Guild, the leading education benefits platform and one of Denver's fastest growing startups, is increasing economic mobility for working adults in America and providing education and support to help every student survive and thrive in the economy of tomorrow. Our platform helps employers offer education as a benefit to their employees by connecting employers' workforces with our network of nonprofit universities and education institutions that focus on serving the needs of working adults. And, our team of retention coaches helps each employee navigate the path back to school, providing individualized support from day one through graduation. In order to accelerate our growth and achieve our mission to serve 1000s more students, we've raised over $70 million from top tier investors including Felicis Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Redpoint Ventures (among other social impact and VC partners!).

The Associate Director of University Operations will be a key leader in a business-critical team that manages a portfolio of university partners (UPs) and learning providers. The Associate Director will take the lead on operational management of these partnerships. We are looking for a committed business unit leader with excellent management skills and enthusiasm for increasing student enrollment and outcomes. It’s an opportunity to lead a team that will create, innovate and test new ideas to strengthen our partnerships and ensure we scale efficiently and quickly together. This leader needs to navigate business and university partner operations within Guild and our network. Operational and financial expertise (e.g. P&L management) is required along with an understanding of how to effectively manage public/private partnerships.

On any given day in our collaborative workspace you might:

• Design and implement business strategies, plans and procedures for successful operational management of our various university and other academic partnerships (APs)
• Launch our new 3-5 learning providers or universities in 2018
• Manage cross-functional implementation of scalable solutions at new and existing partners related to:
• Admissions policies and processes to improve enrollment,
• Student services and coaching to improve student retention and completion outcomes,
• Financial/billing systems and processes, and
• Technical systems, data sharing and integrations
• Work directly with leaders of our enrollment and student services team, and develop strong internal relationships as the primary Student Services liaison and expert on retention strategies for the UP team
• Demonstrate program-level expertise for your assigned portfolio of UP/APs to support enrollment and student services activities
• Develop accurate and timely reporting and analysis of key insights, trends and recommendations for your portfolio of UPs/APs
• Cultivate personal relationships with University Provosts, CFOs, COOs and Operational VPs
• Develop systems to support partnerships with providers like edX, StraighterLine, Penn Foster, Cengage and other bootcamp and alternative learning providers

In this role, you’ll expand your expertise by:

• Analyzing data and driving insights and actions for relevant university and academic partners
• Using your expert project management skills to launch new academic partners and strong client management skills to run complex partnerships
• Using your knowledge of the higher education sector to solve academic issues with senior-level university and academic partners
• Managing operations for a public/private network with equal parts vision and managerial expertise
• Serving in a highly cross-functional, business critical role where you’ll have visibility, access and exposure to key decisions and the people making them
• Being the external face of Guild for operational issues facing university and academic partners
• Bringing program management expertise onto the team while prototyping, testing and iterating new and innovative strategies
• Managing partnership financial operations

You’ll know if you’re successful when:

• Guild university partnerships have met their student enrollment, retention and completion goals
• The UP team achieves established quarterly goals for enrollment and retention metrics and receives high NPS scores from our university and academic partners
• Guild is viewed as a true partner - not a vendor - by our university partners….when university COOs, CFOs and SVPs ask for your endorsement
• You receive feedback and direction provided in our learning-focused twice annual Structured Growth Conversations

You’ll join a team:

• Of experts with experience managing partnerships in government, higher education and private sector partnerships
• Of learners & problem-solvers dedicated to our dual mission of changing education in America while building a successful, high-growth company.
• Committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment that you’d support every day

What you’ll bring to Guild - as an individual and part of the broader team:

• Passion for higher education, student success and our mission
• Expertise in managing public and private partnerships, with particular focus on billing and student data exchange
• Excellent interpersonal and public speaking skills
• Experience using analytical approaches to develop, measure and evolve processes
• Servant leadership to a high performing team of university partnership professionals
• An understanding of diverse project management principles, processes, methodologies and tools paired with an ability to critically evaluate and implement the right options for each project
• Ability to successfully manage multiple complex, cross-functional projects at the same time
• Ability to develop strong relationships and communicate effectively while under pressure - balancing confidence, humility and diplomacy internally and externally
• Evidence of your intellectual curiosity in the space - do you blog, tweet, speak or read everything that’s out there - tell us more!
• A drive to work hard and a plan for how you can refresh and recharge while working in a startup
• Something else? Wonderful, we’re curious to learn more about you!