Manager of Strategic Partnerships

Manager of Strategic PartnershipsPosition Overview
The Manager of Strategic Partnerships serves as a frontline ambassador for Edverum, developing institutional relationships and guiding prospective partners from initial engagement through discovery, product evaluation, partnership development, implementation, and ongoing relationship management.
This role sits at the intersection of strategic partnerships, educational technology, and consultative business development. It is a salaried, non-commissioned position focused on understanding institutional needs, developing trusted relationships, demonstrating how Edverum can provide value, and helping move strong-fit partnerships forward.
The successful candidate will bring an entrepreneurial, hands-on mentality and be comfortable building as much as executing. This is not a narrowly defined sales role. The Manager will develop relationships, conduct discovery, demonstrate the product, support proposals and events, collaborate with technical teams, solve problems, improve processes, and step into emerging needs as Edverum grows.
Partnership ownership does not end when an agreement is reached. The Manager will remain actively engaged throughout onboarding and implementation, working alongside technical teams to maintain continuity, solve problems, manage expectations, and help ensure a successful partner experience from first conversation through adoption and beyond.
Essential Functions
Partnership Development & Consultative Sales
Identify, develop, and cultivate prospective institutional partners within higher education and related education markets.
Build trusted relationships with executives, academic leaders, administrators, technology teams, and other decision-makers.
Develop opportunities through conferences, industry events, referrals, inbound inquiries, professional networks, and proactive outreach.
Conduct discovery to understand institutional goals, challenges, workflows, technology environments, priorities, and decision-making processes.
Translate institutional needs into relevant Edverum applications and solutions.
Conduct product presentations and demonstrations tailored to prospective partners.
Guide qualified opportunities through discovery, evaluation, proposal development, partnership discussions, and decision-making.
Collaborate with leadership on pricing, negotiations, and final partnership agreements.
Maintain accurate CRM documentation, relationship intelligence, opportunity status, and follow-up.
Partner Experience & Implementation
Maintain relationship ownership throughout onboarding and implementation rather than treating implementation as a traditional sales handoff.
Work alongside technical and implementation teams to ensure institutional objectives, requirements, commitments, workflows, and expectations are understood and addressed.
Participate actively in kickoff, implementation, and partner meetings as appropriate.
Maintain communication with partners, identify concerns, coordinate solutions, and help remove obstacles throughout implementation.
Continue developing the relationship following implementation, identifying emerging needs and opportunities to provide additional value.
Market & Product Representation
Represent Edverum at conferences, trade shows, institutional meetings, demonstrations, professional associations, and other industry events.
Develop sufficient product expertise to communicate Edverum's capabilities and value effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Gather market and partner feedback and communicate relevant insights to leadership, product, technical, implementation, and support teams.
Maintain awareness of developments in higher education, educational technology, institutional needs, and competitive trends.
Entrepreneurial & Cross-Functional Execution
Operate with a hands-on, solutions-oriented mentality and willingness to contribute beyond traditional functional boundaries.
Take ownership of emerging priorities, problems, and opportunities rather than waiting for highly structured direction.
Contribute to presentations, proposals, demonstrations, events, partner resources, market research, and other growth initiatives.
Help build and improve partnership-development processes, tools, documentation, and workflows.
Collaborate across leadership, product, technical, implementation, marketing, and support functions.
Balance strategic thinking with day-to-day execution and demonstrate a willingness to go the extra mile to advance the partner relationship and the organization.
Qualifications
Required
Bachelor's degree in Business, Education, Educational Technology, Information Technology, Communications, Marketing, or a related field.
Three (3) or more years of relevant experience in strategic partnerships, consultative business development, educational technology, account management, customer success, solutions consulting, technology implementation, or a related client-facing function.
Strong consultative discovery, presentation, communication, relationship-building, and professional follow-up skills.
Ability to understand technology products and translate functionality into meaningful solutions for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to build relationships with organizational stakeholders and decision-makers.
Entrepreneurial, adaptable, and hands-on approach with a willingness to work across functions and take ownership beyond a narrowly defined job description.
Strong organizational skills and ability to independently manage multiple relationships, opportunities, projects, meetings, and priorities.
Experience with CRM or comparable relationship-management systems.
Ability and willingness to travel for conferences, institutional meetings, partner engagements, and other industry events.
Preferred
Experience within higher education, educational technology, SaaS, learning management systems, or related environments.
Experience in consultative technology sales, strategic partnerships, business development, customer success, or account management.
Experience conducting product demonstrations or representing technology products with executive and institutional audiences.
Understanding of higher education operations, institutional decision-making, academic workflows, or technology procurement.
Experience working in a growth-oriented, entrepreneurial, small-team, or highly cross-functional environment.
Compensation
The anticipated salary range for this position is $75,000–$90,000 annually, depending on experience and qualifications.
This is a salaried, non-commissioned position. Success is measured by the quality and development of institutional relationships, advancement of qualified opportunities, partner experience, implementation engagement, and contribution to Edverum's overall growth—not individual sales commission or quota attainment.
Conditions of Employment
A job-related assessment may be required during the interview process.
Must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily and be physically present in the office (unless otherwise noted).
Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally to conferences, trade shows, institutional meetings, partner locations, and other business-related events as required.
Occasional evening or weekend availability may be required based on conferences, partner events, meetings, or organizational needs.
Employment Authorization: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Stanbridge University does not provide employment-based immigration sponsorship or participate in employer-sponsored or employer-dependent work authorization programs.
Sponsorship: Sponsorship now or in the future could include having Stanbridge University file or support a work authorization petition, provide employment verification or documentation for immigration purposes, participate in a government-sponsored work authorization program, or otherwise assist with obtaining or maintaining employment authorization.
Work Environment
Professional office environment supporting educational technology, strategic partnerships, and institutional relationships.
Frequent interaction with prospective and existing institutional partners, academic leaders, administrators, technology professionals, internal teams, and organizational leadership.
Regular participation in conferences, trade shows, expos, institutional meetings, product demonstrations, and other professional events.
Fast-paced environment requiring the ability to manage multiple partner relationships, priorities, follow-up activities, and time-sensitive commitments simultaneously.
Requires flexibility, adaptability, independent judgment, and a collaborative approach to working across technical, operational, academic, and leadership teams.
Regular travel may be required to represent Edverum at conferences, trade shows, institutional meetings, partner engagements, and other industry events.
Physical Demands
Regularly sits for extended periods while working at a compu

Work arrangement
No