Enterprise Partnerships Director - Institution Strategy & Ventures

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

Pay Range: $ - $

• Develop and oversee WGU’s strategic partnership portfolio, evaluating emerging market opportunities, identifying priority opportunities, and advising executive leadership on investments, partnerships, and ecosystem engagement that advance institutional objectives.
• Initiate outreach to potential partner organizations, identifying the relevant roles and individuals within those organizations who are most likely to be responsible for evaluating and implementing partnership agreements.
• Identify potential areas of offer co-development, including new-to-the-world innovation opportunities, go-to-market coordination, and market-shaping activities that will define the scope of partnerships while incorporating both WGU strategic goals and partner benefits.
• Evangelize and coordinate across internal stakeholders, including academic and business unit leaders, WGU Labs, Enterprise Tech, Marketing, Legal, and Operations, to ensure alignment, risk management, and delivery readiness.
• Negotiate effective partnership structures that maintain WGU’s mission integrity, financial stewardship, and brand strength.
• Serve as an advisor to broader Strategy & Ventures leadership regarding ecosystem trends.
• Establish governance, evaluation criteria, and success measures for strategic partnerships across the portfolio.

• Oversee progress and performance across all partnership initiatives, from concept to launch to operational scale.
• Ensure both partners and WGU meet milestones and achieve intended outcomes, measuring jointly defined success metrics.
• Identify opportunities to deepen relationships or, where impact and alignment diminish, responsibly sunset partnerships.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the primary bridge between internal teams and partner organizations, translating vision into execution.
• Lead cross-functional work streams, including technology validations, research collaborations, go-to-market pilots, and joint marketing activities, that deliver measurable value.
• Promote knowledge sharing and partnership management playbooks across Strategy & Ventures and the broader WGU system.

• Establish partnership success metrics and dashboards to assess reach, impact, and return on investment (ROI).
• Leverage insights to refine partnership strategy and report outcomes to senior leadership and the Board.
• Lead partnership-related contributions to enterprise strategic planning and provide recommendations regarding market positioning, strategic opportunities, and partnership investments.

• Serve as WGU’s executive representative with senior leaders, including CEOs, VPs, and Directors, as well as funders, workforce organizations, and other stakeholders to establish and strengthen institutional relevance within the ecosystem.
• Influence external stakeholders and internal executives to advance enterprise-wide partnership initiatives.
• Actnal Collaboration as a trusted…