Academia GTM Associate Director

Accenture PLC; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 151,000 - 357,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture PLC is seeking a leader to drive growth in academia markets across the Americas and build high-impact partnerships with universities and institutions through the LearnVantage program.

You will connect academic rigor with industry relevance, creating scalable learning propositions aligned with workforce development and learner outcomes. The role requires senior stakeholder engagement and strategic collaboration across multiple internal teams.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, education, learning, or consulting.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience developing and managing senior stakeholder relationships across multi-stakeholder environments.

Responsibilities

• Identify, qualify, and develop new business opportunities across educational institutions, executive education, and industry-integrated learning programs.
• Build and manage a robust opportunity pipeline from engagement through closure.
• Develop compelling value propositions and partnership models aligned with institutional priorities and market demand.
• Collaborate with sales, marketing, solution, delivery, legal, and commercial teams to structure and operationalize academia opportunities.

Skills

Business development

Strategic partnerships

Education & edtech

Executive education

Higher education

Job description

Role Purpose

Drive growth by developing academia market in Americas, strategic academia collaboration opportunities for Accenture LearnVantage business and building high-impact partnerships with universities and academic institutions. The role will connect academic rigor with industry relevance, creating scalable learning propositions that address learner, institutional, and workforce development.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development & Growth Identify, qualify, and develop new business opportunities across educational institutions, executive education, and industry-integrated learning programs. Build and manage a robust opportunity pipeline, from initial engagement and solution shaping through commercial discussions and closure. Develop compelling value propositions and partnership models aligned with institutional priorities and market demand. Collaborate with sales, marketing, solution, delivery, legal, and commercial teams to structure and operationalize sustainable academia opportunities. Support new market development, account planning, proposal creation, and senior academia stakeholder presentations.

Academia & Strategic Collaborations

Establish and nurture strategic relationships with universities, business schools, research institutions, and other academic partners. Co-create partnership models such as industry-integrated degrees, embedded industry modules, executive education, micro-credentials, certification programs. Work with academic partners to align curricula with emerging industry skills, applied learning, practitioner expertise, projects, mentorship, and career-readiness outcomes. Facilitate collaboration across academic leaders, faculty, industry experts, ecosystem partners, and internal stakeholders.

Partnership & Program Strategy

Shape scalable partnership operating models covering market outreach, learner acquisition, program management, digital delivery, and learner experience. Define success measures, governance mechanisms, commercial constructs, and joint responsibilities with academic partners. Monitor market trends, emerging skills, competitive activity, and evolving institutional needs to identify new offerings and partnership opportunities for Accenture LearnVantage. Build executive-level relationships and serve as a trusted advisor to strategic partners throughout the partnership lifecycle.

Desired Experience & Capabilities

Strong experience in business development, strategic partnerships, education, learning, or edtech ecosystem. Demonstrated ability to develop senior academia stakeholder relationships and progress complex, multi-stakeholder opportunities. Understanding of higher education, executive education, workforce skilling, digital learning, and industry-academia partnership models. Strong commercial acumen with experience in solution shaping, proposals, negotiations, and partnership development. Excellent communication, executive presence, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills. Ability to translate market and client needs into differentiated, scalable learning and commercial partnership propositions.

Success Measures

• Growth and quality of the academia business-development pipeline.
• New strategic academic partnerships established and expanded.
• Conversion of opportunities into sustainable programs and commercial engagements.
• Strength and depth of senior stakeholder relationships.
• Scale, learner impact, industry relevance, and long-term value generated through partnerships.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, education, learning, or consulting,
• Minimum of 5 years of experience developing and managing senior stakeholder relationships across multi-stakeholder environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in solution shaping, proposals, negotiations, and partnership development within higher education, executive education, workforce skilling, digital learning, or industry-academia ecosystems.
• Strong understanding of higher education, executive education, workforce skilling, digital learning, and industry-academia partnership models.
• Excellent communication, executive presence, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to align academic, industry, and internal stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to translate market and client needs into differentiated, scalable learning propositions and to convert opportunities into sustainable programs and commercial engagements.

Compensation

At Accenture varies depending on a wide array of factors, which may include but are not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set, and level of experience. As required by local law, Accenture provides a reasonable range of compensation for roles that may be hired as set forth below. We anticipate this job posting will be posted until 11/27/2026.

Benefits

• Accenture offers a market competitive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, and long-term disability coverage, a 401(k) plan, bonus opportunities, paid holidays, and paid time off.
• Annual Salary Range: California $163,000 to $413,600
• Colorado $163,000 to $357,400
• Connecticut $163,000 to $357,400
• District of Columbia $173,500 to $380,500
• Illinois $150,900 to $357,400
• Maine $138,800 to $304,400
• Maryland $163,000 to $357,400
• Massachusetts $163,000 to $380,500
• Minnesota $163,000 to $357,400
• New York $150,900 to $413,600
• New Jersey $173,500 to $413,600
• Ohio $150,900 to $330,900
• Virginia $150,900 to $380,500
• Washington $173,500 to $380,500

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 791,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities.

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