Director, Strategic Partnerships

Join to apply for the Director, Strategic Partnerships role at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Learning Commons is Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s education initiative, which aims to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. Learning Commons became the name of our education efforts in 2025 to build on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s work over the past decade to advance learning science and help translate that research into classroom practice.

At Learning Commons, we pair technology with grantmaking to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. We aim to translate what learning science tells us about how students learn best into classroom practice. With the advent of generative AI, that translation work can be accelerated and scaled to have a greater impact.

Our mission is to bring learning science into the tools used every day by teachers and students, ensuring that technology reflects the realities of classrooms and strengthens teaching and learning.

In today’s fragmented edtech landscape, school districts are often left piecing together products that don’t always align with curricula or instructional needs. While AI holds enormous potential to support educators, it can only deliver on that promise when grounded in research, high‑quality educational data, and expert evaluation. That’s why we’re building open, public‑purpose infrastructure—datasets, rubrics, and resources—that help raise the standard for educational tools and create more consistent, impactful learning experiences for all students and teachers.

At our core, we are builders, and our unique builder philanthropy approach is what sets us apart from other education funders. Take a closer look at the highlights and significant milestones of CZI’s first eight years of education work.

The Opportunity

The Director of Strategic Partnerships will lead and build the product partnerships team that enables deep collaboration between Education and outside organizations in order to advance our overall Education strategy and objectives. This role will provide overarching strategy, management, and operations of a team of partner managers that will work across the spectrum of organizations and individuals—from for‑profit edtech organizations to nonprofit grantees, from school districts to critical thought leaders and influencers. This leader will help form and develop a strong foundation for our partnerships team operationally that can evolve as we expand our impact across the market.

Given the scope of the work planned, we are looking for a leader with deep experience building a product‑partnerships team from the ground up, combined with strong people management and operational skills. You will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of educational technology, driving products and partnerships that are grounded in learning sciences to improve student outcomes.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and implement a Product Partnership strategy in close collaboration with Edu Leads, and lead the partnership team to meet the organizational objectives.
• Build, manage, and mentor a team of strategic partner managers with the ability to partner well with different types of organizations across the education ecosystem . Focus on developing the team’s capabilities and expertise, while fostering a collaborative environment.
• Develop and build partnership team operations to ensure the partner team is successful at collaborating cross‑functionally with teams like product, engineering, marketing, and legal. Programmatize partnership development and management into efficient, repeatable processes while staying nimble to an evolving landscape.
• Serve as a key leader and advisor to internal team leads on partnerships to pursue and how to best approach them to achieve organizational & initiative goals. Analyze and recommend “build, buy, partner” approaches across the Education projects and priorities.
• Lead strategic analyses of needs, opportunities, and ecosystem players across the education landscape to drive success for the various product launches and initiatives. Regularly inform the team of the changing market landscape and dynamics, including new companies / non‑profits, changes in the research and funding landscape, and changes in education systems.
• Engage directly with key prospective partners, influencers, and thought leaders to establish relationships and potential collaborations. Help support and advise individual partner managers on how to best drive success for their partners and for our organization as a whole. Develop progress monitoring on the partnership portfolio, to identify challenges and solve problems with key leaders.
• Organize regular reporting on financial, learning, personnel, and other progress metrics from the many partnerships, tied with initial plans and overall strategy of our Education work.
• Represent Education team both internally and externally.
• Approach all work with humility, thoughtfulness, and an orientation toward collective impact.

What You’ll Bring

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for this role is $193,000 - $265,100. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job‑related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process.

Work Mode

As we grow, we’re excited to strengthen in‑person connections and cultivate a collaborative, team‑oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be on‑site for at least 60% of the working month, approximately 3 days a week, with specific in‑office days determined by the team’s manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring manager’s discretion and communicated during the interview process.

Benefits for the Whole You

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#J-18808-Ljbffr