Chief Business Officer (Remote)

World Education Services; Prince Edward Island; Remote; USD 275,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative social enterprise seeks a Chief Business Officer to lead its core credential evaluation operations. This role is pivotal in driving strategic growth, enhancing customer experience, and ensuring operational excellence. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in managing commercial teams, a strong customer orientation, and the ability to navigate cross-cultural contexts. With a commitment to social impact, this position offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of education access and global mobility. Join a mission-driven organization that values diversity and inclusion while offering competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package.

Benefits

Flexible work arrangements

Generous vacation time

Paid parental leave

Comprehensive benefits package

Retirement plans with matching

Paid professional development

Tuition reimbursement

Corporate gym membership

EAP support

Qualifications

• 15+ years of business experience with 10+ years in operations leadership.
• Experience in high-volume environments and knowledge-based enterprises.
• Strong analytical skills to drive growth and set strategic plans.

Responsibilities

• Manage credential evaluation operations and ensure optimal service delivery.
• Develop strategic plans for growth and profitability in core operations.
• Foster a culture of innovation and lead a high-performing team.

Skills

Operations Management

Commercial Strategy

Customer Experience

Data Analysis

Leadership

Cross-Cultural Communication

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Master's Degree

Job description

Who We Are:World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping immigrants, refugees, and international students achieve economic, social, and educational inclusion in the United States and Canada. Since 1974, WES has helped people learn, work, and thrive in new places and helped society recognize the value of people’s education and experience.Our credential evaluation business is foundational to the organization’s history, mission, and strategy. For over 50 years, WES has served as a global leader in the field of credential evaluation, helping over 4 million people advance their educations and careers and build futures in new countries. In recent years, we’ve expanded and accelerated our impact, and now serve nearly 500,000 individuals with credential evaluations annually. As an innovative social enterprise, WES also leverages its credential evaluation operations to support a variety of mission-oriented partnerships, programs, and policy and philanthropic initiatives to advance economic inclusion for immigrants and their communities.As WES looks ahead to its next 50 years, we have adopted an ambitious 10-year strategy to help enable and accelerate access to good work for immigrants – a future in which everyone benefits from an inclusive economy that enables immigrants to thrive. That strategy will require WES’ credential evaluation operations to be highly focused on strategic growth, customer experience, innovation, and digitization. The Chief Business Officer will be a critical leader in guiding and delivering upon this focus, and in partnering with the Executive Leadership Team to more broadly realize WES’ goals at the enterprise level.For more information on World Education Services, our mission and our work, please visit https://www.wes.org/Our ValuesWe look for people who embody our values:

• Opportunity – We open doors so people can build better futures.
• Inclusion – We become stronger, more creative, and more resilient when we embrace diversity.
• Equity – We uphold fairness and justice in our work and actions.
• Enterprising – We are resourceful, inventive, and driven.
• Expertise – We challenge ourselves to be the best at what we do.

What You’ll DoAs WES looks to the future, we are seeking an exceptional leader to serve as our next Chief Business Officer. Responsible for driving the strategic and operational direction of WES’s core credential evaluation business, the Chief Business Officer will lead efforts to optimize service delivery, enhance customer experience, and identify opportunities for sustainable delivery and growth. They will oversee the organization’s commercial operations for its core products, ensuring WES continues to thrive as a financially independent, mission-driven social enterprise. With a focus on innovation, efficiency, and strengthening WES’s solid foundation, the Chief Business Officer will develop and implement strategies, systems, and processes that enable the organization to operate effectively while expanding its reach and impact.This is a unique opportunity for a forward-thinking, impact-driven executive to help shape the future of WES, ensuring its continued success as a social enterprise while deepening its impact on global mobility and education access.Key Responsibilities

