Higher Education Community & Partnerships Manager

About the role

This is a full time role that can be held from one of our US hubs or remotely in the United States.

Responsibilities

• Build and grow an educator community: identify, engage, and cultivate a network of educators at top university and bootcamp programs who are bringing Figma into their classrooms and giving them the resources and recognition to go deeper
• Drive curriculum integration: identify high-impact courses and partner with educators on teaching resources, assignments, and course packs that make Figma the easiest tool to teach with
• Partner with university technology centers: work with campus tech centers to make sure every incoming student knows about Figma's free education program from day one
• Cultivate institutional relationships: build close ties with program deans, department chairs, and leadership at the world's leading design schools programs
• Lay the foundation for institutional growth: do early work that positions Figma to partner with universities at an institutional level and help define what that path looks like
• Create compelling professor programming: design and launch events, resources, and community activations that give professors genuine reasons to champion Figma in their courses and recommend it to colleagues
• Partner with the broader Figma EDU team: work closely across the team to make sure our institutional work and our student programs are pulling in the same direction
• Measure success through data: track adoption, engagement, and relationship depth across institutional partnerships to understand what's working and iterate accordingly

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in academic partnerships, faculty engagement, higher ed community programs, or institutional relationship management
• Demonstrated success engaging and influencing university leadership — including deans, department chairs, and technology center directors — to drive institutional outcomes
• Experience building programs or communities from scratch with limited resources and without a defined playbook
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to tailor messaging for academic and institutional audiences
• A scrappy, entrepreneurial approach, comfortable operating in an ambiguous and resource-constrained environment

Qualifications

• Experience as an educator or working directly within a university setting
• Familiarity with design education, HCI programs, or creative disciplines
• Experience working at a high-growth tech company or startup
• Familiarity with sales or business development in an institutional or academic context