National Partnership Development Specialist

Who You Are

You are passionate about helping students achieve their educational goals. You thrive in a competitive and collaborative team environment. You are comfortable working remotely and have experience collaborating with others in a virtual environment. You possess a strong attention to detail.

We are seeking a dynamic and results-driven inside business development professional to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for initiating and nurturing partnerships with community colleges and higher education institutions nationwide. Your focus will be on securing strategic collaborations, executing virtual marketing initiatives, and expanding our outreach within the academic community. The ideal candidate is a persuasive communicator, a strategic thinker, and passionate about advancing educational access, supporting student success, and driving workforce development through innovative marketing and partnership strategies

Requirements

Who is American College of Education

Founded in 2005, American College of Education continues to be a leader in professional development through our online programs. The mission of ACE is to deliver high-quality, affordable and accessible online programs grounded in evidence-based content and relevant application. Our graduates are prepared to serve, lead and achieve personal and professional goals in diverse, evolving communities. As a socially conscious institution, we’re dedicated to making a positive impact and inspiring our students to do the same.

ACE is a mission-driven institution continually recognized for its commitment to social responsibility and positive impact. As an Impact Institution, we believe we have a responsibility to our students, alumni, employees, communities, and society as a whole. Guided by our core values, we strive to create meaningful impact that extends well beyond our bottom line.

Who You Are

You are passionate about helping students achieve their educational goals. You thrive in a competitive and collaborative team environment. You are comfortable working remotely and have experience collaborating with others in a virtual environment. You possess a strong attention to detail.

We are seeking a dynamic and results-driven inside business development professional to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for initiating and nurturing partnerships with community colleges and higher education institutions nationwide. Your focus will be on securing strategic collaborations, executing virtual marketing initiatives, and expanding our outreach within the academic community. The ideal candidate is a persuasive communicator, a strategic thinker, and passionate about advancing educational access, supporting student success, and driving workforce development through innovative marketing and partnership strategies

Compensation

ACE is committed to paying a competitive wage while staying true to our mission of maintaining high quality, affordable programs for our students. The starting salary range for this position is $60,000 plus all full-time employees are eligible for an annual bonus. Offers vary depending on education, prior experience, and expertise being applied to the role.

What We Look for in the Ideal Candidate

• Clear, persuasive verbal and written communication tailored to higher education stakeholders, including administrators, faculty, and workforce development leaders.

• Experience with consultative outreach—including cold calling, lead nurturing, and relationship-building—with an emphasis on aligning solutions to institutional priorities such as enrollment growth and student success.

• Understanding of digital marketing channels and how to position offerings in virtual spaces to engage both academic decision-makers and career services teams.

• Familiarity with tools like CRM, Power BI, and Campus Nexus (or similar student information systems) for managing partner relationships and tracking student advancement outcomes.

• Ability to align outreach with broader institutional goals such as workforce development, career readiness, and community engagement.

• Skilled in managing multiple partnership campaigns and follow-ups simultaneously, ensuring timely communication and progress toward shared objectives.

• Knowledge of higher education structures, funding models, and decision-making processes, including how community colleges collaborate with local employers and workforce boards.

Day to Day Responsibilities

In this role, you will serve as an ambassador for ACE, leveraging your expertise to cultivate partnerships and drive student enrollment. Your leadership and initiative will be critical in the following areas:

Qualifications and Education Requirements

• Maintains a structured cadence of partnership activities, tracking commitments, timelines, and opportunities that advance enrollment and student success initiatives.

• Builds curated lists of institutional and employer stakeholders for high-impact webinars and events; manages invitations and engagement to maximize participation.

• Coordinates event agendas and post-event engagement strategies to generate qualified leads tied to workforce-aligned programs.

• Orchestrates interactions with college leadership and workforce development teams, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.

• Identifies and validates community college partners and affiliated workforce training sites; assesses articulation agreements and program alignment to meet regional workforce needs.

• Develops clear program pathways and student journey documentation that illustrate career-connected learning and credential attainment.

• Segments and routes prospective student and partner leads to advising teams with clarity on program interest and institutional context.

• Ensures CRM accuracy by auditing and categorizing partnerships (community college, employer, association); standardizes data fields for status and stakeholder roles.

• Manages proposal workflows for tuition agreements, billing structures, and custom cohorts; maintains compliance and documentation standards.

• Leverages reporting tools to identify partnership gaps and quick-win opportunities that drive institutional growth.

• Collaborates with marketing teams to create and update program materials, case studies, and campaign assets that highlight student success and workforce outcomes.

• Develops repeatable templates, playbooks, and dashboards to institutionalize best practices for higher education partnerships.

Qualifications and Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree

• CRM/E-mail operations experience.

• Commitment to learning and developing skills.

• Good interpersonal and time management skills.

• Ability to work with individuals at all levels of the organization.

• Ability to exercise good judgment.

• Ability to travel/drive regionally on a weekly, daily, or an as-needed basis (up to 20%).

• Willingness to work a flexible schedule to accommodate night and weekend events.

Our Commitment to Employees

Just as we strive to empower our students for success, we also aim to enrich the lives of our employees. For 6 consecutive years, ACE was recognized as one of Indiana’s Best Places to Work, winning the #1 spot for medium-sized companies in 2020. In addition, ACE has earned national recognition, being named a USA Top Workplace in 2022, 2023 and 2024. As a virtual first organization, we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a family-like inclusive work environment. For our full-time employees, we offer the following benefits:

• Medical, dental, & vision Insurance

• HSA and FSA options

• Paid parental leave

• Paid volunteer time

• Tuition reimbursement & reduction programs

• Generous PTO

• 401k and employer match

• Full-service wellness and EAP program

• Employee recognition and awards programs

• Employer paid life & AD&D insurance

• Short-term disability

• Employer paid long-term disability

• And more…

Physical Demands

The physical demand described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to communicate with and receive communications from students and ACE employees in real time using online and other electronic media.

Commitment to Culture

At American College of Education, we’re all about building a one-of-a-kind, supportive community where everyone—students, faculty, and staff—can thrive. Guided by our mission and values, we focus on everything from innovative curriculum design to personalized instruction and student support to intentional planning, inclusive initiatives, and strategic resource allocation. We’re dedicated to creating an environment that celebrates freedom of expression, diversity of thought, open dialogue, and mutual respect. We believe in fostering a sense of belonging and wellness so that every member of our ACE family feels empowered, valued, and ready to reach their full potential. Together, we’re creating a vibrant, resilient, and connected learning community where everyone matters.

Additional Notes

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Employees are increasingly integrating AI into their roles, demonstrating its potential to boost efficiency, accuracy, and productivity. By utilizing AI technologies, we can streamline processes, gain valuable insights from data, and automate routine tasks, which allows employees to concentrate on more strategic and creative aspects of their work. While AI is a beneficial tool in the workplace, if its use—such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Copy.ai, etc.—accounts for more than 50% of any work assignments or job responsibilities, it will need to be reported to a direct leader.

Internet bandwidth speeds from an employee's remote work location must be a minimum of 50Mbps download speeds and 5Mbps upload speeds. Please note if the bandwidth is shared across multiple devices (tablets, computer, streaming, phone, etc.) you will need higher overall speeds. You can test the speed of your connection by visiting speedtest.net Purchase, setup, installation, support, and ongoing maintenance of reliable internet service is the responsibility of the individual.

American College of Education seeks to attract and retain a diverse staff consistent with its diverse student body and surrounding communities. At this time we cannot consider candidates residing in Alaska, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, South Dakota, or Alabama.

ACE is an Equal Opportunity Employer.