Global Industry Lead, Higher Education

Posted Yesterday
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Palo Alto, CA, USA
Hybrid
162K-284K Annually
Expert/Leader
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Machine Learning • Mobile • Software • Virtual Reality • App development
Snap is a technology company.
The Role
Lead SPECS higher education industry strategy and go-to-market for AR glasses. Drive customer engagements, partner ecosystem development, pipeline and sales cycles, cross-functional alignment, enablement, events, thought leadership, and product feedback to scale deployments across teaching, research, operations, and student engagement.
Summary Generated by Built In

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.


The Company operates Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world, and Specs Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary dedicated to making computing more human, in addition to Bitmoji, Saturn, and other digital services.


SPECS is focused on pushing the boundaries of what computing can be by overlaying digital experiences onto the real world, and the team is working to define how augmented reality glasses can improve the way people learn, work, and collaborate.

We’re looking for a Global Industry Lead, Higher Education to join the SPECS team. In this manager-level individual contributor role, you will take explicit responsibility for our higher education industry strategy, customer engagement, partner ecosystem, and go-to-market execution for augmented reality glasses.

What you’ll do

  • Own the higher education industry strategy for SPECS, defining where we play, the priority use cases we pursue, and the offerings we bring to market in service of adoption and scaled growth.
  • Lead all industry-related engagements for higher education clients, positioning augmented reality glasses as a practical, scalable solution for teaching, learning, research, simulation, training, campus operations, and student engagement.
  • Build and grow a partner ecosystem aligned to higher education, including services partners, solution providers, systems integrators, and other ecosystem collaborators that can help design, deploy, and scale solutions on our platform.
  • Work cross-functionally with Partner Development Managers and Technical Partner Managers to develop repeatable partner-led solutions, shape industry-ready offerings, and accelerate partner onboarding, enablement, and technical readiness.
  • Identify, validate, and prioritize the primary higher education use cases that will drive customer value and create repeatable commercial momentum, with an emphasis on strong business cases, scalable deployment potential, and partner support from the outset.
  • Own higher education customer pipeline development and sales cycles from market education and early discovery through solution shaping, commercial progression, and deployment planning.
  • Build trusted relationships with executive, academic, innovation, technology, operations, and procurement stakeholders across colleges, universities, research institutions, and adjacent higher education organizations.
  • Partner with cross-functional teams across product, design, engineering, marketing, business development, and sales to ensure our higher education strategy is grounded in platform capabilities, market needs, and clear paths to scale.
  • Drive partner and customer enablement through workshops, demonstrations, solution narratives, and educational content that help institutions understand the practical value of augmented reality glasses and the path from pilot to broader deployment.
  • Own our presence at higher education industry events, including strategy, participation, messaging, partner coordination, and follow-up plans that convert awareness into pipeline and partnerships.
  • Curate external-facing thought leadership for the sector, including white papers, knowledge base articles, customer-facing guidance, and demand generation programs tailored to higher education audiences.
  • Help shape and host higher education-focused customer and partner engagements on the SPECS campuses, including executive briefings, workshops, summits, and demand generation events that accelerate education, trust, and adoption.
  • Track market feedback, competitive dynamics, and customer requirements to influence product direction, ecosystem priorities, and the long-term higher education roadmap.

