Senior Workforce Partnerships Principal (Remote)

Guild is hiring a Senior Workforce Partnerships Principal to help drive the next frontier of workforce education and career mobility. As a core member of our Expansion team, you’ll play a critical role in identifying, assessing, and operationalizing high-potential growth opportunities—particularly those involving innovative funding sources like government programs, philanthropic capital, and workforce development funds.

This is a strategic and execution-focused role. You’ll be a hands-on builder, responsible for shaping the earliest stages of new market initiatives—from research and discovery to piloting and early scaling. You will collaborate closely with the Vice President of Workforce Partnerships and cross-functional teams to bring new ideas to life and advance Guild’s mission in untapped sectors and segments.

This is an ideal role for a strategic thinker and operator who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys building from scratch, and is passionate about unlocking access to education and economic opportunity at scale.

Key Responsibilities

Market Research & Opportunity Identification

• Conduct rigorous market research to surface new opportunities across public, philanthropic, and workforce funding ecosystems.
• Analyze regulatory landscapes, policy trends, and local/state/federal funding programs to inform market entry strategies.
• Build and maintain a pipeline of market hypotheses and concepts for exploration.

Business Development & Origination

• Independently source and originate new business opportunities from the ground up (0→1), using creativity, curiosity, and deep ecosystem scanning.
• Engage with potential funders, partners, and stakeholders to uncover unmet needs and explore alignment with Guild’s capabilities.
• Develop frameworks to assess opportunity fit, strategic value, and long-term scalability within the Guild ecosystem.
• Make go/no-go recommendations based on market traction, financial viability, and mission alignment.

Opportunity Validation & Business Design

• Design and lead early experiments to validate demand, feasibility, and ROI of new market opportunities.
• Develop hypotheses, pilot concepts, and test value propositions with potential funders, partners, and beneficiaries.
• Support the development of new business models and funding structures aligned with Guild’s impact and financial goals.

Go-To-Market Strategy & Launch Readiness

• Translate validated opportunities into actionable go-to-market plans in collaboration with product, sales, partnerships, and operations teams.
• Define and track key success metrics and leading indicators of market traction.
• Support initial GTM execution, including funder outreach, program design, and ecosystem engagement.

Strategic Enablement & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with internal teams (e.g., Finance, Legal, Policy, Product) to ensure new ideas are viable, scalable, and compliant.
• Help structure strategic partnerships that align with new market goals.
• Serve as a thought partner to senior leadership, offering clear, data-informed recommendations.

You are a strong fit for this role if you have: 

• 8–12+ years of experience in strategy, business development, consulting, venture building, or innovation roles—preferably with experience in government, philanthropic, or workforce-related sectors.
• Proven track record of evaluating, launching, and iterating on new business ideas or markets
• Experience developing business opportunities from the ground up—including ideation, outreach, diligence, and execution.
• Exceptional analytical skills, with fluency in building and interpreting market sizing, financial models, and business cases.
• Experience designing and running experiments or pilot programs in ambiguous environments.
• Comfortable engaging with senior-level external stakeholders including funders, government officials, and mission-aligned partners.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to synthesize complex ideas into compelling narratives and strategies.
• Mission-alignment with Guild’s vision for unlocking opportunity through education and career pathways.

We are committed to equal pay for equal work and believe in compensation transparency. All salary ranges are standardized nationwide and will not vary by region. This role offers a competitive total compensation package, including a base salary of $180,600-$264,900 base plus variable compensation and stock options. Compensation offered will be based on a combination of factors such as experience, competencies, and internal equity.