At Guild, we believe talent is everywhere and that opportunity should be too. We continue to have our home and headquarters in Denver, but we have embraced a distributed model of working to reach the best talent in the United States. While some roles may require proximity to our Denver office, roles based outside of our Denver office can sit in any of the following 32 states: AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI and Washington D.C. Please only apply if you are able to live and work full-time in one of the states listed above. State locations and specifics are subject to change as our hiring requirements shift.
If you are an Internal Candidate, please apply via our Internal Job Board.
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To thrive as a company and meet our impact goals, we must cultivate a culture of high-performance. We know managers are often the single-largest driver of employee satisfaction and growth, and our talent is our biggest asset. Because of that, we’ve identified consistent expectations for all of Guild’s people managers — helping you know what to expect from your experience here.
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Guild is hiring a Strategic Account Director - Public Sector to help drive the next frontier of workforce education and career mobility. As a core member of our Public Sector Team, you’ll play a critical role in identifying, assessing, and operationalizing high-potential growth opportunities for Guild to broaden its reach - focusing on partnerships with innovative states and local municipalities to drive outcomes based workforce development initiatives.
This is a strategic and execution-focused role. You’ll be a hands-on builder, responsible for shaping the early stage of a new market initiative - from research and discovery to piloting new solutions and early scaling. You will collaborate closely with the Vice President of Public Sector and cross-functional teams to bring new opportunities to life and advance Guild’s mission in untapped partnerships at the state and local level.
This is an ideal role for a strategic thinker and operator who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys building from scratch, partnering with state and local agencies, has experience executing on new business targets, and is passionate about unlocking access to education and economic opportunity at scale.
Key Responsibilities
Market Research & Opportunity Identification
- Conduct rigorous market research to surface new opportunities across public funding ecosystems and continue to hone in on ideal customer profiles.
- Analyze regulatory landscapes, policy trends, and local/state/federal funding programs to inform market entry strategies and best paths to navigate partnership within a priority state or region.
- Build and maintain a pipeline of market hypotheses and concepts for exploration and begin testing them in assigned territory.
Business Development & Origination
- Partner with B2B Marketing to develop new business opportunities from the ground up (0→1), using creativity, curiosity, and deep ecosystem scanning.
- Engage with state and local stakeholders to uncover unmet needs and explore alignment with Guild’s capabilities.
- Leverage and develop frameworks to assess opportunity fit, strategic value, and long-term scalability within the Guild ecosystem.
- Make go/no-go recommendations based on market traction, financial viability, and mission alignment.
Opportunity Validation & Business Design
- Design and lead early engagements to validate demand, feasibility, and ROI of new market opportunities.
- Develop hypotheses, pilot concepts, and test value propositions with statefunders, partners, and beneficiaries.
- Support the development of new business models and funding structures aligned with Guild’s impact and financial goals as it relates to state and local buyers.
Go-To-Market Strategy & Launch Readiness
- Translate validated opportunities into actionable go-to-market plans in collaboration with marketing, product, learning marketplace, government affairs, and operations teams.
- Define and track key success metrics and leading indicators of market traction - as defined by revenue and total education spend.
- Support initial GTM execution by providing tight feedback loops on market positioning, possible opportunities, and where and if local engagement and advocacy would be needed.
Strategic Enablement & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with internal teams (e.g., Finance, Legal, Policy, Product) to ensure new ideas are viable, scalable, and compliant.
- Help structure strategic partnerships that align with new market goals.
- Serve as a thought partner to senior leadership, offering clear, data-informed recommendations.
You are a strong fit for this role if you have:
- 10 - 12+ years of experience in strategy, business development and sales, consulting, venture building, or innovation roles—preferably with experience in government, philanthropic, or workforce-related sectors.
- Proven track record of evaluating, launching, and iterating on new business ideas or markets
- Experience developing business opportunities from the ground up—including ideation, outreach, diligence, and execution.
- Exceptional analytical skills, with fluency in building and interpreting market sizing, financial models, and business cases.
- Experience designing and running experiments or pilot programs in ambiguous environments.
- Comfortable engaging with senior-level external stakeholders including funders, government officials, and mission-aligned partners.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to synthesize complex ideas into compelling narratives and strategies.
- Mission-alignment with Guild’s vision for unlocking opportunity through education and career pathways.
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 $200,000, plus variable compensation, commission, and stock options. Compensation offered will be based on a combination of factors such as experience, competencies, and internal equity.
Posting Date: December 24, 2025
This role will be open for a minimum of 3 days.
Guild is America’s leading talent development company, partnering with the country’s most innovative employers, including Chipotle, Target, Walgreens, JPMorgan Chase, Hilton, PepsiCo, Tyson, and more, to build the talent needed for today and a resilient workforce for tomorrow. Guild helps employers identify, develop, and mobilize internal talent — enabling workers to gain skills for in-demand roles and helping companies stay agile. By connecting employees to real-world learning, coaching, and career support, and providing companies with actionable talent insights, Guild transforms overlooked talent into high-impact contributors and positions companies for long-term, sustainable growth. For more information, visit https://www.guild.com.
Guild is female-founded and a certified B Corp. The company has been named to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2022 list, CNBC Disruptor50 list three years in a row, Inc. Best Led Companies list, Fast Co. World Changing Ideas list and the B Lab Best for the World list among many others.
Guild is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let your recruiter know. We currently offer the following benefits:
- Access to low-cost, high-quality health care options through Collective Heath and Kaiser (due to coverage limitations, Kaiser is currently only available in CA & CO)
- Access to a 401k to help save for the future
- Vacation policy to rest and recharge
- 8 days of fully-paid sick leave, to take the time to heal and or recover
- Family-friendly benefits, including 12 weeks of parental leave for non-birthing parents and 18-20 weeks for birthing parents; 4-week ramp-up period for when employees return from a leave of 6 weeks or more; as well as employer-paid short-term and long-term disability, employer-sponsored life insurance, fertility and caregiving benefits.
- Well-rounded wellness benefits including free and low cost mental health resources and financial wellbeing support services
- Education benefits and tuition assistance to help your future development and growth
I understand that I am applying for employment with Guild and am being asked to provide information in connection with my application. I further understand that Guild gathers this information through a third-party service provider and that Guild may use other service providers to assist in the application process. Guild may share my information with such third-party service providers in connection with my application and for the start of employment.
I understand and agree to Guild's use of my information in accordance with Guild's Privacy Policy and, for applicants that are residents of the State of California, Guild's Applicant Privacy Notice and California Notice at Collection.
Guild Denver, Colorado, USA Office
Our downtown Denver office is easily accessible via public transportation, with plenty of restaurants in the surrounding area.
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