Manager, External Affairs

Code2

College is scaling post-secondary opportunity, access and success to high school students regardless of their zip codes. Our program model leverages paid, technical work experience for our high school students as the primary leverage point for economic mobility and generational joy. And now, we’re looking to hire a Manager, External Affairs to support our mission.

This position is based in a home office in the state of Texas. Travel is required to and within the Austin Metropolitan area and to other cities up to 50% of the time, including some evenings and weekends for events.

As the Manager, External Affairs, you will be responsible for overseeing and executing a national events strategy and managing relationships with city and government stakeholders to expand the reach and impact of Code2

College. You will lead the design and implementation of experiences that build the Code2

College brand and create new opportunities for student engagement and programming, including through Summer Youth Employment Programs.

In this role, you will drive external engagement across regions, ensuring strategic alignment with city partners, civic organizations, and local leaders. You will be instrumental in expanding the Code2

College footprint by cultivating relationships that unlock public partnerships and funding streams, while delivering a high-quality, mission-aligned experience through all external touchpoints.

Additionally, within the first 12 months, the Manager, External Affairs will:

• Identify and secure city and government partnerships, including formalizing agreements with at least two municipalities to support Summer Youth Employment Program placements for Summer 2026.
• Develop and implement a comprehensive external affairs strategy across events, city partnerships, and brand-building initiatives.
• Lead the end-to-end planning and execution of large-scale, high-impact national and regional events—ensuring operational excellence and alignment with organizational goals.
• Build and manage an annual calendar of external events, conferences, and opportunities for Code2
  
  College engagement; proactively identify and act on alignment opportunities.
• Serve as the primary relationship manager with city offices (e.g. Mayor’s Offices), civic organizations, and public sector entities, articulating the Code2
  
  College value proposition and securing support.
• Oversee all aspects of external-facing events, including logistics, messaging, speaker prep, and partner management, with an emphasis on elevating the brand experience.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with internal teams to ensure external affairs initiatives are tightly coordinated with programming, partnerships, and communications.
• Travel up to 40% of the time to represent Code2
  
  College and lead event execution and stakeholder engagement efforts in key cities.
• Other duties as assigned.

We are looking for an exceptional leader who thrives at the intersection of event strategy, public partnerships, and external engagement. You are creative, politically savvy, deeply mission-aligned, and passionate about designing experiences and partnerships that unlock opportunities for students from underserved backgrounds.

You bring a proven track record of delivering high-quality events and managing complex, cross-sector relationships. You have a deep understanding of how to cultivate trust with city leaders, design scalable engagement strategies, and activate stakeholders around a shared mission.

You are a thoughtful communicator and a master organizer who brings energy, intentionality, and follow-through to every detail. You know how to execute with excellence—and you’re ready to build something bigger than yourself.

Additionally:

• You are highly organized and have led complex event planning efforts from ideation through execution.
• You have experience working with public sector or government entities, ideally in roles that required relationship development or cross-agency coordination.
• You are an excellent communicator—written, verbal, and visual—with a talent for storytelling and persuasion.
• You have a clear sense of ownership. You take initiative, anticipate needs, and…