Founding Head of Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Growth

Overview

Founding Head of Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Growth Jobs in United States at Actual Education

Title: Founding Head of Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Growth

Company: Actual Education

Location: United States

We are hiring a Founding Head of Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Growth position for a specially funded stealth-stage project at the intersection of artificial intelligence, education, human capability, and next-generation assessment systems.

This is not a traditional sales, business development, or partnerships role. This is a founding-stage leadership position for someone who can help build an ecosystem from zero: identifying the right people, opening the right doors, forming strategic partnerships, and turning conversations into long-term institutional value.

We are entering a world where the challenge is no longer access to information. The new challenge is knowing what matters, recognizing future opportunities before they become obvious, and making sound judgments in an increasingly complex AI-driven world. The mission is to discover future opportunities, develop future capabilities, and transform opportunity into real-world creation by connecting founders, researchers, investors, universities, corporations, policymakers, and future builders.

You will work directly with the founder and leadership team to shape partnership strategy, ecosystem architecture, and early growth engine. This role requires someone who can operate across high-level relationship building, institutional partnerships, founder networks, education ecosystems, venture communities, and strategic market expansion.

If you consistently create opportunities where others see none, if people trust you, take your calls, respond to your messages, and introduce you to other exceptional people, this role is for you.

What You’ll Do

Build a Strategic Partnership Engine

· Identify and engage high-value partners across corporations, universities, foundations, investors, governments, accelerators, training institutions, and innovation ecosystems

· Build a global partnership pipeline across priority cities, sectors, and strategic categories

· Develop partner targeting strategies for education institutions, workforce organizations, entrepreneurship programs, AI communities, research networks, and professional ecosystems

· Create structured outreach systems that generate qualified conversations with senior decision-makers

· Build repeatable partnership processes from first contact to meeting, pilot, collaboration, and long-term relationship

· Maintain organized tracking systems for targets, conversations, follow-ups, priorities, and outcomes

Open Doors and Create Opportunities

· Reach founders, executives, university leaders, investors, program directors, ecosystem builders, and institutional decision-makers

· Use warm introductions, cold outreach, events, communities, and network mapping to create strategic conversations

· Represent the startup in high-level conversations with external stakeholders

· Build trust quickly with sophisticated partners who may not yet understand the category

· Turn ambiguous opportunities into concrete next steps

· Help leadership enter every major conversation with clear context, partner intelligence, and strategic positioning

Develop Ecosystem Growth

· Identify exceptional individuals and organizations globally who should become part of the ecosystem

· Help expand the network of founders, researchers, investors, educators, operators, students, and future builders

· Support the launch of new programs, competitions, events, partner pilots, city initiatives, and ecosystem collaborations

· Help design partnership models that create value for the startup, the partner, and the broader capability network

· Convert conversations into collaborations, collaborations into projects, and projects into measurable ecosystem growth

· Help build a long-term global institution, not just a short-term product

Shape Strategic Positioning

· Help clarify how the startup should be presented to different partner categories

· Translate a complex AI-era capability system into language that institutions, investors, universities, and ecosystem partners can understand

· Identify which messaging angles resonate with different audiences

· Help refine partnership materials, outreach language, pitch narratives, briefing memos, and follow-up documents

· Bring market feedback back into the organization to improve strategy and execution

Launch Real Partnerships and Initiatives

· Help create early pilots, joint events, institutional collaborations, talent programs, research conversations, and strategic initiatives

· Support partnership models with training institutions, universities, professional communities, startup accelerators, and city-level ecosystem partners

· Help move relationships from exploratory conversations into signed agreements, pilot programs, and long-term initiatives

· Identify partners who can become long-term nodes in the global ecosystem

· Support ecosystem expansion across multiple countries and priority markets

What We’re Looking For

Strong candidates typically have:

Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem Development Ability

· Experience in strategic partnerships, business development, ecosystem growth, venture networks, corporate innovation, founder’s office, community building, or growth leadership

