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FutureLearn Ltd
,
London, Greater London
Senior Strategy Lead
Overview
Job Description
Higher education is being rapidly disrupted by digitisation, globalisation and industry moving into the educational space. At the same time, peoples job security is at risk from rapidly evolving industries, robotics & AI, increasing demand for up-to-date technical, data, digital skills, and shorter job spans. Increasingly we are all transforming into lifelong learners, looking to upskill, reskill or entertain ourselves via effective educational content that provides quality, credentialed and recognised outcomes. In emerging markets the internet is accelerating this trend and opening up access to educational products from universities or institutions thousands of miles away, where previously cost, travel or admission requirements would have made study impossible. FutureLearn was founded 7 years ago by the Open University, with the purpose of transforming access to education. Our mission is to ride the wave of these trends, and meet the needs of the professional lifelong learner. With new investment from the SEEK group, FutureLearn is now looking to expand globally, focusing on providing credible and valued lifelong learning pathways to professional learners, anywhere, any time from a mix of institutional and industry partners. The strategy function is an assisting function to the Chief Revenue and Data Officer and the executive team, helping them to understand: landscape, market opportunity, size, competitor movements and growth opportunities, be they M&A, growth hacking or product and partner development. While the strategy function needs to assist with investor level reporting and insights, as well as help the executive team meet their objective of successfully and sustainably scaling the company and tactically gaining geographic market share, it should also be a hands on function. The ideal person for the role will be a big thinker, data orientated and one who can support on business development and ad hoc projects across the organisation that require smart and practical assistance. This role will be stand alone for the foreseeable, but should future needs dictate, there might be the opportunity to build a small team. Requirements * Service function: Help the CRO and the Exec to assess, quantify and scope strategic opportunities * Thought leader: Online education is a complex and fast moving place, with multitudes of players, segment, product and geographic opportunities, and many different models which could be pursued. This person should lead on assessing, reporting, scoping these opportunities and helping the Exec understand where to go, the cost / benefit of their decisions and profile likely risks. * Stakeholder management: Assist to shape and prioritise strategic priorities from the various business customers, so that we have a unified and coherent understanding of how the organisation will achieve its business objectives and on which timelines * Strategic analysis: Define and maintain a consolidated, granular overview of competitors and strategic opportunities, the delivery of which will unlock business value. Ensure that this backlog is underpinned by research, sizing and cost analyses that has been completed to an appropriate standard * Investor level reporting: Assist the Exec to deliver board level reporting to expected formats and standards, also ad hoc reporting or analyses as required. * Business Development: From time to time assist with Business Development, when it comes to key partnerships and global players. * Prioritisation and project management: Prioritise the business need to ensure that we are first delivering those projects with greatest possible impact, and mitigate risks. * Own strategic work streams: Once a priority is kicked off, manage through the process to ensure the org understands the need, the how, timelines and delivery requirements. Examples might be managing alignment between operational leads on top priorities, developing a hedge against competitors, or similar. * Think tactically as well as strategically - Know when to do something fast to gain share or fend off attack versus build for the long term * Hands on & delivery focus: Ultimately, work tightly with the CRO and the Exec, diving into projects as and when required to ensure they are properly managed and delivered, getting their hands dirty if necessary. * The right candidate profile: * 2-4 years experience working in a top tier consultancy or in house with FTSE 100 Company * Excellent presentation and analysis skills * Data driven * Comfortable with complexity and ambiguity * Resilient influencer * Strong interpersonal and communication skills\ * An interest in digitising education * Enthusiasm for working in a start up & an understanding of the need to deliver at pace, and having the chance to learn how a scale up/ start-up operates * Degree qualified, likely in Engineering, Mathematics and/or a Business and Management discipline * Experience dealing with senior stakeholders and an interest in strategy * E-co