• Managing the credential evaluation operations, driving operational excellence in service delivery and identifying ways for WES to continue to operate as a non-profit social enterprise in a financially independent, self-sustaining model
• Ensuring WES’ core business operations (credential evaluations) run optimally, working with the department leaders and teams across the different functional areas and within different geographies, setting clear priorities and measurable goals to optimize the delivery of high-quality evaluation reports on time, on budget, and in line with customer needs
• Developing and executing strategic plans to drive growth and profitability in the core business operations, working with key leaders across the organization to identify new revenue streams through the development of enhancements specifically for our core products and services
• Overseeing the integration of solutions, systems, and frameworks that enhance our capabilities, drive improvements to the customer experience, provide enhanced analytical or processing capabilities and enable the core business to scale or pivot where appropriate
• Identifying ways and approaches to align operations and core business strategies with the enterprise strategy and external market opportunities
• Fostering a culture of innovation, encouraging the contribution of ideas for new approaches to our core products, processes, and services
• Serving as an exceptional organizational leader, manager, and coach with a high degree of emotional intelligence who develops strengths in others and models effective data-driven decision making
• In partnership with the broader Executive Leadership Team, helping to develop, refine, and execute the vision, mission, strategy, and plans for the organization

Who You’ll Work With

• You will report to Esther Benjamin, CEO.
• You will lead a division of ~230 employees, with 5 direct reports: Head of Production, Chief Transformation Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Revenue Officer (including Sales, Marketing and Customer Solutions and Core Product Management teams), Chief of Staff (Business Division).
• You will frequently collaborate with executive leadership, functional heads, and other key stakeholders.

Required Skills and ExperienceThe ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications:

• 15+ years of relevant business experience, with a minimum of 10 years leading operations and commercial teams in organizations of $50M or more
• Strong commercial experience in a high-volume environment (ideally both B2B and B2C); experience with knowledge-based enterprises and/or e-commerce a plus
• Strong experience operating in a global context, including navigating cross-cultural environments and working with teams and operations based in the global south
• Stellar critical and analytical skills with a track record of driving growth and setting ambitious, data-driven strategic plans, informed by data and external market conditions (e.g. government policy and regulations, economic conditions)
• Exceptional customer orientation with an eye towards ensuring strong customer satisfaction through growth, innovation, and operational excellence
• Experience building and leading high-performing, data-driven teams; ability to coach and develop others to achieve ambitious outcomes and foster a culture of accountability.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with internal and external stakeholders, including the ability to prioritize, negotiate, and manage expectations effectively
• Collaborative and engaging leader who understands how to balance commercial needs within a social enterprise operating model
• Experience partnering with an executive team and working with a Board of Directors
• Personal qualities of honesty, integrity, credibility, commitment to quality, customer-centricity, and dedication to the mission of WES
• Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally, approximately 25 %
• A Bachelor’s degree (Master’s degree strongly preferred) in a relevant area or commensurate business experience, with relevant skills in business operations

CompensationThe salary range for this role is $275,000 - $325,000, with a target 30% incentive. And because WES believes that their people are the foundation of their success, they place a high priority on offering a wide range of benefits that make their team happier and healthier, this includes:

• Flexible and supportive work arrangements with generous vacation time, paid parental leave and an ability to work remotely
• A comprehensive benefits package and retirement plans that have competitive matching provisions
• Paid professional development, tuition reimbursement, professional fees reimbursement, student loan repayment, and a focus on skills development
• A focus on wellness with a suite of wellness activities, corporate gym membership, and EAP support

Additional DetailsWhile this opportunity is remote, WES has offices in NYC and Toronto and there is a preference for candidates local or within commutable distance to either of those locations.This position requires frequent travel, with the Chief Business Officer is expected to spend approximately 20-25% of their time visiting key WES locations in the U.S., Canada, and India, as well as other strategic locations as required.Equity at World Education ServicesWorld Education Services is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace that reflects the rich tapestry of our communities, both in the US and Canada. This commitment is underscored by our unwavering dedication to providing equal opportunities to all qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or genetics. This commitment extends to every aspect of employment, from recruitment and hiring to promotions, training, and benefits. We comply with all applicable federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws. For us, diversity goes beyond compliance – it's about embracing unique perspectives and cultivating an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to reach their full potential.

Please Apply

Please note: We are partnering with On-Ramps to support the hiring process for the Chief Business Officer position. Qualified individuals, please apply at: https://www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3393. We will not accept applications submitted via other methods.