· Proven ability to build relationships with high-value individuals and institutions

· Ability to move from introduction to meeting, from meeting to collaboration, and from collaboration to long-term value

· Strong instinct for which relationships matter and how to activate them

· Ability to create opportunities without waiting for a fully defined playbook

· Comfort operating in a founding-stage environment where the path does not yet exist

High-Level Relationship Building

· Strong interpersonal judgment and executive presence

· Ability to communicate credibly with founders, investors, executives, academics, policy leaders, and institutional partners

· Skilled at building trust with sophisticated stakeholders

· Able to represent an ambitious early-stage project with professionalism and confidence

· Strong follow-through and relationship management discipline

· Comfortable asking for introductions, creating momentum, and moving conversations forward

Strategic Communication

· Excellent written and verbal communication skills

· Ability to explain complex ideas clearly and powerfully

· Strong sense of positioning, framing, and audience psychology

· Ability to make a new category feel concrete, urgent, and credible

· Strong judgment about when to educate, when to listen, and when to move toward action

· Ability to prepare thoughtful outreach, briefing notes, partnership memos, and meeting follow-ups

Entrepreneurial Execution

· Resourceful, proactive, and comfortable building from zero

· Able to operate independently while working closely with leadership

· Strong organizational systems and pipeline discipline

· Comfortable balancing strategy with hands-on execution

· Able to manage multiple partner conversations at once

· High ownership, high accountability, and high discretion

Interest in AI, Education, Talent, and the Future of Work

· Strong interest in AI, education, workforce development, human capability, entrepreneurship, or future talent systems

· Curious about how institutions will evolve as AI changes the value of knowledge and skills

· Excited by the challenge of helping define a new category

· Motivated by building a long-term ecosystem rather than simply closing short-term deals

Preferred Background

Relevant experience may come from:

· Strategic Partnerships

· Ecosystem Development

· Venture Capital Networks

· Startup Accelerators

· Founder’s Office

· Corporate Innovation

· Business Development

· Community Building

· Growth Leadership

· University Entrepreneurship Programs

· Global Talent Networks

· Education or Workforce Development

· AI, EdTech, or Future of Work Platforms

Strong Plus If You Have

· Existing network across founders, investors, universities, accelerators, corporations, or innovation ecosystems

· Experience building partnerships across multiple countries or regions

· Experience launching new programs, summits, competitions, accelerators, fellowships, or ecosystem initiatives

· Experience working directly with founders or executive leadership

· Experience with strategic outbound, relationship mapping, and high-level institutional outreach

· Experience in AI, education, workforce transformation, talent assessment, or future of work

· Experience creating partnerships with universities, training institutions, foundations, or government-adjacent organizations

· Experience using CRM tools, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, Airtable, HubSpot, Notion, or similar systems

· Ability to travel occasionally for important meetings, conferences, ecosystem events, or partner development

· Chinese language proficiency is a plus, but not required

What Success Looks Like- First 90 Days

· Build a prioritized partnership and ecosystem pipeline

· Identify the highest-value partner categories and target organizations

· Create repeatable outreach and follow-up systems

· Secure qualified conversations with strong institutional and ecosystem partners

· Develop clear partner briefing processes for leadership

· Help refine external positioning based on real market conversations

Why Join Us?

· Founding-stage role with direct influence on strategy and growth

· Work directly with the founder and leadership team

· Help build a global ecosystem from the ground up

· Shape how a new AI-era capability category is introduced to the world

· Build relationships across founders, researchers, investors, universities, corporations, policymakers, and future builders

· High ownership over partnerships, ecosystem growth, and strategic expansion

· Opportunity to help create a long-term institution, not just a short-term product

· Competitive salary, performance incentives, and significant long-term upside for exceptional candidates

The stealth startup has received support from a member of an American long-termist family and is being built with a long-term institutional mindset. The goal is not to build for the next quarter, but for the next generation.