About Jew­ish Book Council

The Jew­ish Book Coun­cil (JBC) is the longest-run­ning orga­ni­za­tion devot­ed exclu­sive­ly to sup­port­ing Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture. Found­ed in 1943, the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil cel­e­brates and cham­pi­ons books that reflect the diver­si­ty and rich­ness of Jew­ish expe­ri­ence. By con­nect­ing read­ers, authors, and all who val­ue lit­er­a­ture, JBC cre­ates oppor­tu­ni­ties for essen­tial con­ver­sa­tions and vibrant engage­ment with Jew­ish life and community. 

JBC’s sig­na­ture pro­grams include: 

• Jew­ish Book Month 
• Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards 
• JBC Net­work – over 270 authors, 130 com­mu­ni­ty pro­gram­ming sites, and 1400 lit­er­ary events per year 
• Nu Reads – launched in late 2025 
• Jew­ish Writ­ers’ Conference 
• Natan Notable Books 

For more infor­ma­tion about JBC please vis­it www​.jew​ish​book​coun​cil​.org and nureads​.org.

The Oppor­tu­ni­ty

Jew­ish Book Coun­cil is in an excit­ing peri­od of growth and orga­ni­za­tion­al evo­lu­tion. The Direc­tor of Part­ner­ships & Com­mu­ni­ty Engage­ment is a new­ly cre­at­ed full-time senior lead­er­ship role to sup­port JBC in this trans­for­ma­tion­al moment.

This is a role for a builder: some­one with the strate­gic vision to see how JBC’s robust exist­ing pro­grams can be recon­fig­ured into a more pow­er­ful, coher­ent, and sus­tain­able engine for com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment, and the oper­a­tional acu­men to actu­al­ly do it. The Direc­tor will take own­er­ship of JBC’s com­mu­ni­ty-fac­ing port­fo­lio — a sub­stan­tial set of pro­grams cur­rent­ly serv­ing hun­dreds of com­mu­ni­ties, thou­sands of book clubs, and read­ers across the coun­try and around the world — and devel­op the strate­gic frame­work, part­ner­ships, and orga­ni­za­tion­al infra­struc­ture to dra­mat­i­cal­ly grow JBC’s reach and impact.

The right can­di­date will be a senior pro­fes­sion­al who brings both a deep under­stand­ing of the Jew­ish com­mu­nal land­scape and a gen­uine pas­sion for books and read­ing. The Direc­tor will under­stand how to build pro­grams that serve com­mu­ni­ties of every size and type: large met­ro­pol­i­tan cen­ters and small iso­lat­ed com­mu­ni­ties, deeply engaged Jew­ish house­holds and read­ers who have nev­er encoun­tered JBC before, young adults build­ing their Jew­ish iden­ti­ty and life­long bib­lio­philes look­ing for their next essen­tial read.

Key Respon­si­bil­i­ties

Strate­gic Lead­er­ship & Pro­gram Vision

• Devel­op and dri­ve a cohe­sive strat­e­gy for JBC’s com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment and part­ner­ship port­fo­lio, align­ing pro­grams with orga­ni­za­tion­al mis­sion, rev­enue goals, and growth priorities
• In col­lab­o­ra­tion with CEO and senior lead­er­ship team, assess JBC’s cur­rent pro­gram land­scape with fresh eyes — iden­ti­fy­ing strengths to build on, oppor­tu­ni­ties to inno­vate, and areas to evolve or con­sol­i­date — and devel­op a mul­ti-year roadmap for the department
• Serve as a senior orga­ni­za­tion­al leader, rep­re­sent­ing JBC with part­ners, fun­ders, and com­mu­ni­ty stake­hold­ers, and step­ping in to rep­re­sent the orga­ni­za­tion at the high­est lev­els when needed
• Work in close coor­di­na­tion with the CEO, COO, Direc­tor of Devel­op­ment and peers across the orga­ni­za­tion to ensure pro­grams are aligned with fundrais­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and edi­to­r­i­al priorities

Pro­gram Port­fo­lio Oversight

• Pro­vide strate­gic and oper­a­tional over­sight for JBC’s com­mu­ni­ty-fac­ing programs
• Build out JBC’s new, inno­v­a­tive pro­gram­ming and part­ner­ship efforts on both a glob­al and local level
• Over­see and grow JBC’s rela­tion­ships with Jew­ish cul­tur­al partners
• Cham­pi­on vir­tu­al and on-demand pro­gram­ming mod­els that allow JBC to reach indi­vid­u­als who are geo­graph­i­cal­ly or com­mu­nal­ly dis­con­nect­ed from larg­er Jew­ish institutions

