Manager of Strategic Partnerships

Stanbridge University•Irvine, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager of Strategic Partnerships serves as a frontline ambassador for Edverum, developing relationships with prospective institutional partners and guiding opportunities from initial engagement through partnership development and transition to implementation. This position sits at the intersection of strategic partnerships, educational technology, and consultative business development. The Manager of Strategic Partnerships represents Edverum at conferences, trade shows, industry events, demonstrations, institutional meetings, and other external engagements; develops prospective institutional relationships; conducts discovery to understand organizational needs and challenges; communicates the capabilities and value of the Edverum platform; and helps prospective partners determine how Edverum may support their institutional objectives. This is not a traditional transactional software sales position. Success requires the ability to build credibility with academic, administrative, executive, operational, and technology stakeholders; ask thoughtful questions; understand institutional environments and workflows; and translate identified needs into relevant technology solutions. The successful candidate will combine strong commercial instincts with a consultative approach, technical curiosity, product knowledge, and the ability to develop trusted institutional relationships. As partnerships transition into implementation, technical onboarding and implementation teams will assume primary responsibility for deployment and technical execution. The Manager of Strategic Partnerships will facilitate a structured handoff while remaining engaged as a relationship liaison to preserve continuity, context, and partner confidence.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Education, Educational Technology, Information Technology, Communications, Marketing, or a related field.
Three (3) or more years of relevant experience in educational technology, strategic partnerships, consultative business development, account management, solutions consulting, customer success, technology implementation, or a related client-facing function.
Demonstrated success developing professional relationships with organizational stakeholders and decision-makers.
Strong consultative discovery skills with the ability to identify, understand, and document institutional needs, challenges, and priorities.
Strong presentation, communication, interpersonal, relationship-building, and professional follow-up skills.
Ability to understand technology products and effectively communicate their functionality, application, and value to technical and non-technical audiences.
Demonstrated ability to learn complex products, systems, workflows, and institutional environments.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple prospective relationships, meetings, demonstrations, opportunities, and follow-up activities simultaneously.
Experience using CRM or comparable relationship-management systems to document activity, opportunities, stakeholders, and next steps.
Ability to work effectively across technical, operational, academic, and leadership teams.
Ability and willingness to travel to conferences, trade shows, institutional meetings, partner engagements, and other industry events as required.
A job-related assessment may be required during the interview process.
Must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily and be physically present in the office (unless otherwise noted).
Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally to conferences, trade shows, institutional meetings, partner locations, and other business-related events as required.
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
Stanbridge University does not provide employment-based immigration sponsorship or participate in employer-sponsored or employer-dependent work authorization programs.

Nice To Haves

Experience working within higher education, educational technology, learning management systems, or related educational environments.
Demonstrated success in consultative technology sales, strategic partnerships, business development, solutions consulting, customer success, or account management.
Experience representing a technology product at conferences, trade shows, demonstrations, institutional meetings, or executive-level presentations.
Experience supporting or collaborating with software implementation, onboarding, training, or technology adoption teams.
Familiarity with Learning Management Systems or other academic technology platforms.
Understanding of higher education operations, academic workflows, institutional decision-making, and technology procurement processes.
Experience developing or delivering product demonstrations, presentations, proposals, or educational materials.
Experience working across sales, technical, implementation, and customer-facing functions.

Responsibilities

Identify, develop, and cultivate prospective institutional partners within higher education and related education markets.
Build relationships with executives, academic leaders, administrators, technology teams, operational stakeholders, and other key decision-makers.
Proactively develop new relationships through conferences, industry events, referrals, inbound opportunities, professional networks, and other appropriate channels.
Conduct timely and consistent follow-up with prospective partners to develop relationships and advance qualified opportunities.
Develop trusted relationships through knowledgeable, responsive, consultative, and solutions-oriented engagement.
Support the development of strategic relationships with industry associations, professional organizations, and other entities that may expand Edverum's market presence and partnership opportunities.
Serve as a highly visible frontline ambassador for Edverum at conferences, trade shows, expos, professional associations, institutional meetings, and other industry events.
Represent Edverum professionally and confidently with academic leaders, executives, administrators, technology professionals, and other stakeholders.
Conduct and coordinate product presentations and demonstrations tailored to prospective partners' needs, priorities, workflows, and use cases.
Clearly communicate Edverum's capabilities, differentiators, applications, and value proposition to technical and non-technical audiences.
Develop sufficient product expertise to conduct meaningful conversations, respond to questions, identify potential solutions, and recognize when additional technical or subject-matter expertise should be engaged.
Maintain awareness of emerging trends, technologies, challenges, and opportunities within higher education and educational technology.
Guide qualified opportunities from initial engagement through discovery, demonstration, proposal, decision, and close using a consultative and relationship-driven approach.
Conduct discovery conversations to understand institutional goals, operational challenges, workflows, use cases, technology environments, timelines, decision-making processes, and implementation considerations.
Identify and document prospective partner requirements, desired capabilities, integrations, workflows, priorities, and potential barriers to adoption.
Translate institutional challenges and objectives into relevant Edverum applications and potential solutions.
Coordinate with internal stakeholders to develop appropriate demonstrations, proposals, presentations, solutions, and partnership approaches.
Maintain proactive communication and appropriate follow-up throughout the decision-making process.
Support partnership discussions and negotiations in collaboration with organizational leadership.
Maintain accurate CRM records reflecting prospective partner activity, key stakeholders, opportunity status, commitments, next steps, and relevant relationship intelligence.
Maintain appropriate visibility into partnership pipeline activity and anticipated opportunities to support organizational planning.
Contribute to partnership growth objectives while maintaining a strong focus on institutional fit, partner value, and long-term relationship potential.
Facilitate a structured transition from partnership development to Edverum's technical onboarding and implementation teams.
Ensure internal teams receive clear and complete information regarding institutional objectives, stakeholders, requirements, workflows, expectations, commitments, timelines, and implementation considerations.
Participate in transition, kickoff, and other partner meetings as appropriate to support continuity between partnership development and implementation.
Remain engaged as a relationship liaison during onboarding and implementation while technical teams assume primary responsibility for technical execution.
Help maintain continuity of communication and expectations throughout the transition process.
Identify relationship concerns or emerging partner needs and coordinate with appropriate internal resources when additional support is required.
Maintain the institutional relationship following handoff without assuming responsibility for routine technical implementation or support activities.
Maintain appropriate engagement with institutional partners following implementation to support long-term relationship development.
Identify emerging institutional needs, opportunities for expanded engagement, and potential areas where Edverum may provide additional value.
Gather feedback regarding product capabilities, usability, implementation experiences, institutional needs, and emerging market expectations.
Communicate relevant partner insights to product, technical, implementation, support, marketing, and organizational leadership.
Identify recurring themes across prospective and existing partner conversations that may inform product development, market positioning, service improvements, or organizational strategy.
Serve as an informed internal voice of the marketplace and institutional partner experience.
Work closely with organizational leadership, product, technical, implementation, onboarding, marketing, and support teams throughout the partnership lifecycle.
Coordinate internal resources necessary to respond effectively to prospective partner questions and requirements.
Translate institutional needs into clear, actionable information for technical and implementation teams.
Maintain accurate documentation of significant partner conversations, commitments, opportunities, challenges, and next steps.
Participate in the development of presentations, demonstrations, proposals, partner resources, and other supporting collateral.
Contribute to continuous improvement of partnership development, transition, and relationship-management processes.