Senior Director – Global Growth Strategy

📋 Description

• • As the Senior Director – Global Growth Strategy at Risepoint Holdings LLC, you will be the pivotal cross-functional leader responsible for identifying, evaluating, and executing new global growth opportunities. Your primary focus will be on expanding Risepoint's reach into emerging markets and regions currently underserved by our innovative online program management (OPM) services.
• • This role is a strategic investment in Risepoint's international expansion, demanding a leader with proven experience, strong credibility, boundless energy, a high degree of autonomy, and a robust network of connections. You will expertly balance strategic foresight with hands-on business and corporate development initiatives, greenfield opportunity exploration, and the concrete development of pilot programs designed to drive significant revenue growth.
• • A critical component of this role involves international travel, with an expectation of up to 50% of your time dedicated to global engagements and market exploration.
• • In your first year, you will tackle multiple high-priority initiatives, requiring seamless collaboration with our Business Development (BD), Commercial, and Partnerships teams.
• • **Global Thesis Development:** You will be instrumental in defining Risepoint's overarching global (ex-US) growth thesis and identifying the most promising opportunities. This will involve an initial deep dive into five highly attractive markets (anticipated to include three in Asia, one African region, and one other, such as the Gulf or Caribbean). Your approach will be highly practical and hands-on, focusing on building relationships, actively pursuing live opportunities, meticulously defining pilot program scope and economics, and developing robust business cases integrated with clear roadmaps and execution plans.
• • You will position this global thesis within the context of our existing international OPM business in EMEA and APAC, ensuring a cohesive and compelling overall Risepoint narrative.
• • **Inorganic Enablement & Corporate Development:** A key part of your thesis work will involve identifying high-potential Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) targets and strategic partners. You will manage the global corporate development pipeline, cultivate essential relationships, and lead due diligence efforts for international opportunities. You will maintain a comprehensive overview of critical inorganic theses and pathways to scale Risepoint's global presence.
• • **Organic Growth Enablement & Business Development:** You will collaborate closely with the existing BD leadership in Australia and the UK to pursue viable and attractive opportunities for expanding OPM services into adjacent, unserved markets. Your responsibilities will include identifying priority nearby markets based on in-depth analysis of market dynamics, competitive landscapes, tuition levels, workforce needs, earnings potential, and program demand.
• • You will source relevant relationships and connectors to engage key decision-makers at educational institutions, thoroughly understand success factors, risks, and dependencies for serving partners in these new markets, and provide crucial input on commercial structures and assumptions.
• • You will also evaluate the strategic rationale for these opportunities, providing an essential overlay to the traditional deal desk process. Depending on company priorities, you may also contribute to identifying and building relationships with potential international investors or buyers.
• • **Key Duties and Responsibilities:**
• • Develop and maintain a comprehensive knowledge base on priority global growth opportunities, encompassing the strategic thesis, target markets, commercial and economic structures, Risepoint's competitive advantages, value chain analysis, and execution requirements. This includes exploring new market areas and collaborating with relevant teams on insights for existing non-US markets (e.g., UK, Australia).
• • Lead outbound corporate development sourcing, pipeline management, and strategic partnership structuring. This involves building extensive networks, pursuing and negotiating deals for pilot programs and new offerings in new geographies, representing Risepoint at relevant international conferences and industry events, and actively participating in M&A processes.
• • Facilitate organic OPM BD prioritization, deal sourcing and structuring, relationship-building, and the development of strategic context for new market entries.
• • Lead additional projects related to the global growth mandate as needed, such as mapping the investor landscape, developing compelling pitch materials and the international narrative for roadshows, and serving as the international subject matter expert in investor settings.
• • This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of global education access, driving significant impact for Risepoint and its university partners worldwide.