Director, Higher Education Strategy & Business Development

This is a fully remote position. This role can be performed from anywhere in the United States.

The Company

Since 2019, CollegeAPP has been a fast-paced, fast-growing Education Technology company serving higher education institutions across the United States. Our proprietary platform is used by nearly 300 colleges and universities to identify adult learners with "intent to enroll" in additional education, allowing our partners to focus their recruitment efforts on the individuals most likely to engage while significantly improving marketing efficiency and return on investment.

Over the past several years, our growth has expanded beyond institutional partnerships into statewide initiatives, workforce development, grant-funded programs, and strategic consulting engagements. As our solutions continue to evolve, we are looking for experienced higher education professionals who enjoy solving complex challenges, building trusted client relationships, and helping institutions develop smarter marketing strategies.

The Role

CollegeAPP is seeking a Director, Higher Education Strategy & Business Development to help shape and support the next phase of our growth. This role will serve as the company's in-house higher education marketing strategist, partnering across Sales, marketing, and Partner Success to enhance our services and expand our capabilities.

This individual will bring deep expertise in higher education marketing and communications, helping CollegeAPP develop compelling go-to-market strategies, strengthen responses to complex RFPs, provide strategic guidance to clients, and support new initiatives across community colleges, universities, state systems, workforce development organizations, and other education partners.

Full Transparency

This is intentionally a broad, highly collaborative role.

We're not looking for someone to simply manage marketing campaigns or execute creative work. We are looking for someone who understands higher education marketing from a strategic perspective and enjoys helping solve difficult problems.

Some weeks you may spend significant time helping develop a winning RFP response. Other weeks you may be supporting a sales presentation to college presidents, helping shape a statewide marketing strategy, preparing conference presentations, or advising a client on media planning and campaign positioning.

As our company continues to grow, this position will evolve alongside it. We're looking for someone excited to help build new capabilities rather than fit into a narrowly defined job description.

Key Responsibilities

Working closely with executive leadership, the Director, Higher Education Strategy & Business Development will:

• Serve as CollegeAPP's internal subject matter expert on higher education marketing strategy and best practices.

• Lead or support strategic responses to RFPs, RFIs, grants, and procurement opportunities, particularly those involving marketing, communications, and enrollment strategy.

• Develop digital marketing recommendations, audience strategies, messaging frameworks, and campaign approaches for institutional and statewide initiatives.

• Partner with the Sales team on client meetings, presentations, proposals, and executive-level conversations.

• Consult with colleges, universities, and state systems on marketing strategy, enrollment communications, and audience engagement.

• Collaborate with Marketing and Partner Success to strengthen positioning, messaging, case studies, and thought leadership.

• Help identify new market opportunities, partnership models, and service offerings that align with CollegeAPP's growth strategy.

• Support conference strategy, speaking engagements, and industry visibility.

• Build trusted relationships with college presidents, marketing leaders, enrollment leaders, and external partners.

• Flex across strategic initiatives as the needs of the business continue to evolve.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of professional experience in higher education marketing, communications, enrollment marketing, or agency leadership.

• Demonstrated experience developing strategic marketing plans for colleges or universities.

• Experience working directly with senior institutional leadership, including presidents, vice presidents, or cabinet-level executives.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.

• Strong presentation, consulting, and relationship-building abilities.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Higher Education Administration, or a related field.

• Experience within a higher education marketing agency or institutional marketing office.

• Experience developing or responding to higher education RFPs and procurement opportunities.

• Knowledge of digital media strategy, audience targeting, and campaign planning.

• Familiarity with enrollment marketing, adult learner recruitment, workforce development, and community colleges.

• Experience collaborating with creative teams, media agencies, or external marketing partners.

• Experience presenting to executive leadership and facilitating strategic planning conversations.

Intangibles that Matter

• Strategic thinker who enjoys solving new and complex challenges.

• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and helping build new processes.

• Strong executive presence and credibility with senior leaders.

• Collaborative, humble, and willing to jump in wherever needed.

• Curious, resourceful, and continuously learning.

• Builder's mentality with a bias toward action.

• High integrity and accountability.

Other Considerations

• 100% remote position from anywhere in the United States.

• Periodic travel for client meetings, conferences, planning sessions, and industry events. Expected travel is approximately 20-30%.

• Full suite of benefits including healthcare and 401(k).

• Generous vacation and sick leave policies.

The base salary range for this position has been established at $65,000.00 - $80,000.00. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

CollegeAPP is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. CollegeAPP makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time. 

A cover letter is required for this role. Note: the application form shows two cover letter fields (attach or paste) — please use only one, not both.