Director of Partnership Development & Higher Education Strategy

About Us

Our mission is simple but critical: to build pathways for adult learners to earn high-quality, workforce-aligned degrees and credentials from North Carolina’s public universities. At Project Kitty Hawk, our work reflects our company values:

• Collaboration – We prioritize our partners’ success and reputation, aligning every initiative with their goals, reflecting their values, and enhancing their impact.
• Innovation – We innovate, not replicate. As creative problem solvers, we use data-driven insights to push boundaries, continuously improve our services, develop solutions, and redefine what it means to serve nontraditional learners.
• Empathy – We understand the unique challenges of nontraditional learners and are committed to supporting them with empathy, respect, and solutions that fit their needs.
• Integrity – We operate with transparency and accountability in everything we do. We uphold honesty, take ownership of our work, and maintain the highest standards.
• Teamwork – We embody the collaboration we seek. We always strive to be dependable, supportive, and solutions-oriented teammates.

Together, we partner with universities in the University of North Carolina (UNC) System to produce innovative, flexible degree and credential programs in high-demand fields. Each PKH team member plays a vital role in advancing this mission and shaping the future of education for adult learners. By joining our team, you have an opportunity to contribute to our vision: making North Carolina’s public universities the top choice for adult learners and amplifying the UNC System’s role as a national leader in higher education innovation, access, and student success.

About the Role

The Director of Partnership Development & Higher Education Strategy supports Project Kitty Hawk (PKH) in extending the benefits of public higher education to all North Carolinians. This position is a business development leader who combines genuine fluency in public higher education with the discipline to close deals. The ideal candidate can engage senior university and UNC System Office leadership as a credible thought partner on institutional strategy while managing a disciplined pipeline from prospecting through close.

This role works extensively and directly with the UNC System Office, translating system-wide priorities into individual campus partnerships, and has experience nurturing university and System relationships into formal, revenue-generating partnerships that drive university and company growth.

Responsibilities

Partnership Development (Business Development)

• Build and manage a pipeline of prospective UNC System and national university partners, from initial prospecting through close.
• Lead solution-scoping conversations with university leadership, translating institutional challenges (enrollment, retention, student success) into partnership opportunities.
• Support development of scope documents and foundational partnership contracts, including drafting agreements and facilitating final delivery.
• Lead transition phases from prospect to client, collaborating closely with Partnership Success to ensure seamless onboarding and integration.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with marketing, admissions, student services, and partnership success teams to identify new solutions that respond to the pressing needs of the UNC System and the state.
• Conduct market viability assessments using UNC System and national datasets to build a deep knowledge of potential partners’ vision, programs, and objectives.

FASTER Initiative Coordination

The FASTER Initiative is a partnership with the UNC System to support System campuses in their efforts to enhance the student journey, from initial impression to graduation. This role will:

• Execute the day-to-day operations of the FASTER initiative.
• Utilize project and process management skills to ensure transparent and repeatable delivery of consulting services, specifically the development of project plans, interview schedules, and final deliverable preparation.
• Measure and report on the progress of initiative-specific milestones and the overall health of campus partnerships.

Shaping PKH and UNC System Strategy

• Develop mechanisms to synthesize lessons learned from the FASTER initiative, partnership success, and student operations to inform UNC System President and System Office staff on opportunities for System-wide improvement.
• With support from PKH colleagues, position PKH and its partners as a “test bed” for innovative practices, including facilitating implementation and evaluation of innovative practices and synthesizing results for university and System-level leaders.
• By tapping networks across university partners and the System Office, examine gaps and pain points in university- and System-level practice and identify opportunities for PKH to address those gaps and pain points.
• Identify, explore, and pitch leadership on new opportunities for PKH to grow its revenue and impact.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; experience in partner and account management or business development.
• 5+ years of experience in higher education, public policy, nonprofit management, or consulting.
• Proven track record of consultative or solution-based selling, ideally within higher education or edtech.
• Direct experience in university consulting, advising institutional leadership on enrollment, student success, or operational improvement.
• Experience managing and growing a partnership or sales pipeline.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to communicate, present, and influence credibly and effectively at all levels of an organization, including executive and C-level.
• Natural relationship builder with integrity, reliability, and maturity.
• Driven to care for the partnership and its stakeholders, ensuring their needs are met and finding opportunities to make each partnership successful.
• Knowledge of public higher education, adult learners, and online delivery.
• Have a knack for navigating change and a willingness to think creatively to solve problems.
• Effectively manage ambiguity.
• Understand (or know how to discover) what the partnership’s stakeholders care about and how to support their goals, strategic plans, values, and mission.
• Demonstrated ability to work constructively with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to work independently within a complex environment, drive recommendations to stakeholders, and juggle multiple initiatives at once.

Pay

$155,000 - $175,000 a year

Benefits

• Full medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401K with match.
• Generous time-off policy with paid volunteer time.
• Potential for performance bonus.
• Remote working flexibility.