Senior Manager - Growth & Insights

Walden

More than 50 years ago, Walden University was founded to support adult learners in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and communities. Students from across the U.S. and more than 115 countries are pursuing a certificate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree online at Walden.

We offer more than 100 online degrees and certificate programs. Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org). Visit WaldenU.edu for more information, and follow Walden on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

We operate on a hybrid schedule with four in-office days per week (Monday–Thursday). This approach enhances creativity, innovation, communication, and relationship-building, fostering a dynamic and collaborative work environment.

Opportunity at a Glance
Reporting to the VP, Growth and Insights, the Senior Manager - Growth and Insights will partner with the University's enrollment, advising, and product management teams – as well as Covista's centralized marketing, customer experience, and workforce solutions teams to; 1) develop data-driven insights that can drive short and long-term strategies for growth, 2) support and lead high impact, cross-functional growth projects directly related to Walden's transformation and 3) conduct analysis to monitor and assess project/initiative performance. In this role, the Senior Manager  will be key in supporting the University. its executive team, and functional leaders in growing the institution and winning market share. The Senior Manager will partner with the team to help drive revenue, enrollment growth, market share, persistence, gross margin improvements and student outcomes. In addition, the Senior Manager will track and drive insights from leading indicators such as lead mix and volume, website performance, admissions conversion rates, cohort retention rates, student satisfaction, graduation rates, employment outcomes, and program profitability. The ideal candidate should be an individual who can think strategically while supporting and driving results. They will have strong analytical capabilities and the ability to drive insights and then drive action from those insights. This individual will have a strong understanding of digital education or a comparable industry. A bias towards action and speed of execution will be beneficial as it is imperative for the University to improve its competitiveness and drive growth.

Responsibilities

• The Senior Manager will have a broad set of responsibilities, including:

• Develop strategy for high-impact growth initiatives:
  • Take on a prioritized set of strategic growth opportunities for the institution.
  • Diligence these opportunities, considering sources of insight including, but not limited to, internal interviews, market-level data, and internal data.
  • Work with leaders and teams – including front-line colleagues – in the University’s enrollment, student success, and academic functions, to identify risks and opportunities associated with implementation, and to refine the assessment of the opportunities accordingly.  
  • Develop business cases and high-level implementation timelines for promising opportunities.
• Execute on prioritized opportunities:
  • For opportunities that pass strategic diligence, lead initial execution of initiatives in a nimble, agile way, convening, inspiring, and steering the efforts of relevant colleagues across WU departments and the relevant corporate Covista functions, including, e.g., IT, Data and Analytics, Marketing.  
  • Monitor execution success of in-flight opportunities with a combination of leading KPIs (e.g., user satisfaction with new tools or processes) and core outcomes (e.g., student persistence and completion).  
  • For initiatives that experience early implementation success, identify the proper permanent owner in the enterprise, and transition ownership effectively.
• Conduct analytics and deliver data-driven insights:
  • Refine and (where needed) develop a comprehensive set of dashboards to track performance against PY and targets – with a focus on developing and integrating a suite of cross-cutting (e.g., across marketing, enrollment, retention, academics) key institution-level views – and the “roll up/roll down” versions of these at the team and individual levels to drive coherent performance management (analogous to the “CompStat” system used in government agencies).  
  • Independently, or in collaboration with the corporate Data and Analytics team, develop business intelligence tools and/or one-time ad hoc reports to meet the needs of the Growth and Insights team’s strategic projects.  
  • As needed, lead and conduct ad-hoc analysis to support enrollment, retention, and pricing optimization.
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with all policies and standards

• Bachelor's Degree Required
• Master's Degree MBA Preferred
• 4+ years overall experience Required and
• 4+ years of experience and a demonstrated track record of successfully contributing to growth businesses with tremendous drive, intellect, and emotional intelligence; examples could include:
  • Management consulting with a focus on growth and/or higher education
  • Private equity portfolio operations with a focus on growth and/or higher education
  • Operating experience in a high-growth company in a growth-related function, preferably in higher education Required
• Growth: Proven experience within growth-oriented environments, architecting, building, managing, and growing revenue, sustaining double-digit annual growth
• Domain: Demonstrated track record of delivering growth in B2B and B2C businesses, ideally in higher education; additional experience in health care a plus
• Scope: Broad experience leading, maximizing performance, and driving growth across new solution development, alliances/partnerships, sales, customer (student) experience, customer (student admissions) services/retention, and marketing
• Product: Substantive experience in competitive market analysis and product/solution development with demonstrated success in identifying, building, launching, and scaling new offerings that extend customer relationships, expand market presence, and drive commercial success
• A thoughtful individual contributor who is highly collaborative and can successfully navigate a matrixed, complex organization.
• A self-motivated individual, who is metrics-driven, and brings a disciplined approach to strategy execution. Results-driven, one will bring outstanding strategic capabilities and strong business acumen.
• A true “change agent,” able to lead diverse groups in implementing new programs and ideas. One will bring the proven ability to work cross-functionally and lead through influence.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Highly motivated, self-directed, and will be passionate about making a measurable difference for the University and its students.

In support of the pay transparency laws enacted across the country, the expected salary range for this position is between $80,336.75 and $145,077.09. Actual pay will be adjusted based on job-related factors permitted by law, such as experience and training; geographic location; licensure and certifications; market factors; departmental budgets; and responsibility. Our Talent Acquisition Team will be happy to answer any questions you may have, and we look forward to learning more about your salary requirements. The position qualifies for the below benefits.

Covista offers a robust suite of benefits including:

• Health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance
• 401k Retirement Program + 6% employer match
• Participation in Covista’s Flexible Time Off (FTO) Policy
• 12 Paid Holidays
  
  For more information related to our benefits please visit:
  https://careers.covista.com/benefits
  
  You are also eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, subject to the rules governing the program, whereby an award, if any, depends on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance.

Equal Opportunity – Minority / Female / Disability / V / Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation