Director, Industry Practice Lead - Higher Education

Job description

**Position Summary** In this role, you will have the opportunity to do meaningful work in your career, elevating your craft while contributing to a team that values lifelong learning. As Director, Industry Practice Lead – Higher Education, you will serve as Panopto’s trusted domain authority and top-of-funnel growth engine across the global higher education sector. Operating as a senior individual contributor (P5) reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), you will bridge academic practice, campus technology strategy, and product capability. You will serve as a sought-after expert in academic technology, building peer-level trust with Provosts, CIOs, and Vice Provosts of Academic Technology to open new pipeline and articulate how video-based knowledge management elevates teaching, learning, and student outcomes. You'll also have opportunities to contribute to other initiatives that directly advance our core values and support you in elevating your craft. **How You’ll Contribute** In this role, you will have the opportunity to… - **Top-of-Funnel Pipeline Creation & Industry Authority:** Represent Panopto as a leading voice at major academic gatherings (e.g., EDUCAUSE, OLC, POD Network), executive roundtables, and campus panels. Activate your network of higher education leaders to build brand trust, generate new institutional prospects, and expand the top-of-funnel pipeline. - **Strategic Subject Matter Expertise in Deals:** Partner with Account Executives on high-profile institutional opportunities as an academic peer and product expert. Seamlessly discuss pedagogical trends, campus IT vision, accessibility mandates, and Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) to build trust without carrying direct deal-closing responsibility. - **Campus Value & Adoption Advisory:** Conduct strategic health and usage reviews with existing institutional accounts to evaluate platform adoption, understand academic goals, and prescribe tailored solution strategies that improve usage across departments and uncover expansion potential. - **Domain Frameworks & Product Voice:** Develop practitioner-focused domain playbooks, usage frameworks, and industry point-of-view content centered on campus pain points. Synthesize field signals regarding accessibility standards (WCAG/ADA), lecture capture infrastructure, LMS workflows, and AI in pedagogy to guide internal Product and Product Marketing teams. **What Success Looks Like** - **Within 3 Months:** Complete a baseline assessment of higher education buying priorities, establish an operational rhythm with Sales and Product Marketing, and participate in select high-profile institutional sales discussions. - **Within 6 Months:** Publish initial industry point-of-view content on higher ed video trends, represent Panopto at key academic conferences to build top-of-funnel pipeline, and deliver solution adoption recommendations for major campus accounts. - **Within 1 Year:** Drive measurable growth in influenced campus pipeline, brand authority, and institutional expansion across top-tier colleges and university systems. - **Your Legacy:** Build a scalable, repeatable higher education practice model that positions Panopto as the undeniable standard for academic video technology. **Values in Action** - **Customer First, Always**: You proactively surface friction points in the customer experience before they are escalated — and propose solutions, not just reports. - **Thrive Together**: You share work-in-progress for early feedback, knowing that challenge improves the outcome. You separate critiques of ideas from critiques of people. - **Elevate the Craft**: You hold the bar high on your own work and invest in developing those around you. You treat every project as an opportunity to learn something new. - **Act with Ownership**: You define success by outcomes, not activity. You flag problems early and bring a proposed path forward, not just the problem. - **Clarity Over Complexity**: You default to the simpler solution. Your written communication — internal or external — is direct, specific, and free of filler. **How We Thrive** At Panopto, we believe in simple elegance in everything we do. We do not just talk about accountability; we live it. You will be joining a collaborative team of seasoned Account Executives and Revenue leaders who are deeply embedded in the education sector. As Director, Industry Practice Lead, you will be the bridge between technical capability and business transformation. You will partner directly with our Account Executives to inspire leaders, demonstrate the value of our platform, and bring our AI-driven video knowledge vision to life. This is an opportunity to serve as a trusted advisor to key buyers, shape our go-to-market strategy, and serve as the voice of the customer back to our Product and Engineering teams. **The Foundation for Success** - **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in Educational Technology, Higher Education Administration, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience). - **Experience:** 8+ years of total experience combining higher education leadership (e.g., Academic Technology, Distance Education, Campus IT) with 3+ years of commercial GTM experience at an ed-tech provider. - **Technical & Product Proficiency:** Deep expertise in Learning Management Systems (Canvas, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, Moodle), video infrastructure (Panopto, Kaltura, Echo360, YuJa), and campus IT architecture. Ability to demonstrate platform capabilities through a pedagogical and user-outcome lens. - **Communication & Influence:** Proven track record as a keynote speaker, conference presenter, or published writer skilled at engaging academic, technical, and executive audiences. - **Domain Knowledge:** Comprehensive understanding of higher-ed procurement cycles, WCAG/ADA accessibility standards, AI in pedagogy, and academic governance. - **Travel Commitment:** Willingness to travel 25% – 40% for customer engagements, industry conferences, and key field events. **What Sets You Apart** - Master’s or Ph.D. in Educational Technology, Instructional Design, or Higher Education Leadership. - Active committee involvement or advisory roles in national higher education organizations (EDUCAUSE, OLC, QM, WICHE-SAN). - Direct experience leading campus-wide enterprise technology migrations or modernizations. **Join Us** Join Panopto and help redefine how leading institutions leverage video technology to elevate teaching, learning, and campus accessibility. If you are an academic technology leader passionate about driving institutional success and partnering with campus executives, we encourage you to apply. **Total Rewards** The salary range for this position is **$160,000 - $200,000 USD** per year. This position is also eligible for a bonus as part of the compensation package. Base pay offered may vary depending on various factors, including, but not limited to: job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other eligibility factors such as geographic location. The Total Rewards package includes competitive base pay and an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs such as health insurance, flexible spending accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance programs, and programs that provide for both paid and unpaid time away from work. At Panopto, we know that great people make an organization great. We value our people and offer employees benefits that are market competitive for our industry. Learn more about what working at Panopto can mean for you. At Panopto, our commitment to pay equity and transparency is unwavering. We do not engage in salary negotiations beyond the established range to maintain fairness and prevent potential pay disparities among team members based on negotiation strategies.