Director of Higher Education Strategy

Project Kitty Hawk

Director of Higher Education Strategy supporting Project Kitty Hawk in extending higher education benefits to all North Carolinians. Managing initiatives, partnerships, and collaboration with university leaders.

Posted 4/23/2026full-timeNorth Carolina • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $155,000 - $175,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

The Director of Higher Education Strategy supports Project Kitty Hawk (PKH) in extending the benefits of public higher education to all North Carolinians.
Execute the day-to-day operations of the FASTER initiative.
Utilize project and process management skills to ensure transparent and repeatable delivery of consulting services.
Measure and report on the progress of initiative-specific milestones and the overall health of campus partnerships.
Build and manage a pipeline of prospective UNC System and national university partners, from initial prospecting through close.
Lead solution-scoping conversations with university leadership, translating institutional challenges into partnership opportunities.
Support development of scope documents and foundational partnership contracts.
Drive cross-functional collaboration with marketing, admissions, student services, and partnership success teams to identify new solutions.
Develop mechanisms to synthesize lessons learned from initiatives and inform UNC System President and System Office staff on opportunities for System-wide improvement.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree required; experience in partner and account management or business development.
5+ years of experience in higher education, public policy, nonprofit management, or consulting
Proven track record of consultative or solution-based selling, ideally within higher education or edtech
Direct experience in university consulting, advising institutional leadership on enrollment, student success, or operational improvement
Experience managing and growing a partnership or sales pipeline
Excellent communication skills and can communicate, present, and influence credibly and effectively at all levels of an organization, including executive and C-level.
Natural relationship builder with integrity, reliability, and maturity.
Driven to care for the partnership and its stakeholders, ensuring their needs are met and finding opportunities to make each partnership successful.
Knowledge of public higher education, adult learners, and online delivery.
Have a knack for navigating change and a willingness to think creatively to solve a problem.
Effectively manage ambiguity.
Understand (or know how to discover) what the partnership’s stakeholders care about and how to support their goals, strategic plans, values, and mission.
Demonstrated ability to work constructively with cross-functional teams.
Ability to work independently within a complex environment, to drive recommendations to stakeholders and to juggle multiple initiatives at once.

Benefits

Comp & perks

full medical/dental/vision coverage
a 401K with match
generous time-off policy with paid volunteer time
competitive salaries with potential for performance bonus and remote working flexibility

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

project managementprocess managementconsultative sellingsolution-based sellingpartner managementaccount managementenrollment advisingoperational improvementpipeline managementdata reporting

Soft Skills

communication skillsrelationship buildinginfluencingcreativityproblem-solvingadaptabilityindependencecross-functional collaborationstakeholder managementintegrity