Senior Manager, Product Strategy and Research - Enterprise Sales at 2U

What We’re Looking For

• As the short course business looks to grow revenue through Enterprise customers, one of the key considerations is to shape and better position the short course product to meet the needs of the growing demand from Enterprise customers. The Senior Manager, Product Strategy & Research - Enterprise Sales, is responsible for developing the overall strategy, process and structure required to support the Enterprise Sales division. In collaboration with the Vice President of Enterprise Sales and VP, Product Marketing, this role will encompass the full support of the function from the initial engagement with clients through to bespoke product development and the creation of insights from a learning analytics perspective. It is envisioned that this function will develop into a division which operates independently from product strategy and research with the target of increasing the overall revenue contribution. In light of this the candidate will be required to be skilled in building strategy and process, team and budget management.

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To
Sales Enablement
An important benefit to our Enterprise Sales efforts is to have a customer facing product specialist to call on. This specialist has experience in Learning & Development, having ‘sat on the other side of the table’ and faced the same challenges and issues. This empathy and deep understanding for the L&D role married with the deep knowledge this specialist would have of the short course product and wider Enterprise training market would be a valuable ally to the Enterprise Sales team in conversations where this level of detail would be needed.

• Attend and present at relevant customer and prospect meetings.
• Build out and update all relevant sections of the sales pitch deck.
• Contribute to customer plans around understanding the need and then build out the proposed solution that would best fit what the customer is looking for.

Further ‘’Corporatisation’ of the Short Course Product
As the short course business looks to grow revenue through Enterprise customers, one of the key considerations is to shape and better position the short course product to meet the needs of the growing demand from Enterprise customers.

• Through insights generated by our own students, product trends picked up through deep competitor research, as well feedback gathered through interacting with Enterprise customers. This role will lead the ideation of new innovative products and features that would be added to the product development roadmap.
• Work with the design team to translate these product enhancements into elegant consumer experiences.
• Continue to develop and mature the Impact and ROI measurement strategy and offering provided to Enterprise Customers.
• Support and equip Enterprise Sales and Marketing teams with relevant product and market knowledge and how our product could be best positioned with Enterprise prospects.

Responsibilities
In order to develop the deep sense of knowledge of the market, product and the wider business this role would also take on responsibilities in the Product Strategy & Research team, these include

• Identification of high potential, commercially viable courses through industry and trends analysis - search term trends, competitor analysis, student and customer surveys and job searches.
• Leverage consumer insights to understand the performance of existing courses and how these can be optimised for improvement.
• Work with the relevant internal stakeholders (finance, marketing leaders, data science and VP of Product Strategy) to produce new course budgets, financial viability proposals as well as advise on pricing and forecasting.
• Regular collaboration with senior management (PGMs and GMs) and other key stakeholders in support of getting buy-in for new courses and driving focus to high potential courses.

Establish the Enterprise Sales Product Strategy & Research Function
Take key steps to establish a team independent from the product strategy and research function, growing as the contribution of Enterprise Sales becomes more important to the overall organisation (contributing 20% of revenue in 3 years).

• Drive the growth of the Enterprise Sales Division to ensure significant step changes in contribution of revenue by (developing strategy to support this growth through deeper understanding of the requirements of Corporate Clients).
• Determine needs of business and partner with the VP, Enterprise Sales to design strategy, process, and structure to meet these needs in a staged approach:
  • Stage 1: Work within the strategy and research team leveraging shared resources to support the Enterprise sales function (6-12 months), partnering strongly with existing Product Strategy and Research functions (i.e. leveraging Consumer insights and analytics, bespoke research).
  • Stage 2: Develop an implementation plan to establish an independent function, complementing the long term strategy co-developed with the VP of Enterprise Sales (12-18 months).
  • Stage 3: Resource and establishment of independent function, including resourcing, budgeting and all required elements.

Things That Should Be In Your Background

• Masters degree preferably with quantitative research experience.
• 7+ years working experience in a Learning & Development or Talent Management related role (Acting in a leadership capacity would be an added advantage).
• Strong data interpretation and analysis skills.
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• People management experience.
• Stakeholder relationship management experience.
• Being comfortable with ambiguity, pressure and being able to work flexibly and independently are essential.
• Strong business acumen.
• Budget management.
• The ability to influence people.

Other Attributes That Will Help You In This Role
Working conditions

• A Product Strategy & Research Director is expected to work a 9-hr day (including 1-hr lunch break). Overtime is not a requirement of the job. Flexibility would be required to occasionally accommodate US and/or UK time zones.