Senior Workforce Partnerships Principal

Summary

Join Guild, a company that believes talent is everywhere and opportunity should be too, as a Senior Workforce Partnerships Principal. You will be a core member of the Expansion team, playing a critical role in identifying, assessing, and operationalizing high-potential growth opportunities, particularly those involving innovative funding sources. This strategic and execution-focused role requires hands-on involvement in shaping 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. This role is ideal 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. Guild offers a competitive total compensation package, including a base salary of $180,600-$264,900 base plus variable compensation and stock options.

Requirements

• 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

Responsibilities

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

Benefits

• Access to low-cost, high-quality health care options through Cigna and Kaiser (due to coverage limitations, Kaiser is currently only available in CA & CO)
• Access to a 401k to help save for the future
• Open vacation policy for employees to rest and recharge
• 8 days of fully-paid sick leave, to take the time to heal and or recover
• Family-friendly benefits, including 12 weeks of parental leave for non-birthing parents and 18-20 weeks for birthing parents; 4-week ramp-up period for when employees return from a leave of 6 weeks or more; as well as employer-paid short-term and long-term disability, employer-sponsored life insurance, fertility and caregiving benefits
• Well-rounded wellness benefits including free and low cost mental health resources and financial wellbeing support services
• Education benefits and tuition assistance to help your future development and growth