Strategic Partnerships Director, EdTech Partnerships

At peopleworth, we support work where people and performance thrive. As part of our Employer Group, we work with a variety of forward-thinking partners and are excited to share this opportunity that sits within our growing group.

Role Overview

This role is focused on identifying, developing, and growing strategic partnerships across the higher education, EdTech, and employer ecosystems. The Strategic Partnerships Director will build senior relationships with universities and employer partners, source new partnership opportunities, and support commercially aligned initiatives that connect education outcomes with workforce needs.

The role suits a senior partnerships professional with an established network in higher education, online learning, workforce development, employability, or graduate outcomes. Success will require strong commercial judgement, credible stakeholder engagement, and the ability to turn relationship opportunities into structured partnership pathways.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and source new university partnership opportunities across relevant higher education markets.
• Build and maintain senior relationships with university leaders, academic stakeholders, employability teams, and partnership decision makers.
• Source and develop employer partnerships that support workforce-aligned education, skills development, graduate outcomes, and learner employability.
• Map target institutions, employer groups, industry networks, and decision-making structures to support focused partnership development.
• Lead early-stage partnership conversations, qualify opportunities, and progress suitable relationships through structured engagement pathways.
• Develop tailored partnership proposals, commercial narratives, and stakeholder presentations that align education outcomes with employer and learner needs.
• Represent the opportunity professionally in senior external discussions, networking forums, sector events, and partnership meetings.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure partnership opportunities are clearly scoped, commercially viable, and operationally deliverable.
• Maintain accurate pipeline visibility, relationship notes, opportunity status, and next-step actions through appropriate systems and reporting processes.
• Provide market insight on university needs, employer demand, EdTech trends, and partnership models to support strategic decision making.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience in strategic partnerships, business development, university partnerships, employer partnerships, or EdTech growth roles.
• Strong understanding of the higher education, online learning, workforce development, employability, or skills ecosystem.
• Established networks across universities, employers, industry bodies, EdTech organisations, or workforce development communities.
• Proven ability to source, qualify, and progress senior partnership opportunities from first conversation through to structured engagement.
• Experience engaging senior stakeholders such as university executives, faculty leaders, employability teams, HR leaders, workforce planning teams, or industry partnership leads.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to connect education solutions to institutional priorities, employer needs, and learner outcomes.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to develop clear proposals, briefings, and stakeholder narratives.
• Confidence working independently in a remote environment while collaborating effectively with distributed teams.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage a live partnership pipeline, multiple stakeholders, and competing priorities.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical relationship building, inclusive engagement, and high-quality stakeholder communication.

Benefits

• Collaborative, people-centred performance culture.
• Opportunities to grow in a fast-paced environment.
• Exposure to senior university, employer, and EdTech partnership networks.
• Opportunity to contribute to education and workforce initiatives with meaningful career impact.

Our Recruitment Process

The peopleworth Employer Group follows a fair, transparent, and multi-stage recruitment process designed to ensure mutual fit.

1. Application Submission: Complete the online form and answer brief application questions.
2. Initial Screening: Your application is reviewed for role alignment; successful candidates move to the longlist.
3. Video Interview Stage: You’ll be invited to record short responses to 3–4 role-specific questions.
4. Live Interviews: Shortlisted candidates join first-round interviews (and, where applicable, second or third rounds depending on the role).
5. Final Shortlist & Verification: Reference and background checks are completed.
6. Offer & Contracting: Successful candidates receive formal offers and contract documents.
7. Pre-boarding & Onboarding: Once accepted, you’ll complete a pre-boarding process before officially joining your employing organisation within the Employer Group.

Throughout every stage, we value clear communication, respectful engagement, and timely feedback.