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Ideation and New Ventures Director
Blackboard Inc.
Washington, DC, United States
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Blackboard helps shape the future of education by delivering technology and services solutions that transform the learning experience. We continually innovate to better enable educators, parents, and learners of all types to teach, learn, connect and communicate whenever they want and wherever they are. We partner with educational institutions globally in the higher education, professional education and K-12 markets to improve the education experience both inside and outside the classroom by facilitating access to information, enabling stronger student engagement and collaboration, enhancing communication, and supporting student safety, success and institutional effectiveness. Most importantly, we help every student achieve their full potential through access to lifelong learning.
Overview
The Ideation and New Ventures Director will be part of Blackboard’s Industry Strategy team that is responsible for driving Bb’s global growth strategy through the collection, development, and launch of new solutions. This person will play a critical role in one of Bb’s key initiatives to conceptualize and drive a process and structure for innovation across the organization’s portfolio. This person will have an instrumental role in all activities related to identifying and sizing of potential opportunities, solution prototyping and incubation, market validation, build-buy-partner analysis, business model design, and multi-year business plan development.
This individual will work closely with key counterparts and partners within the strategy, sales and marketing, design, product management, product development, FP&A, and corporate and business development teams.
Essential Functions:
• Identify, evaluate and champion new business opportunities to address unmet/inadequately met client needs, and inefficiencies in market based on findings from ideation workshops, analysis of industry trends, competitive dynamics, investment trends, client insights, and Blackboard’s portfolio and capability assessment.
• Build relationships and partnerships with industry thought leaders, VCs, innovation hubs, university and edtech incubators and accelerators to help build the ideation pipeline and achieve critical goals.
• Conduct market validation to evaluate fit and response to new solution concept, test key go-to-market and other critical assumptions for business planning, and outline recommended path based on analysis of viable alternatives (build / partner / buy) to deliver the solution.
• Lead business plan development for recommended investment / acquisition / partnership, including identifying stakeholder teams and establishing KPIs.
• Design, setup, run internal/external stakeholder ideation workshops to desired outcomes, liaise/facilitate cross-functional decision making forums.
• Develop and drive the adoption of standard process, structure, and tools to support the organizational ideation process.
• Represent Blackboard at key industry events where applicable
Required Skills/Experience:
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA preferred.
• At least 6-8 years’ experience in growth strategy formulation and execution, particularly around new solution / ventures in B2B technology.
• Experience in education industry.
• Solid business acumen and demonstrated track record of identifying and successfully delivering on growth opportunities.
• Outstanding problem solving skills, including ability to disaggregate complex problems and effective use of fact-based insights to analyze business issues and potential solution alternatives to achieve desired business objective.
• Experience with leading cross-functional project assignments and successfully managing time-sensitive and high pressure projects.
• Entrepreneurial, comfortable working autonomously and independently.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Experienced in completing market-sizing, documenting business plans, and supporting financial modeling.
• Experience with market validation activities such as market research, rigorous testing of business assumptions, support solution concept testing, etc.
• Collaborative. Proven ability to work cross functionally and informally to achieve overall business objectives, product sales, and go-to-market results.
• Passion for technology and its opportunity to better enable learning opportunities for students, parents, teachers, and administrators.
• Flexible and adaptive. Up to 30% travel, including occasional international travel required.
This job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities at any time.
Blackboard is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, protected military/veteran status, or any other protected factor.
Location/Division: Washington, DC, USA Job Requisition: BB-1372