Part­ner­ship Development

• Iden­ti­fy, cul­ti­vate, and for­mal­ize strate­gic part­ner­ships across the Jew­ish com­mu­nal ecosys­tem — includ­ing fed­er­a­tions, JCCs, syn­a­gogues, day schools, camps, Hil­lels, and nation­al orga­ni­za­tions — as well as with com­mu­ni­ty part­ners who may be new to JBC
• Think bidi­rec­tion­al­ly about part­ner­ships: both orga­ni­za­tions that can ampli­fy JBC’s reach and those where JBC’s con­tent and pro­gram­ming can add mean­ing­ful val­ue to their own work
• In part­ner­ship with advance­ment team and senior lead­er­ship, devel­op oppor­tu­ni­ties to enhance and grow rev­enue through smart part­ner­ship struc­tures — includ­ing co-spon­sor­ships, mem­ber­ship tiers, and fee-for-ser­vice models

Team & Orga­ni­za­tion­al Development

• Lead and man­age a team of pro­gram pro­fes­sion­als, work­ing in close part­ner­ship with senior lead­er­ship team to deploy staff effec­tive­ly across the portfolio
• Col­lab­o­rate with COO to build the infra­struc­ture, sys­tems, and process­es nec­es­sary to sup­port work with rig­or, effi­cien­cy and sus­tain­abil­i­ty — includ­ing track­ing, report­ing, and eval­u­a­tion frameworks.
• Work in active col­lab­o­ra­tion with JBC’s mar­ket­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tions, devel­op­ment, social/​digital, and edi­to­r­i­al teams to ensure pro­grams are well-sup­port­ed and ampli­fied across the organization
• Mod­el a cul­ture of ini­tia­tive, cre­ativ­i­ty, and account­abil­i­ty; JBC is a lean orga­ni­za­tion that val­ues self-starters who can move from idea to execution

Who We’re Look­ing For

We are look­ing for a senior pro­fes­sion­al who com­bines strate­gic think­ing with hands-on exe­cu­tion, and who brings gen­uine enthu­si­asm for both Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty life and the pow­er of books and read­ing. Spe­cif­ic qual­i­fi­ca­tions include:

• Sig­nif­i­cant expe­ri­ence in Jew­ish com­mu­nal life with a demon­strat­ed abil­i­ty to nav­i­gate and acti­vate across the ecosystem
• A track record of build­ing and man­ag­ing com­plex pro­grams or part­ner­ships at scale, ide­al­ly includ­ing both earned and con­tributed revenue
• Expe­ri­ence man­ag­ing and devel­op­ing a team, with the abil­i­ty to lead col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly and build a depart­ment culture
• Will­ing­ness to embrace technology
• Strong rela­tion­ship-build­ing skills and com­fort engag­ing with senior orga­ni­za­tion­al lead­ers, donors, and com­mu­ni­ty stakeholders
• Strate­gic and entre­pre­neur­ial mind­set — some­one who can assess what exists, envi­sion what’s pos­si­ble, and devel­op a plan to get there
• Excel­lent com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, both writ­ten and ver­bal; able to rep­re­sent JBC com­pelling­ly to a wide range of audiences
• Famil­iar­i­ty with the lit­er­ary world and pub­lish­ing land­scape is a plus; a gen­uine love of books and read­ing is essential
• Will­ing­ness to trav­el as required to sup­port pro­gram­ming, part­ner rela­tion­ships, and com­mu­ni­ty engagement
• Com­fort work­ing in a dynam­ic, evolv­ing orga­ni­za­tion where roles are shaped in part by the per­son who holds them

JBC cur­rent­ly works a hybrid sched­ule and team mem­bers are expect­ed to work from the office in New York a min­i­mum of two-three days a week, depend­ing on work­flow and spe­cif­ic events. 

Com­pen­sa­tion: The salary range for this role is $115,000 to $135,000 (based on expe­ri­ence), plus benefits.

Inter­est­ed appli­cants should send a cov­er let­ter and resume to jobs@​jewishbooks.​org. In your cov­er let­ter, please indi­cate how you heard about this position.

JBC antic­i­pates that the inter­view process will begin in ear­ly Sep­tem­ber. JBC will con­tin­ue to accept resumes and cov­er let­ters until the can­di­date search is complete. 

JBC does not dis­crim­i­nate on the basis of race, reli­gion, col­or, gen­der expres­sion or iden­ti­ty, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, nation­al ori­gin, cit­i­zen­ship, age, mar­i­tal sta­tus, dis­abil­i­ty sta­tus, or any oth­er char­ac­ter­is­tic pro­tect­ed by law.