Director, Early Learning Market Development & Partnerships
For 80 years, Highlights has helped children become their best selves through joyful learning. Our Early Learning business extends that mission by supporting educators, caregivers, and families during the critical years from birth to age five. Through solutions focused on family engagement, classroom practice, and customized support, we help the adults in children's lives create meaningful learning experiences and stronger connections.
Building on momentum from our work in Florida, we are expanding into new markets where trusted partnerships can help us reach more children and families while creating sustainable growth. Our role is to bring thoughtful, flexible solutions grounded in what we know about how young children learn best through play, connection, joy, and meaningful interaction.
The Role
Early learning market development at Highlights starts with purpose of extending positive impact to as many children and families as possible through educators, caregivers, and trusted organizations. The Director, Early Learning Market Development & Partnerships builds strategic partnerships that expand Highlights' reach, reflect our mission and strengths, and generate sustainable revenue that enables continued growth and impact.
This is a player coach role for an experienced market builder who learns from the field, earns trust, identifies meaningful opportunities, and turns market insights into practical paths for growth. The Director will play a hands-on role in developing new markets, building relationships with collective purchasing organizations and other key stakeholders, and shaping solutions that address real customer needs.
Success in this role requires balancing near-term revenue opportunities with the development of long-term market access, trusted partnerships, and repeatable approaches that can support durable growth over time.
What You Will Lead
Market Development & Partnership Growth
- Expand Highlights' presence in priority early learning markets, building on the momentum and lessons learned from Florida.
- Develop and maintain relationships with Early Learning Coalitions, public agencies, regional networks, and other organizations that influence purchasing decisions and access to providers, educators, families, and children.
- Identify promising opportunities through market discovery, customer engagement, and a deep understanding of local funding, procurement, and decision making processes.
- Develop market specific strategies that connect customer needs with Highlights solutions, including semicustom approaches when they create stronger customer value.
- Lead opportunities from initial engagement through proposal development, procurement, implementation, renewal, and expansion.
- Represent Highlights' mission, brand, content, and expertise while building trusted long-term partnerships.
Revenue Growth & Market Expansion
- Generate revenue from new and existing markets while building a foundation for sustained growth.
- Evaluate opportunities based on customer need, market accessibility, funding pathways, and long-term growth potential.
- Develop practical approaches for entering and expanding within markets, using a resourceful mix of local relationships, field learning, and targeted investments.
- Maintain visibility into key opportunities, customer relationships, market conditions, and next steps to ensure consistent progress and follow through.
- Bring market insights and recommendations into strategic planning and growth decisions.
Team Leadership & Operating Excellence
- Remain actively engaged in customer relationships, market development activities, and critical growth opportunities.
- Recruit, coach, and lead market facing resources, including employees, independent representatives, and other flexible coverage models as business needs evolve.
- Establish clear expectations and strong operating disciplines around customer engagement, opportunity management, forecasting, and execution.
- Partner cross-functionally to align solutions, pricing, proposals, implementation, and customer support with market needs.
- Capture and share market learning, customer insights, and proven practices to improve effectiveness and expand success across markets.
- Represent Highlights in industry forums, conferences, and customer settings to strengthen market presence and relationships.
What You Bring
- Significant experience developing markets and generating revenue in early childhood education or a closely related field.
- Demonstrated success entering new markets, building customer relationships, and creating sustainable growth opportunities.
- Experience working with collective purchasing organizations, Early Learning Coalitions, public agencies, workforce or regional networks, or similar stakeholder groups.
- Strong understanding of early learning funding, procurement, decision making processes, and the broader provider landscape.
- Proven ability to identify opportunities, navigate ambiguity, move quickly, and convert relationships into meaningful business outcomes.
- Experience leading, coaching, or coordinating distributed market facing teams and flexible coverage models.
- Strong commercial judgment, relationship building skills, communication abilities, organization, and follow through.
- Ability to balance strategic thinking with direct execution and adapt quickly based on market feedback and emerging opportunities.
Location & Travel
Remote within the United States. This role requires regular travel to customer sites, industry events, and target markets. The Early Learning team primarily operates on Eastern Time.
Highlights for Children is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Skills Required
- Significant experience developing markets and generating revenue in early childhood education or a closely related field.
- Demonstrated success entering new markets, building customer relationships, and creating sustainable growth opportunities.
- Experience working with collective purchasing organizations, Early Learning Coalitions, public agencies, workforce or regional networks, or similar stakeholder groups.
- Strong understanding of early learning funding, procurement, decision-making processes, and the broader provider landscape.
- Proven ability to identify opportunities, navigate ambiguity, move quickly, and convert relationships into meaningful business outcomes.
- Experience leading, coaching, or coordinating distributed market-facing teams and flexible coverage models.
- Strong commercial judgment, relationship-building skills, communication abilities, organization, and follow-through.
- Ability to balance strategic thinking with direct execution and adapt quickly based on market feedback and emerging opportunities.
What We Do
Highlights for Children is a family media and children’s publishing brand creating magazines, books, puzzles, learning resources and digital experiences for children. Since 1946, its “Fun with a Purpose” content has aimed to help children grow into their best selves by encouraging creativity and imagination, strengthening reading, thinking and reasoning skills, and fostering respect, kindness and sensitivity. Its offerings also include subscription boxes, apps, games and other activities.
