Partner Operations Manager

About Emeritus

Emeritus is committed to teaching the skills of the future by making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments around the world. It does this by collaborating with more than 80 top-tier universities across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, India and China.

Emeritus short courses, degree programs, professional certificates, and senior executive programs help individuals learn new skills and transform their lives, companies and organizations. Its unique model of state-of-the-art technology, curriculum innovation, and hands-on instruction from senior faculty, mentors and coaches has educated more than 300,000 individuals across 80+ countries.

Founded in 2015, Emeritus, part of Eruditus Group, has more than 1,800 employees globally and offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, Palo Alto, Mexico City, New York, Boston, London, and Dubai. The company is backed by prominent investors including Accel, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate, Prosus Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and Bertelsmann.

Job Description

Role Summary

The Partner Operations Manager (POM) serves as the primary operational partner between Emeritus and its university partners. POMs are responsible for ensuring smooth, high-quality delivery of online and blended programs, acting as the bridge between university stakeholders and Emeritus internal teams (Product, Marketing, Admissions, Outreach, Delivery, Legal and Finance). This role blends project management, partner relationship management, and cross-functional coordination to ensure programs operate smoothly, meet contractual commitments, and deliver a high-quality experience for both partners and learners.

POMs manage a portfolio of university partnerships, owning program operations end-to-end, including onboarding new partners and programs, coordinating launches, monitoring performance, resolving issues, and implementing improvements.

POMs are expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, balancing partner relationship management with operational execution and systems thinking. As the University Partnerships organization evolves across non-degree, blended, and degree programs, POMs will play a critical role in scaling operational excellence, identifying process improvements, and helping standardize partner operations across a growing global portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner Operations & Relationship Management
• Act as the primary operational point of contact for assigned university partners.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with university program managers, faculty, and operational teams.
• Coordinate program launches, ensuring all pre-launch requirements, systems, and marketing timelines are met.
• Monitor ongoing program delivery to ensure adherence to agreed-upon service levels and timelines.
• Oversee learner support, faculty experience, and operational case management processes, with a focus on efficiency, effectiveness, scalability, and partner satisfaction.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Operational Governance
• Support operational models across non-degree, blended, certificate, and degree-related programs.
• Partner closely with internal teams (including Product, Admissions, Marketing, Outreach, Delivery, Finance, Legal, Technical Operations, and Instructional Design) to ensure programs operate smoothly and partner commitments are met.
• Serve as the primary operational connective point between university partners and internal teams, developing strong cross-functional knowledge in order to effectively communicate processes, timelines, dependencies, risks, and operational decisions.
• Drive operational accountability across stakeholders by clarifying ownership, managing dependencies, and ensuring timely follow-through on initiatives, launches, escalations, and partner commitments.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment on program launches, learner experience initiatives, curriculum updates, reporting needs, and operational priorities.
• Identify operational risks, process gaps, and bottlenecks, and proactively implement or escalate solutions.
• Support governance and coordination for complex partnerships involving multiple programs, stakeholders, systems, or delivery models.
• Balance competing priorities and exercise sound operational judgment within a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Data & Reporting
• Own operational reporting accuracy and data integrity across partner programs, including enrollments, learner status tracking, financial/revenue implications, and partner-facing dashboards.
• Partner with technical, analytics, and systems teams to troubleshoot data discrepancies, reporting issues, workflow failures, and integration dependencies.
• Translate operational and partner needs into scalable reporting and systems requirements.
• Ensure accuracy and timeliness of data sharing between Emeritus systems and university partner systems (e.g., SIS integrations, SFTP transfers, reporting dashboards).
• Analyze program performance data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Process & Issue Management
• Proactively identify operational risks or bottlenecks and implement solutions.
• Escalate operational or compliance risks appropriately and partner with relevant teams to support mitigation efforts.
• Ensure operational practices align with contractual obligations, learner data privacy standards, accreditation requirements, and institutional policies.
• Operational Improvement & Strategic Initiatives
• Contribute to the development and refinement of operational processes, documentation, and best practices across the Partner Operations function.
• Share feedback from partners to inform product enhancements, marketing strategies, and learner support improvements.
• Lead or participate in special projects such as bundled program rollouts, Onboarding 2.0, or new data pipeline implementations.
  
  

Key Competencies

• Relationship Management : Builds trust and rapport with university stakeholders, acting as a strategic and operational partner.
• Operational Leadership : Demonstrates ownership, accountability, and sound judgment in ambiguous or fast-moving situations.
• Project Management : Balances multiple program timelines, deadlines, and deliverables with precision.
• Cross-Functional & Global Collaboration : Effectively collaborates across functions, geographies, time zones, and cultures to drive alignment, manage dependencies, and achieve shared operational outcomes.
• Data-Driven Decision-Making : Uses analytics to monitor performance and guide operational improvements.
• Systems Thinking : Understands how operational decisions impact interconnected functions including admissions, delivery, finance, reporting, learner experience, and university partner relationships.
• Problem Solving : Proactively addresses challenges and escalations with solutions-focused thinking.
• Communication : Clear, timely, and audience-appropriate communication, both written and verbal.
• Adaptability : Thrives in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and evolving partner needs.
  
  

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in operations, partner management, program management, consulting, customer success, or project management within higher education, edtech, SaaS, or service-based environments.
• Experience operating within highly cross-functional or matrixed organizations preferred.
• Strong analytical and operational problem-solving skills, including experience interpreting data and managing process dependencies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively across operational, technical, and executive audiences.
• Experience working with operational and reporting systems such as Airtable, Salesforce, Tableau, Google Data Studio / Looker Studio, LMS platforms, CRM systems, and project management tools (e.g., Asana, Jira).
• Experience supporting university, enterprise, or B2B client relationships preferred.
  
  

Success in This Role Looks Like

• Internal and external stakeholders trust you as a reliable, proactive collaborator and operational partner.
• You effectively balance high-touch partner support with scalable operational practices.
• Programs launch and operate smoothly with strong cross-functional alignment and minimal operational disruption.
• Data is accurate, timely, and used to drive informed decision-making.
• Issues and escalations are resolved efficiently, with minimal impact on the learner or partner experience.
• Operational risks, process gaps, and dependencies are proactively identified and addressed before they become larger issues.
• Partners experience clear communication, strong follow-through, and confidence in Emeritus operational support model.
• Complex operational workflows across systems, teams, and stakeholders are managed effectively and continuously improved over time.
• You bring structure, prioritization, and accountability to ambiguous or fast-moving situations.
• Operational processes become more scalable, standardized, and sustainable as the organization grows.
• Partners renew and expand their collaboration with Emeritus due to consistently strong operational execution and relationship management.
  
  

Emeritus provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

In Press

• https://inc42.com/buzz/edtech-startup-eruditus-fy23-revenue-crosses-inr-3000-cr-mark/
• emeritus harvard business school: Edtech unicorn Emeritus story now a Harvard Business School case study - The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)