About Core Education

Core Education is a dynamic organization dedicated to transforming the business model of higher education through innovative programs and partnerships. We work collaboratively with colleges and universities to enhance learning experiences, promote student success, and drive positive outcomes. 

About the role

The Vice President, Partnerships will lead Core’s institutional engagement and revenue growth strategy. This executive will drive high-impact conversations, shape institutional understanding, guide complex consultative sales cycles, and develop a high-performing team capable of engaging the highest levels of institutional leadership. The role requires someone who can position transformation, not services - an executive with the intellect, confidence, and precision to engage presidents and boards on business-model redesign, financial resilience, digital modernization, and system strategy.

What you'll do

Key Responsibilities

Executive Engagement and Institutional Strategy Leadership

• Personally lead high-stakes consultative engagements with presidents, boards, and cabinets.
• Conduct diagnostic conversations that reveal financial pressures, operational weaknesses, strategic options, and institutional decision dynamics.
• Reframe institutional challenges using Core’s frameworks - financial resilience, growth architecture, digital strategy, and system design.
• Guide account strategy and engagements from first conversation to formal commitment, ensuring clarity of purpose, structured progression, and shared understanding at every stage.
• Advance institutional decision-making forward with clarity, structure, and momentum - no drift, no ambiguity.
• Develop and deliver proposals and scopes that are precise, compelling, and aligned with Core’s delivery capacity and strategic intent.

Operational and Financial Oversight

• Maintain accurate forecasting, pipeline integrity, and revenue.
• Partner with finance to align pricing and revenue models with organizational targets.
• Coordinate closely with practice leads to ensure commitments align with delivery capacity, resource planning, and margin expectations.
• Track and report on sales performance indicators, driving continuous improvement.

Thought Leadership and Sector Influence

• Assist with shaping Core’s external voice on all instruments related to transformation.
• Develop case studies, framing documents, and narratives that strengthen consultative sales.
• Represent Core at national conferences, association events, and executive convenings.
• Translate market intelligence into strategic insights for product, service, and model evolution.

Capability Building

• Serve as a Player–Coach, modeling executive presence, consultative rigor, and disciplined follow-through.
• Coach team members in objection handling, framing, and executive communication.
• Assist with building repeatable playbooks, templates, and processes.
• Develop high-performing talent capable of engaging C-suite and board audiences.

Strategic Growth Leadership

• Lead Core’s institutional growth strategy, defining messaging, methods, and success metrics aligned with Core’s operating model.
• Shape Core’s go-to-market positioning in partnership with the CEO and executive team.
• Build and manage a national pipeline of institutional opportunities reflecting Core’s portfolio: financial resilience, growth plans, digital modernization, M&A advisory, and Private Systems.
• Establish a disciplined, performance-oriented culture that mirrors Core’s consulting excellence.
• Serve as a senior external face for Core with presidents, boards, and sector partners.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in enterprise or consultative sales, higher education strategy, digital transformation, or professional services.
• Demonstrated success closing complex, multi-stakeholder executive-level engagements.
• Ability to carry and exceed a personal quota while building and leading a high-performing team.
• Exceptional communication and executive presence - able to create clarity in moments of complexity or tension.
• Deep understanding of (or ability to rapidly learn) higher education finance, enrollment, digital modernization, and governance.
• Experience establishing disciplined sales processes, performance systems, and capability-building programs.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: thrives in a growth-oriented, mission-driven organization.

Core Attributes

• Player–Coach: Wins personally and elevates the system around them.
• High-Impact Consultative Strategist: Guides stakeholders toward decisive, aligned outcomes.
• Strategic Operator: Connects institutional diagnosis to Core’s solutions with precision.
• Bold Leader: Comfortable challenging assumptions and guiding presidents toward action.
• Builder Mentality: Creates new systems and structures where none exist.
• Collaborative Leader: Works across practice areas to deliver unified, high-impact outcomes.
• Mission-Driven: Believes in strengthening independent institutions through shared capability and modernization.