Strategic Partnerships Operations Lead

About us:

HyperionDev is one of the largest providers of accelerated tech education in EMEA and one of the oldest providers of 'coding bootcamps' in the world. We work with top universities such as Imperial College London, The London School of Economics, The University of Edinburgh, and Stellenbosch University to deliver structured technical courses and bootcamps that accelerate people into fulfilling tech careers. We have been recognised as one of the top education technology scaleups in the world and gained the financial backing of Meta (previously Facebook) which recognised us as  the most socially impactful startup operating in Africa, where we initially started our work.

We are dedicated to closing the global tech skills gap and we achieve this by integrating tech education with human mentorship and expert code review powered by a workforce in Southern Africa, which lowers the cost of an accessible education in technology. This model has been successful, allowing us to reach millions of learners a year from over 60 countries. We have also partnered with government bodies such as the UK's Department for Education who provide scholarships for students to study on our bootcamps and gain employment at companies such as AstraZeneca and the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS).

We're backed by nearly 2000 investors, having raised the largest crowdfunding round of funding for an edtech company in history. As a primarily bootstrapped, profitable, and scale up tech business join us as we play our part in making the world a more stable, safer, and fair place.

About the role:

HyperionDev is seeking a high-caliber Strategic Partnerships Operations Lead to act as a primary engine for our University Partnerships Acquisitions team. Reporting to the Senior Vice President, you will be responsible for the high-level research, CRM architecture, and outreach strategy required to secure white-label partnerships with top-tier US universities.

The Strategic Partnerships Operations Lead is expected to drive execution with a bias for action and full project ownership. This is a "right-hand" role designed for a strategic thinker who is as comfortable performing deep-dive academic research as they are managing complex automation in HubSpot. You will rapidly evolve from an operational powerhouse into a key liaison who can professionally communicate with and pitch to senior university leadership.

Responsibilities:

1. Market Intelligence & University Research

• Institutional Deep-Dives: Conduct regular, thorough research into target US universities to map leadership hierarchies (Provosts, Deans, CFOs) and align outreach with their specific strategic goals..
• Portfolio Gap Analysis: Create and utilize a standardized, repeatable framework for expert-level Gap & Opportunity analysis by auditing university course catalogs to identify "white space" where HyperionDev’s bootcamps can fill gaps in their professional education offerings.
• Competitor Tracking: Monitor the US landscape for moves by key competitors, identifying contract expiration dates and displacement opportunities.
• Long-Term Asset Management: Demonstrate consistent, incremental progress on strategic and longer-term projects to maintain up-to-date strategic insights.

2. CRM Mastery & Outreach Architecture

• HubSpot Power User: Maintain and enhance the "Single Source of Truth." You will support the CRM architecture, deal stages, and data hygiene for the entire acquisition funnel.
• Campaign Engineering: Design and manage multi-touch outreach cadences (Email, LinkedIn, Loom) in HubSpot, ensuring templates are highly personalized and professional.
• Automation & Pacing: Design automated follow-up triggers and ensure a high-tempo workflow. You must proactively manage and adjust task deadlines to prevent process stagnation, providing daily/weekly reporting to senior stakeholders.

3. Professional Communication, Executive Reporting & Emerging Pitching

• Executive Liaison: Draft and send high-stakes communications to US university decision-makers, maintaining a prestigious and academic-friendly tone.
• Prospecting & Follow-up: Take ownership of lead nurturing, ensuring that every prospect interaction is moved forward with precision.
• Pitching: Support the Head of Area in formal pitches, with the clear goal of leading introductory calls and product demonstrations independently within 6 months.
• Output Quality & Stakeholder Polish: Ensure all deliverables are ‘client-ready,’ reflecting impeccable professional presentation and complete, verified information. Maintain a cadence of clear, concise, and high-impact updates for senior stakeholders, focusing on status, key decisions, and immediate blockers.

4. Event Planning & Internal Liaison

• Conference Management: Lead the operational planning for major US industry events (e.g., UPCEA). Research attendee lists, book "anchor meetings," and manage post-event lead conversion.
• Primary Project Driver & Collaborator: Lead cross-functional collaboration with the Bids/RFP team, Learning Design, Marketing, and Legal as the acquisition team's primary representative and project owner. Drive meetings to concrete decisions, complete the necessary analytical heavy lifting (e.g., revenue modeling, content evaluation), and ensure all proposals are technically and strategically sound.

Requirements

Minimum:

• Experience: 3–5 years in a Partnerships, Sales Ops, or Business Development role. Preference will be given to candidates with experience in EdTech, OPMs, or online bootcamp providers.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communication or a related field. Advanced degree preferred.
• Analytical Rigor: Proven ability to synthesize complex institutional data (financial reports, strategic plans) into actionable sales insights.
• Communication: Exceptional professional English (written and verbal), capable of engaging with C-suite academic leadership.
• Location: Must be based in South Africa and be available to work US business hours overlap on most days to manage US-based partnerships.
• Technical Proficiency: Required proficiency in Google Suite (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides) for daily operations.
• Contract Acumen: Experience navigating and working with legal agreements, terms, and contracts is highly valued.
• Self-Starter Mindset: Demonstrated independence, proactivity, and drive to take full ownership of the pipeline and associated projects without the need for constant guidance or hand-holding.
• Flexibility and Adaptability: Demonstrated flexibility to manage a high-tempo workflow and prioritize between daily pipeline tasks and long-term strategic projects.

Benefits

Flexible & remote working: We are a remote-friendly organisation and offer flexible work options. However, this role may require a once a week presence at our offices in Cape Town, if you are Cape Town-based. 

Learn new tech skills: We offer our employees the opportunity to enrol part-time in our Coding Bootcamps.

Join the heart of tech in Africa, Europe and the US: You'll work with the best of the best and rub shoulders with the world leaders in edtech, developer education, and developer assessments. Join one of the most ambitious and highest performing tech companies in the space, with a management team that draws their former experience from companies such as Google, Amazon, GetSmarter/2U, Zando and Yoco. 

Life-changing work: Solve real problems that make education and tech careers accessible to those who need it most: you're allowed to brag about it.

Our Values

We're a people-forward company with a purpose that underlines everything we do. We're obsessed with the potential in people and challenge them to do their best work. We embrace a culture of growth and learning to deliver on our vision and ours is a relentless quest for improvement.