Director, Business Development - Craft Education

Western Governors University•Nashville, TN

17d

About The Position

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career. Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Management_Executive 612 Pay Range: $163,200.00 - $293,800.00 Job Description Responsible for growing business-to-business (B2B) revenue and forging strategic partnerships at Craft Education (“Craft”). This role is expected to develop and execute on revenue strategy, go-to-market, and sales for Craft’s existing & future technology products by leading departments and teams. The Director of Business Development – Craft is ultimately responsible for driving Craft’s north-star metrics of users, revenue, and partnerships. The role oversees Sales and Marketing at Craft, in partnership with executive leadership, and serves as a key external-facing leader of Craft. This role requires a blend of strategy and execution: leveraging B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) business acumen in a high-growth, startup context along with traditional business development practices, while balancing near-term execution with long-term scale goals. The Director of Business Development will be responsible for growing business-to-business (B2B) revenue and forging strategic partnerships at Craft Education (“Craft”). This role is expected to develop and execute on revenue strategy, go-to-market, and sales for Craft’s existing & future technology products by leading departments and teams. The Director of Business Development is ultimately responsible for driving Craft’s north-star metrics of users, revenue, and partnerships. As the Director of Business Development at Craft this role oversees Sales and Marketing, in partnership with executive leadership, and serves as a key external-facing leader of Craft. This role requires a blend of strategy and execution: leveraging B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) business acumen in a high-growth, startup context along with traditional business development practices, while balancing near-term execution with long-term scale goals.

Requirements

Knowledge of edtech customer personas and technology trends
Knowledge of B2B SaaS, including industry-wide business and revenue models
People and project management skills
Strategic business plan development skills
Solution selling and customer discovery skills
Strategic partnership development for both sales and service
Collaboration skills, including written and verbal communication to drive clarity of thinking & action
Ability to independently lead development and adaptation of biz dev and revenue strategies, knowing how to leverage resources and industry best practices
Ability to analyze B2B SaaS business models for near-term execution and long-term “venture scale” outcomes (e.g. unit economics, financial modeling)
Ability to build relationships, influence, manage conflicts, and generally network with key internal and external stakeholders.
Ability to navigate through ambiguity to get things done with a strong bias toward action and “figure it out” mentality.
Ability to analyze and interpret data to make sound business decisions – such as independently evaluating opportunities using risk-reward and impact-effort frameworks and making recommendations on where to prioritize efforts.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
10+ years of professional experience in business development, growth and development of strategic business plans
Experience managing people and teams
Experience in lieu of education Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

Nice To Haves

Relevant advanced/graduate degree, such as MBA
Experience in K12 education or healthcare
Experience in education technology or future of work; including startups or venture capital
Experience in product management, investment banking, private equity, or management consulting

Responsibilities

Develops and activates strategy that will drive adoption of free and paid B2B technology and service products by decision makers.
Drives decisions on new revenue & growth initiatives by conducting experimentation and data-driven iteration
Identifies and develops strategic partnerships that increase adoption of Craft technology solutions
Manages departments and teams to create organizational leverage, including mentoring/coaching
Maintains an understanding of industry trends, current events, and related information that may impact current and future business.
Identifies and develops Craft’s unique selling propositions and differentiators by consolidating customer discovery and analysis of competitive products
Consults with department heads and senior level management on opportunities and challenges in the marketplace to develop new services, products, and distribution channels.
Works with all internal stakeholders across Craft and WGU to support mutual needs.
Attends and networks at conferences and events, conducting public speaking as needed.

Benefits

bonuses
medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare
health savings account and flexible spending account
basic and voluntary life insurance
disability coverage
accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages
legal and identity theft coverage
retirement savings plan
wellbeing program
discounted WGU tuition
flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave