Manager, Partnership Management

Pearson; Santa Fe (NM); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Pearson is seeking a Manager, Partner Success to lead a team that supports state, district, and school partners through the assessment lifecycle. You will drive readiness planning, training, adoption, and issue resolution to ensure success and customer satisfaction.

The role emphasizes collaboration with cross-functional teams, coaching for high performance, and accountability for program outcomes and costs. Up to 25% travel may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) and experience leading customer-facing programs.
• Proven track record in building high-performing teams and talent development.
• Strong program/project management skills, with scheduling, risks, budgets, and dependencies.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation and presentation abilities.
• Experience managing financial performance, including forecasting, budgets, and margin accountability.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of Partner Success professionals to support state, district, and school partners.
• Oversee readiness planning, training, adoption, and issue resolution.
• Manage partner relationships and ensure delivery of program commitments within budget and schedule.
• Forecast, plan, and run business reviews; report financial status and performance.
• Coach and develop team members; set goals and foster accountability and collaboration.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to improve customer outcomes and operational effectiveness.

Skills

Team leadership

Program management

Customer relationships

Communication skills

Financial awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

The Manager, Partner Success leads a team of Partner Success professionals responsible for supporting state, district, and school partners throughout the assessment lifecycle while ensuring the successful delivery of assigned programs and services.

This role oversees partner engagement, readiness planning, training, adoption, issue resolution, and ongoing relationship management to ensure customers are prepared, informed, and positioned for success. The Manager is accountable for program performance, customer satisfaction, operational execution, and achievement of cost, quality, and schedule commitments.

Working closely with Program Delivery, Product, Technology, Measurement, Operations, and Customer Support teams, the Manager translates organizational priorities into actionable plans, coaches team members to become trusted advisors, and serves as a key escalation point for partner and delivery concerns.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative leader with strong program management, customer relationship, and people leadership skills who is passionate about creating exceptional customer experiences, developing high-performing teams, and helping educational organizations maximize the value of Pearson's assessment solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Partner Success

• Build and maintain strong relationships with state, district, and school partners.
• Lead customer readiness, implementation, training, and adoption planning activities.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex customer concerns, risks, and delivery issues.
• Partner with customers to identify opportunities for continuous improvement and long‑term success.
• Monitor customer satisfaction and implement strategies to improve the overall customer experience.
• Oversee one or more assessment programs or strategic customer relationships.
• Coordinate cross‑functional teams to ensure successful delivery of program commitments.
• Monitor program schedules, risks, issues, budgets, and key milestones.
• Ensure compliance with contractual requirements and delivery expectations.
• Lead forecasting, planning, and business reviews related to assigned programs.
• Manage program financials to meet revenue/margin plan, explaining trends and differences from original plan
• Report on financial status and accurately estimate/forecast program activities and budgets, and control costs while maintaining quality
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Partner Success professionals.
• Establish clear goals, priorities, and performance expectations.
• Provide ongoing mentoring and career development support.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer focus, and continuous improvement.
• Build team capability and promote sharing of best practices across programs and customers.

Operational Excellence

• Drive process improvements that enhance customer experience and delivery effectiveness.
• Partner with cross‑functional leaders to improve communication, coordination, and execution.
• Identify and mitigate delivery, customer, and operational risks.
• Develop and implement scalable practices that improve consistency across the Partner Success organization.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5+ years of experience leading customer‑facing programs, partner success, client services, program management, educational services, or assessment delivery functions.
• Demonstrated success leading and developing high‑performing teams, including coaching, performance management, and talent development.
• Experience managing complex customer relationships and serving as an escalation point for operational, delivery, or customer satisfaction issues.
• Strong program and project management skills, including experience managing schedules, risks, dependencies, budgets, and cross‑functional initiatives.
• Proven ability to influence and collaborate across multiple functions, including Product, Technology, Operations, Measurement, Content, and Customer Support teams.
• Strong communication, facilitation, negotiation, and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively engage customers, executive leadership, and internal stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to identify customer needs, solve complex problems, and drive continuous improvement initiatives that improve customer outcomes and operational effectiveness.
• Experience managing financial performance, including forecasting, budget management, contract value tracking, resource planning, or margin accountability.

This position may require up to 25% travel.

Who we are:

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E‑Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing [e-mail].

Job: Relationship Management

Job Family: GO TO MARKET

Organization: Assessment & Qualifications