Senior Vice President, Education

About the Role

NU Advisory Partners seeks a Senior Vice President of Education for a tech-driven education services firm. This leadership position holds comprehensive responsibility for a wide-ranging services portfolio, including commercial strategy, program execution, and creating the organizational framework necessary for scaling operations. The ideal candidate is an effective operator with strong commercial acumen who can lead by outcomes and foster trust in a mission-focused culture without relying solely on hierarchical authority.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end commercial leadership of a multi-product service portfolio by defining pricing, customer segmentation, and market positioning for both institutional and direct channels.
• Drive business growth through strategic clarity, fostering cross-functional partnerships, and staying attuned to market dynamics, despite not directly owning sales or marketing.
• Spot and develop adjacent growth opportunities, crafting investment cases and overseeing execution collaboratively.
• Develop tailored service offerings for various buyer personas and devise channel strategies for market penetration.
• Respond swiftly to market signals by setting decisive directions rather than relying on prolonged planning.
• Oversee delivery of educational programs including program management, student assistance, and quality control to ensure excellence at scale.
• Create accountability frameworks and reporting mechanisms aimed at achieving continuous and measurable improvements in learner success.
• Collaborate with Product and Technology teams to enhance program delivery and contribute to long-term operational strategies.
• Define and implement the workforce operating model by crafting strategies for staffing, capacity planning, and efficient resource use.
• Optimize cost-to-serve by restructuring work organization to improve efficiency beyond mere headcount adjustments.
• Establish scalable staffing models capable of handling significant growth without proportional cost increases.
• Design the organizational and operational models essential for supporting the company’s growth trajectory.
• Partner with key departments to guide future service delivery and operational investments.
• Translate strategic objectives into effective team structures, roles, and workflows.
• Function as an equal member of the executive team, gaining influence through results and collaboration instead of formal authority.
• Build strong cross-departmental relationships to align on growth and retention goals.
• Earn confidence among educators and institutional partners through attentive listening and consistent delivery.

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum ten years of senior leadership experience in service-oriented organizations, with demonstrated success in scaling complex, multi-channel operational models.
• In-depth understanding of large-scale workforce services management, including staffing model development, utilization, and cost efficiency.
• Proven ability to grow service businesses commercially without directly managing sales or marketing functions.
• Experience managing a P&L at a business unit or portfolio level of $50 million or more.
• A quick and decisive decision-making approach capable of providing clear direction in a fast-changing market environment.
• Diverse industry experience enabling rapid adaptation to new domains through cross-sector insights.
• A leadership philosophy based on active listening, curiosity, and earning credibility through delivering results in mission-driven settings.
• Experience in education technology or education-related services is advantageous.