Preferred qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree 
• 5-7 years of relevant professional experience building relationships and managing partnerships
• Strong operational chops and ability to create process and structure out of ambiguity
• Deep knowledge and connections to the Small Business ecosystems
• Team player who enjoys building trust and working as part of a highly connected and interdependent group of colleagues
• Strong critical thinking and process orientation
• Attention for detail and ownership of your work
• Highly proactive and able to work independently
• Ability to manage time well and prioritize across competing tasks
• Tech-savvy. Familiarity with Salesforce, Looker, Excel, Google Suite, Asana is a plus
• Passion for social impact and financial inclusion 

What we offer:

• An opportunity to improve real lives, solve hard problems, and change the world
• Friendly, supportive, and adventurous environment with a team of engaged colleagues
• A comprehensive, industry-leading benefits package
• Opportunities to connect with and learn from colleagues and partners around the world
• Colorado range: $85K - $95K

A diverse and inclusive workplace where we learn from each other is an integral part of Kiva's culture. We actively welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. We are an equal opportunity employer and a great place to work. Join us and help us achieve our mission!

We will only accept applications directly from candidates. Kiva will not be responsible for any recruiting agency fees, absent a formal agreement.