Commercial Director: strategy, operations, CX

CATALYST is an innovative and early stage education venture committed to challenging young people from across the world to go further, faster, and more responsibly. So that tomorrow's leaders effect change that consider people and planet in equal measure. Inspired by centuries of educational excellence at Winchester College, CATALYST adapts the time-tested pedagogical principles of great education to the challenges and opportunities of today: a sharpening of the mind and a stirring of the soul for tomorrow’s aspiring change experts.

CATALYST offers impactful educational programmes that explore topics - AI, ethics, philosophy, culture, economics, climate - and develop skills - negotiation, critical analysis, etc - that transcend the traditional classroom. Programmes run throughout the year, both on and off term time, and welcome students ages 10-17 from across the globe. To date we have worked with >300 students from >30 countries.

The easiest way to think about CATALYST’s business is:

• (B2C) Serving students directly through our competitive entry programmes in which students apply to participate
• (B2B) Providing educational services to institutions (e.g., schools or groups) seeking to offer unique educational experiences to their students, powered by CATALYST curriculum, expertise, and/or team

You can see, feel, and ‘touch’ the CATALYST experience is by exploring our YouTube channel here, our website here, and our 2023 summer courses prospectus here.

WHY ARE WE HERE

At CATALYST, our goal is to accelerate responsible change through education. We are obsessed with change - which, by itself, is understudied. By “change,” we mean economic, technological, scientific, cultural, and organizational change that has already and will continue to transform society.

We strive to help young people understand how the world changes... so that they can help change the world. Tomorrow’s changemakers will not be defined so much by qualifications as by capability and character. Resilience, cooperation, and the power to think critically - with strong ethical perspective - will be ever-more important. And just as education has served as an economic production function in the past, so too will it in the future - as the primary theatre of societal change.

ABOUT US

We subscribe to a set of beliefs that help guide how we work, play, and problem solve:

• Great education is the basis for societal progress - unleashing the talents of those transitioning from ‘student to adult’ is the most important thing we can do to impact the future.
• Education needs to be high-stakes, high-energy, and urgent - we’re tackling an enormous problem with considerable headwinds (and, fortunately, tailwinds too). Urgency is a must.
• If given more (time, money, etc), we try to do less - we make things shorter, do fewer things better, focus on the key messages, and communicate with precision.
• Everyone can, and should, contribute in a meaningful way - 2 years of experience or 20 years of experience, we expect our team to go the extra mile and strive to have the greatest impact. Achieving the greatest impact necessarily means taking pride in our work, holding ourselves and others accountable, ditching ego, and embracing diversity.
• Doing the ‘right thing’ is always the right thing - our reputation as a team that does the right thing means something, and we feel it pays off in the long run. Also, it's the right thing.
• We are a team of 6, you will be the 7th - an early member of the founding team who will have the chance to help shape DNA and trajectory.

ABOUT YOU

• You are excited about unleashing teenage talent globally
• You are intellectually agile, able to context switch quickly and zoom in/out
• You are equally passionate about education and building memorable products/services, always with the customer at the heart
• You are able to tackle commercial strategy while being hands on, rolling up your sleeves to drive tactics and execution
• You are a strong communicator and have the ability to convey a compelling narrative
• You have had P&L responsibility before, with significant experience building and leading high performance customer-facing teams accustomed to providing eminent digital products/services
• You have 7+ years of experience in relevant commercial, operational, and/or customer-facing roles, some of which will have been working in a startup environment
• You’ve worked in and enjoyed working in a startup environment: 0-1, not 1-10... which means you are ok with a test-and-learn approach and that you learn by doing
• You’re an EQ leader, able to build content, conscientious, and productive relationships with stakeholders at all levels while achieving results
• You have a track record of building and leading small, cross-functional teams of 1-10 people

ABOUT THE ROLE

If we were assembling the car, you would be the engine and the driver. You will help unlock speed and effectiveness at a business level, working across all functional areas, accountable directly to the C-suite. You will have cross-functional line management responsibility requiring you to engage with both supply - product - and demand - acquisition, growth etc. You will also be hands on across strategy, operations, CX, and business intelligence. Which means you need to be both a quantitative and qualitative polymath… excited about flexing both muscles on a regular basis. You’ll have P&L responsibility, oversight of the end to end customer journey, and board-level exposure:

• Product operations - ensure that our product function works like a well-oiled machine, meeting key development gates on time and on budget
• Programme operations - ensure that the team is positioned to run high-quality programmes
• Operationalize product/programme feedback to ensure continuous improvement
• Coordinate all demand-generation activities with the aim of increasing student enrollment for all programmes and building low-cost, defensible acquisition channels
• Oversight of user experience across all touchpoints, reviewing and adapting the product, communications, and programme as relevant
• Establish streamlined weekly/monthly reporting against business objectives and KPIs, and lead weekly trading meetings
• General oversight across the entire team’s work areas to ensure no ‘glass balls’ are dropped
• Keeping abreast of the competitor landscape and industry trends, and feeding back/implementing learnings as appropriate
• Line management responsibilities
• Support board reporting, strategic growth initiatives, product roadmapping

HIRING PROCESS & REMUNERATION

This role is a critical leadership appointment for the team. While we endeavor to honor the process detailed below, we do tailor our approach and timeline by candidate. We intend to select finalist candidates in July with an envisioned start date in September.

Process

• (Remote) ~30 minute introductory conversation with CATALYST’s founder
• (Remote) ~45 minute behavioral interview with CATALYST team
• (Remote) A short hiring case study that intends to simulate how we might work together
• (In-person) Final round interviews with board in Winchester + meet additional team members

Remuneration

• £75,000 - £90,000
• Participation in profit sharing scheme
• Private healthcare
• Hybrid work: primarily from home (~80%) with regular get togethers in-person (London or Winchester, UK)