Senior Director of Academic Partnerships

Senior Director of Academic Partnerships

• Develop and cultivate relationships with university provosts, deans, department chairs, faculty leaders, centers for teaching and learning, and other institutional decision-makers.
• Represent Collage in strategic conversations, campus visits, presentations, conferences, and faculty workshops.
• Identify institutional priorities and articulate how Collage can support academic goals, instructional innovation, and student success.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to institutional partners exploring the integration of AI into teaching and learning, with particular attention to faculty agency, student trust, and evidence of educational value.
• Develop regional engagement strategies that identify promising institutions, academic programs, and opportunities for sustained adoption.

• Lead prospective institutional partnerships from initial engagement through pilot design, evaluation, pricing discussions, negotiation, and signed agreements.
• Develop and manage a pipeline of qualified institutional opportunities, with accountability for converting promising relationships and successful pilots into paid, sustainable partnerships.
• Work with academic leaders and faculty to identify courses, departments, and programs where Collage can provide meaningful educational value.
• Develop partnership proposals aligned with institutional goals, success measures, implementation requirements, and available resources.
• Build relationships across academic, administrative, and operational stakeholders to support institutional decision-making and adoption.
• Manage institutional approval processes, including procurement, IT, accessibility, privacy, and security reviews, in collaboration with appropriate Collage colleagues.
• Collaborate with the Chief Academic Strategy & Partnerships Officer on strategic accounts, pricing approaches, and institutional growth opportunities.

• Facilitate discussions, demonstrations, and workshops with faculty exploring Collage.
• Understand faculty needs, instructional challenges, and opportunities to apply evidence-based teaching practices.
• Partner with faculty and academic leaders to establish meaningful goals and measures for pilot success.
• Work closely with Partner Success Managers, who lead day-to-day implementation, onboarding, and faculty support, while maintaining responsibility for senior institutional relationships and partnership development.
• Ensure that faculty experiences and feedback inform ongoing partnership planning and opportunities for broader adoption.

• Collaborate with institutional leaders, faculty, and Collage colleagues to evaluate pilot outcomes, including student engagement, learning effectiveness, faculty satisfaction, and achievement of agreed success criteria.
• Translate pilot findings and faculty feedback into recommendations for broader institutional adoption.
• Lead discussions regarding expansion into additional courses, departments, and academic programs, as well as institutional renewals and longer-term commitments.
• Maintain strategic ownership of institutional relationships throughout the partnership lifecycle, coordinating with Partner Success Managers and other colleagues to support successful implementation and continued engagement.
• Identify opportunities to deepen institutional partnerships through research, academic collaboration, and expanded use of Collage.
• Contribute institutional insights and faculty feedback to Collage's product development and academic strategy.

• Independently lead institutional engagements across the assigned region, representing Collage with senior academic and administrative stakeholders.
• Serve as a senior individual contributor within the academic partnerships team, working closely with the Chief Academic Strategy & Partnerships Officer on regional priorities and strategic opportunities.
• Collaborate with product, learning science, technical, and partner support teams to align institutional needs with Collage's capabilities and strategic priorities.
• Help refine partnership processes, institutional engagement strategies, and approaches to scaling adoption.
• Contribute to the development of a repeatable, effective model for institutional growth that balances educational impact, faculty experience, and commercial sustainability.

• Based in the Pacific or Mountain West region of the United States, ideally California.
• 8–12+ years of progressively responsible experience in higher education, academic partnerships, educational innovation, education technology, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success building relationships with senior university leaders and faculty and translating complex institutional relationships into sustained partnerships.
• Experience developing, negotiating, and securing institutional agreements or comparable complex partnerships involving multiple stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of higher education governance, academic decision-making, institutional purchasing processes, and technology adoption.
• Ability to engage thoughtfully and credibly in conversations about pedagogy, learning science, and AI-enabled teaching and learning.
• Experience managing partnerships through multiple stages, from initial engagement to implementation, evaluation, and expansion.
• Excellent presentation, facilitation, communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-moving, mission-driven organization.

• Experience in academic leadership, faculty development, teaching and learning centers, or university-level educational innovation initiatives.
• Experience introducing or scaling educational technologies across colleges and universities.
• Familiarity with learning analytics, assessment, instructional design, and evidence-based teaching practices.
• Experience navigating institutional procurement, technology integration, accessibility, privacy, and security considerations.
• Experience working across both faculty and institutional leadership audiences.
• Advanced degree in education, STEM, business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

• Development of a healthy pipeline of qualified institutional opportunities.
• Conversion of prospective partners into well-designed pilots with clearly defined goals and measures of success.
• Successful progression of pilots into paid institutional commitments, expanded adoption, and longer-term partnerships.
• Growth in institutional revenue through new agreements, renewals, and expansion of existing partnerships.
• Sustained faculty engagement and adoption across courses, departments, and academic programs.
• Quality and depth of relationships with academic leadership, faculty, and other institutional stakeholders.
• Evidence of positive teaching and learning outcomes, evaluated collaboratively with faculty, institutions, and Collage colleagues.
• Effective collaboration across the Partnerships team and with product, learning science, and technical colleagues.
• Contributions to Collage's institutional growth strategy and continued improvement of its partnership model.