Director, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development

Outschool; United States; Hybrid; USD 173,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

PTO & family benefits

Hybrid/Remote-friendly

Professional development budgets

Job summary

Outschool is expanding access to educational opportunities in the US and Canada and is seeking a Director, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development to build and grow commercial relationships that drive revenue growth across funding programs, ESA wallet providers, SGOs, curriculum publishers, schools, and distribution partners.

You'll own the business development process from identification and outreach through negotiation, activation, and ongoing growth, partnering across Product, Growth,

Qualifications

• 8+ years in business development, strategic partnerships, or related commercial roles with at least 5 years leading revenue targets.
• Proven track record identifying, negotiating, launching, and scaling strategic partnerships that generate meaningful revenue.
• Strong relationship-building and negotiation skills with senior executives and complex organizations.
• Experience forecasting revenue, managing a BD pipeline, and delivering measurable commercial growth.

Responsibilities

• Develop strategic partnerships with state education agencies, ESA wallet providers, SGOs, curriculum publishers, schools, and other partners.
• Expand public funding partnerships and enable Outschool access through funding programs and scholarships.
• Develop curriculum/content partnerships and build distribution channels with schools and homeschool networks.
• Structure and negotiate commercial agreements, including licensing, distribution, referral, and revenue-sharing.
• Drive activation and growth with cross-functional teams to launch partnerships and increase adoption.
• Own partner-driven revenue targets, forecasts, and performance metrics; manage a prioritized pipeline.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Negotiation

Relationship-building

Revenue targets

Pipeline management

K-12 education market

Cross-functional collaboration

Entrepreneurial mindset

Job description

The Company:

Outschool’s mission is to inspire kids to love learning. In our fast-changing world, the traditional educational system struggles to meet the diverse and evolving needs of young learners. Outschool reimagines this system, offering flexible and engaging learning experiences as a supplement and alternative to traditional education. By connecting learners with a global community of teachers and peers through our online platform, we make learning personal, dynamic, and deeply human.

We've made significant strides since launching our marketplace of live online classes in 2017. Finding initial success with secular homeschoolers, we then expanded to enrichment learning to meet the needs of a wider audience, growing our business 16x since 2019. Post-pandemic, we have evolved our platform to power academic learning, incorporated AI, and have begun to grow our international community. We're proud to have served over 1.5M passionate learners with more than $100M in annual bookings.

Driving disruptive, positive change in education is rewarding and hard. Outschool team members are encouraged to challenge themselves, take risks, and grow in their careers. We look for talented people whose sense of urgency, innate curiosity, and determination to drive impact will help Outschool achieve outsized results in pursuit of our mission. We invite you to be part of an ambitious team dedicated to ensuring every learner can navigate the future with curiosity, resilience, and a love of learning.

The Role

Outschool is expanding how families access educational opportunities through new funding programs, academic offerings, and distribution partnerships. We're looking for a Director, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development to build and grow the commercial relationships that expand Outschool's reach and generate meaningful revenue growth.

In this role, you'll identify, develop, negotiate, and grow strategic partnerships across the education ecosystem, including state education funding programs, Education Savings Account (ESA) wallet providers, scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), curriculum publishers, schools, education organizations, and distribution partners.

You'll own the business development process from identifying prospective partners and establishing relationships through commercial negotiation, agreement execution, activation, and ongoing growth. You'll also work closely with Strategy, Product, Growth, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and Operations to ensure partnerships translate into successful programs, expanded distribution, and measurable business results.

This is a commercially accountable, relationship-driven role. You'll be responsible for building a strong pipeline of partnership opportunities, establishing agreements that create value for Outschool and its partners, and delivering against clear partner-driven revenue objectives.

We're looking for an experienced business development professional with strong commercial instincts, exceptional relationship-building and negotiation skills, and a demonstrated ability to turn strategic partnerships into sustainable revenue growth.

Core Responsibilities:

Develop strategic partnerships:

• Build and maintain partner relationships: Establish trusted relationships with senior leaders at state education agencies, ESA wallet providers, scholarship-granting organizations, curriculum publishers, schools, education organizations, and other strategic partners.

• Expand public funding partnerships: Develop and grow relationships with funding program administrators, wallet providers, SGOs, and other organizations that enable families to access Outschool through public and scholarship-based education funding.

• Develop curriculum and content partnerships: Establish relationships with curriculum publishers, educational content providers, and other organizations that strengthen Outschool's offerings and support new educational programs.

• Build distribution channels: Develop partnerships with schools, school networks, homeschool organizations, education service providers, and other institutions that introduce Outschool to new families and learners.

