External Relations Manager

Date Posted: August 1, 2026

Students for Life of America

Status: Paid – Full Time

Description:

Description

Overview of the Position 

The External Relations Manager serves as the primary relationship manager for Students for Life of America’s external partners, organizations, coalition members, elected officials, donors, influencers, and strategic allies. This individual represents the organization at conferences, meetings, and events while cultivating relationships that advance the mission of Students for Life.

Working closely with senior leadership, this position is responsible for identifying opportunities for collaboration, strengthening existing partnerships, and ensuring external relationships are intentionally developed, maintained, and leveraged across the organization. The External Relations Manager serves as the bridge between external partners and internal teams, ensuring every relationship receives appropriate follow through and strategic stewardship.

Success in this role requires exceptional interpersonal skills, political awareness, strong organizational ability, and the confidence to represent the organization professionally in a variety of settings.

Responsibilities

Strategic Relationship Management 

  • Serve as the primary relationship manager for a portfolio of national partners, organizations, churches, elected officials, coalition members, influencers, and strategic allies.
  • Identify, initiate, and cultivate high value partnerships that advance the mission and strategic priorities of Students for Life of America.
  • Develop and execute long term partnership strategies that expand the organization’s influence and reach.
  • Maintain direct ownership of assigned relationships, ensuring they are consistently nurtured, strengthened, and expanded over time.
  • Represent Students for Life of America in high level conversations with external stakeholders, serving as a trusted ambassador of the organization.

Conferences & External Representation 

  • Represent Students for Life of America at conferences, conventions, coalition meetings, networking events, and other strategic gatherings throughout the year.
  • Lead the planning and execution of the organization’s exhibit booth strategy, including on site engagement and relationship building efforts.
  • Maximize every event as an opportunity to establish new partnerships, strengthen existing relationships, and increase organizational visibility.
  • Capture and document key contacts, meeting notes, and follow up actions from conferences and events to ensure timely engagement after each event.

Church & Strategic Partnerships 

  • Build and maintain strong relationships with churches, pastors, ministry leaders, and faith based organizations nationwide.
  • Develop strategic partnerships that expand opportunities for collaboration, education, and resource distribution.
  • Coordinate initiatives that increase the reach and impact of Students for Life’s educational resources, campaigns, and special projects through external partners.

Marketing Collaboration 

  • Partner with the Marketing team to ensure external events, conferences, and partnership initiatives align with organizational messaging and branding.
  • Collaborate on relationship driven campaigns that support audience growth, partner engagement, and organizational visibility.
  • Identify creative opportunities to leverage partnerships and external events to amplify Students for Life’s mission and initiatives.

Relationship Intelligence & Pipeline Management 

  • Maintain accurate records of meetings, conversations, contacts, and partnership activity within the organization’s CRM.
  • Track relationship pipelines, engagement status, strategic opportunities, and follow up activities.
  • Develop systems that ensure partnerships receive consistent communication, accountability, and long term stewardship.
  • Measure the effectiveness of partnership efforts through relationship growth, collaboration outcomes, and mission impact.
  • Ensure commitments made to external partners are communicated internally and successfully executed across departments.

 

Position Details 

Position Type 

  • This is a full time salaried position working at least 40 hours per week. Days and hours of work are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hours can be somewhat flexible by request.

Physical Demands 

  • Must have the ability to operate technical equipment such as a computer and sit for extended periods of time.

Travel

  • Travel to biannual team trainings in January and July is required
  • Frequent travel is required, including attendance at conferences, coalition meetings, speaking events, and Students for Life trainings. Attendance at biannual staff trainings in January and July is required.

Work Authorization 

  • Must be able to successfully complete an I9.  The I9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States.

Benefits 

  • Health care benefits
  • 401K match
  • FSA/HSA
  • Paid Time Off
  • Paid Holidays

Qualifications 

  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel, and Outlook.
  • Candidates must have knowledge of grammar rules and utilize the oxford comma.
  • Ability to quickly learn and adapt to new tasks and environments.
  • List other Qualifications in relation to the job (platforms, skills, etc)
  • Exceptional organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to manage large volumes of data accurately.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with comfort communicating across multiple teams and leadership levels.
  • High attention to detail and follow‑through; able to manage complex information without losing accuracy.
  • Ability to work independently, prioritize competing requests, and take full ownership of assigned processes.
  • Proficiency in database or CRM systems and Microsoft Office tools (especially Excel and documentation tools).

Who Are We Looking For We are looking for someone who genuinely enjoys building relationships.

The ideal candidate is energized by meeting new people, attending conferences, and developing partnerships that advance the pro-life movement. They naturally connect people, remember details about relationships, and understand that every interaction reflects the organization.

They are politically aware, understand the broader landscape of the pro-life movement, and can confidently represent Students for Life with professionalism and credibility.

Successful candidates are: 

  • Highly relational and naturally outgoing.
  • Comfortable initiating conversations with new people.
  • Exceptionally organized and able to manage dozens of ongoing relationships simultaneously.
  • Excellent at following through on commitments.
  • A proactive communicator who rarely needs reminders.
  • Able to think strategically about long-term partnerships.
  • Self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and comfortable working independently.
  • Passionate about advancing the pro-life mission through meaningful relationships.
  • Teachable and eager to learn new technologies, platforms, and organizational systems.

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