Minimum qualifications

  • 10+ years leading strategy, business development, sales, partnerships or GTM across customers in higher education. 
  • Experience applying industrial technology, enterprise software, spatial computing, XR, AR, or an adjacent field tech in higher education.
  • Deep understanding of the higher education landscape, including the needs of academic leadership, IT, digital learning, research, campus operations, and institutional innovation teams
  • Strong strategic thinking with the ability to translate industry insight into market priorities, use case focus, ecosystem strategy, and commercial plans
  • Ability to build credibility with senior customer stakeholders and guide complex, consultative sales cycles in emerging technology categories
  • Strong cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to align partner, technical, product, and go-to-market teams around a shared industry strategy
  • Ability to turn early market demand into repeatable motions, including solution packaging, enablement, demand generation, and pipeline development
  • Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to develop compelling customer narratives and thought leadership content
  • Comfort operating in an evolving market where customer education, partner influence, and strategic selling are critical to success
  • Willingness to travel frequently for customer meetings, partner engagements, onsite events, and industry conference
  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
  • Significant experience in industry leadership, business development, strategic sales, partnerships, go-to-market, or solution development roles serving higher education or closely related enterprise sectors
  • Experience owning complex customer engagements and commercial opportunities from early-stage discovery through deal progression
  • Experience working with partners, integrators, software providers, or ecosystem collaborators to bring solutions to market
  • Experience developing market-facing content, presentations, or thought leadership for external audiences

Preferred qualifications

  • Experience in augmented reality, mixed reality, spatial computing, smart glasses, wearable computing, or adjacent emerging technologies
  • Experience selling into or partnering with higher education institutions at scale
  • Experience building solutions or go-to-market motions around enterprise technology platforms, developer ecosystems, or new categories of hardware and software
  • Previous experience at HoloLens, Magic Leap, or a comparable company in the augmented reality or smart glasses ecosystem
  • Experience working with institutions or partners on immersive learning, simulation, remote assistance, digital instruction, collaboration, or other hands-free workflow solutions that align with the value proposition of augmented reality glasses.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some information.

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week. 

At Snap, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to create innovative products that improve the way people live and communicate. Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law (by example, the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, where applicable).

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!

Compensation

In the United States, work locations are assigned a pay zone which determines the salary range for the position. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. The starting pay may be negotiable within the salary range for the position. These pay zones may be modified in the future.

Zone A (CA, WA, NYC):

The base salary range for this position is $190,000-$284,000 annually.


 

Zone B:

The base salary range for this position is $181,000-$270,000 annually.

Zone C:

The base salary range for this position is $162,000-$241,000 annually.

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.

Skills Required

  • 10+ years leading strategy, business development, sales, partnerships, or GTM in higher education
  • Experience applying industrial technology, enterprise software, spatial computing, XR, AR, or adjacent field tech in higher education
  • Deep understanding of higher education stakeholders (academic leadership, IT, digital learning, research, campus operations, innovation)
  • Strong strategic thinking to translate industry insight into market priorities, use cases, ecosystem strategy, and commercial plans
  • Ability to build credibility with senior customer stakeholders and guide complex consultative sales cycles
  • Cross-functional leadership skills to align partner, technical, product, and go-to-market teams
  • Experience turning early market demand into repeatable motions (solution packaging, enablement, demand generation, pipeline development)
  • Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills; develop customer narratives and thought leadership
  • Comfort operating in evolving markets where customer education and strategic selling are critical
  • Willingness to travel frequently for customer meetings, partner engagements, onsite events, and conferences
  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
  • Significant experience owning complex customer engagements and commercial opportunities from discovery through deal progression
  • Experience working with partners, integrators, software providers, or ecosystem collaborators to bring solutions to market
  • Experience developing market-facing content, presentations, or thought leadership for external audiences
  • Experience in augmented reality, mixed reality, spatial computing, smart glasses, wearable computing, or adjacent emerging technologies
  • Experience selling into or partnering with higher education institutions at scale
  • Experience building solutions or GTM motions around enterprise technology platforms, developer ecosystems, or new hardware/software categories
  • Previous experience at HoloLens, Magic Leap, or comparable AR/smart glasses company
  • Experience with immersive learning, simulation, remote assistance, digital instruction, or hands-free workflow solutions

What the Team is Saying

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The Company
HQ: Santa Monica, CA
5,000 Employees
Year Founded: 2011

What We Do

We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

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About our Teams

Snap Inc. Offices

Hybrid Workspace

Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.

Our “default together” approach is an 80/20 model where we are asking team members to spend 80% of the time, on average, in the office, with the remaining 20% of the time spent remote.

Typical time on-site: 4 days a week
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