Learning Partnerships Account Director (Remote)

Learning Partnerships Account Directors are responsible for driving complex, enterprise-level academic partnerships with universities & innovative learning providers. ADs will lead deals from initial conversation through contract review & close; they will do so through influence & persuasion; high-touch engagement & mutual partnership value alignment with prospective partners; & collaboration with senior-level leaders both internally & externally.  In addition, Account Directors are responsible for engaging the external learning market, understanding emerging trends and players, with the goal of identifying promising opportunities for Guild in service of Guild’s Employer Partners and Members, who are the employees of Guild Employer Partners. 

Key responsibilities

• Lead business development & partnership deal work with complex, enterprise-level academic partnerships with senior-level leaders at universities & learning providers, effectively establishing new Guild Certified Partnerships to grow the Guild academic portfolio of offerings. And, additionally, expand Guild’s Payment Network as needed.
• Evangelize the Guild “why” while demonstrating a deep understanding of partner organization needs
• Design proposals & contracts that support the strategic goals of Guild & prospective partners through thoughtful design, including economic arrangements, rollout strategy, implementation planning, product marketing, & preferred education offerings to meet the needs of our corporate partners & their employees
• Lead a disciplined, detail oriented, consultative business development process through influencing, teaching, & appropriately challenging prospective partners to move deals thoughtfully through the pipeline; manage the complete, timely, & accurate reflection of all deals in Salesforce; identify opportunities for change & improvement in our processes & playbook
• Establish cross-functional working relationships across Guild, including with our employer partnerships teams, product, marketplace delivery, account management, and operations teams to provide visibility and feedback into new partners likely to close and where to best collaborate to successfully generate new academic partner interest
• Collaboratively partner with Employer Partner Services & Employer Partner Sales on prospective employer deal conversations & presentations that are aligned to Guild strategy, to help advance Guild and the growth of our platform.
• Drive excellence in internal and external partnerships, including serving as a peer mentor to other members of the Business Development team
• Develop and maintain subject matter expertise in areas of strategic growth for Guild, including but not limited to complex learning partnership types, high demand, emerging and/or complex Employer industry verticals, and/or complex Learning Partnership verticals.
• Drives Marketplace liquidity for new learning partners by providing visibility and value across Guild teams into new Learning Partners, what capabilities Guild has unlocked with the partnership and why our Employer Partners should invest in the new programs/assets.
• Conducts primary research and explores new learning markets and verticals that are aligned to new employer markets, verticals and growth opportunities. Willingly and actively documents and shares insights with the Guild stakeholders to stimulate Learning Marketplace ideation and innovation, identifying patterns & trends to build Guild’s reputation & trust with both EPs & LPs.
• Manages up to drive data-driven Guild Senior leadership decisions across multiple stakeholders.

Required Proficiencies

• 8+ years of consultative selling experience, with deep intellectual curiosity, and a proven track record of exceeding past sales targets, and managing complex, multi-year agreements
• Recent experience managing and closing complex partnerships with academic institutions and/or Fortune 500 companies
• Experience in a startup or similar fast-paced environment where there is frequent change and a need to demonstrate and act with a sense of urgency
• Purpose driven with passion for technology to disrupt and drive change
• You love taking risks, trying different things, and taking on new challenges. You know that sales process and strategy often change, and that’s something you enjoy

We are committed to equal pay for equal work and believe in compensation transparency. All salary ranges are standardized nationwide and will not vary by region. This role offers a competitive total compensation package, including a base salary of $150,000- $175,000  plus variable (bonus) eligibility as well as company stock options. Compensation offered will be based on a combination of factors such as experience, competencies, and internal equity.