• Structure and negotiate commercial agreements: Develop partnership business cases, revenue models, and commercial terms, including licensing, distribution, referral, revenue-sharing, and other partnership structures.

• Drive partner activation and growth: Work closely with Product, Marketing, Growth, Finance, Legal, and Operations to launch partnerships, develop joint business plans, increase adoption, and expand revenue from existing relationships.

• Own partner-driven revenue performance: Establish revenue targets, forecasts, and performance metrics for strategic partnerships. Monitor results, identify expansion opportunities, and drive initiatives that achieve measurable commercial growth.

• Manage the business development pipeline: Maintain a prioritized pipeline of prospective and existing partners, manage opportunities from initial outreach through negotiation and launch, and provide regular revenue forecasts and performance updates to executive leadership.

Desired Experience & Skills:

• 8+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, channel development, or related commercial roles, including at least 5 years of direct accountability for partnership or channel revenue targets.

• Demonstrated success identifying, negotiating, launching, and scaling strategic partnerships that generate meaningful revenue.

• Strong relationship-building and negotiation skills, with experience engaging senior executives, institutional partners, and complex organizations.

• Strong commercial judgment and experience developing partnership economics, revenue models, business cases, and commercial agreements.

• Understanding of the K–12 education market, including schools, educational organizations, curriculum providers, and alternative education models.

• Experience managing a business development pipeline, forecasting revenue, and growing partnerships from initial agreement through commercial success.

• Ability to work effectively across Product, Growth, Marketing, Strategy, Finance, Legal, Compliance, and Operations.

• Entrepreneurial mindset, strong execution skills, and a demonstrated ability to turn relationships into measurable business results.

Other Considerations:

• Direct experience with ESA programs, state education agencies, scholarship-granting organizations, or education funding platforms.

• Existing relationships with education funding administrators, wallet providers, school networks, curriculum publishers, or education distribution partners.

• Experience with curriculum licensing, distribution agreements, channel partnerships, or education marketplace businesses.

• Experience developing partnerships across multiple states or education markets.

• Familiarity with accredited schools, homeschool programs, and tuition-based education models.

• Previous experience in startups, high-growth companies, or consumer marketplaces.

Compensation:

Outschool recruits across the US and Canada, and sets employee salaries to reflect local compensation and cost of living. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for equity and benefits. Additional details are provided during the interview process.

This role is available in the following US Pay Zones:

US Tier 1: San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Seattle Metro

US Tier 2: All California excluding San Francisco Bay Area, Boston Metro, Chicago Metro, Denver Metro, Austin Metro, Portland Metro

US Tier 3: All other cities and states

US Tier 1: This position is not available in this pay zone

US Tier 2: $195,840 - $220,000

US Tier 3: $172,800 - $195,000

Benefits & Culture:

At Outschool, we believe that taking care of one another enables us to do our best work. To us that means:

• Shared Financial Success: Competitive salaries, stock options, and retirement plans.

• Health: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance.

• Wellness: Annual wellness stipend, access to coaching & therapy, and pet wellness plans.

• PTO & Family Benefits: Generous PTO and family leave policies.

• Hybrid & Remote-Friendly: Outschool has a distributed team across the U.S. and Canada and an office in San Francisco. Bay Area-based employees work in the office part of the week and receive commute-related benefits. Team members outside the Bay Area remain fully remote, with support for expensable home office setup and internet to stay connected no matter where you are.

• Lifelong Learners: Annual budgets for professional development and DEI learning; budgets for children to take Outschool classes.

• Community Impact: Outschool matches employee donations to eligible charities and supports Outschool.org’s nonprofit programs.

Outschool is an equal opportunity employer. We view diversity as a moral imperative and competitive advantage. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We plan and structure our interviews to directly assess skills and experience.

If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact [e-mail].

Benefits packages are included for full-time employees only. Please note benefits and perks may vary for employees based outside of the US and Canada.

Full-time employees must be a citizen or legal residents of the U.S. or Canada and reside in U.S. or Canada, unless specifically indicated otherwise.

Once you submit your application, Outschool will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy for employment. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, we hire employees only in the U.S. and Canada. Applicants elsewhere should be aware that we may discard your application upon submission or we may ask if you would like us to retain it later should there be consideration (this is not typical at all). If you are selected for interviewing, your data will be shared with interviewers and personnel involved in that process. If not hired, your application will be retained for one year in case there is another suitable role. You may opt out of this at any time. Please see our Employee/Applicant Privacy Notice for more detailed information. If applicable, as you progress through the process, we will be clear about what information is being asked for and what happens with that information.