Manager, Partnership Management

Pearson•Cedar Rapids, IA

About The Position

The Manager, Partner Success leads a team of Partner Success professionals who support state, district, and school partners throughout the assessment lifecycle. The role is responsible for successful delivery of assigned programs and services, including partner engagement, readiness planning, training, adoption, issue resolution, and ongoing relationship management. The Manager is accountable for program performance, customer satisfaction, operational execution, and meeting cost, quality, and schedule commitments. Working with Program Delivery, Product, Technology, Measurement, Operations, and Customer Support teams, the Manager turns organizational priorities into actionable plans, coaches team members to serve as trusted advisors, and acts as a key escalation point for partner and delivery concerns. The role oversees assessment programs or strategic customer relationships; manages schedules, risks, issues, budgets, milestones, contractual commitments, and program financial performance; and leads forecasting, planning, and business reviews. The Manager also leads, coaches, and develops the Partner Success team; sets goals and performance expectations; supports career development; and fosters accountability, collaboration, customer focus, and continuous improvement. The role drives process improvements, improves cross-functional execution, mitigates risks, and develops scalable practices across the Partner Success organization. Travel of up to 25% may be required.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
At least 5 years of experience leading customer-facing programs, partner success, client services, program management, educational services, or assessment delivery functions.
Demonstrated success leading and developing high-performing teams, including coaching, performance management, and talent development.
Experience managing complex customer relationships and serving as an escalation point for operational, delivery, or customer satisfaction issues.
Strong program and project management skills, including managing schedules, risks, dependencies, budgets, and cross-functional initiatives.
Ability to influence and collaborate across Product, Technology, Operations, Measurement, Content, and Customer Support teams.
Strong communication, facilitation, negotiation, and presentation skills, including the ability to engage customers, executive leadership, and internal stakeholders.
Ability to identify customer needs, solve complex problems, and drive continuous improvement initiatives that improve customer outcomes and operational effectiveness.
Experience managing financial performance, including forecasting, budget management, contract value tracking, resource planning, or margin accountability.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain strong relationships with state, district, and school partners.
Lead customer readiness, implementation, training, and adoption planning activities.
Serve as an escalation point for complex customer concerns, risks, and delivery issues.
Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and long-term customer success.
Monitor customer satisfaction and implement strategies to improve the customer experience.
Oversee one or more assessment programs or strategic customer relationships.
Coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver program commitments.
Monitor program schedules, risks, issues, budgets, and key milestones.
Ensure compliance with contractual requirements and delivery expectations.
Lead forecasting, planning, and business reviews for assigned programs.
Manage program financials to meet revenue and margin plans; explain trends and variances from the original plan.
Report financial status; estimate and forecast program activities and budgets; control costs while maintaining quality.
Lead, coach, and develop a team of Partner Success professionals.
Establish clear team goals, priorities, and performance expectations.
Provide ongoing mentoring and career development support.
Foster accountability, collaboration, customer focus, and continuous improvement.
Build team capability and encourage sharing best practices across programs and customers.
Drive process improvements that enhance customer experience and delivery effectiveness.
Work with cross-functional leaders to improve communication, coordination, and execution.
Identify and mitigate delivery, customer, and operational risks.
Develop and implement scalable practices that improve consistency across the Partner Success organization.