Manager Strategic Partnerships

Department: Global Partnerships Team

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh – hybrid, with in-office attendance required when necessary

Reports To: CEO

Working Hours: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM or 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM, aligned with the UK partnership team

Employment Type: Full-time

Job Purpose

TCL Global is an international study-abroad consultancy, working with universities, colleges, franchise partners and application/agent partners across the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland and a growing set of territories served by in-country Business Development Executives. The Manager – Partnership owns the day-to-day operational health of this partnership network across all partner types, with no fixed territory: consolidating field activity, managing the application-to-offer pipeline, maintaining commission and compliance standards, and coordinating training and reporting across regions. The role reports directly to the CEO and is central to turning global partnership strategy and targets into consistent operational execution, while also promoting TCL Global's EdTech services including its mobile app, AI-powered CRM and AI counsellor to potential partners.

Key Responsibilities

1. Global Partnership Operations Oversight

• Oversee day-to-day partnership operations across all partner types (universities, franchise partners, application/agent partners) globally, ensuring consistent standards and processes across territories.
• Consolidate and review daily/weekly activity reports submitted by Partnership Executives and Business Development Executives across regions, identifying trends, risks and follow-up actions.
• Act as the first point of escalation for partnership issues raised from the field, resolving where possible and escalating significant matters to the CEO.

2. Application Pipeline Management

• Maintain and analyse application-to-offer-letter ratio tracking across universities and partners, following up with universities on outstanding offers.
• Analyse rejected applications to identify common causes (e.g., incomplete documents, eligibility mismatches) and work with admissions and compliance teams on corrective measures.
• Review country- and branch-wise rejection trends and pipeline performance, feeding insights into weekly management meetings.

3. Partner Onboarding & Relationship Management

• Approach and onboard new university, franchise and application/agent partners across markets, maintaining accurate and up-to-date partner records.
• Conduct or coordinate university visits and partner meetings covering partnership discussions, CAS updates, commission discussions, compliance reviews and relationship management.
• Identify partners and universities requiring attention, and coordinate corrective action with the relevant country teams, including re-engagement of lapsed partnerships.

4. Commission, CAS & Compliance

• Review and maintain commission structures for university, franchise and application partners, supporting the accounts team on commission tracking, reconciliation and follow-up.
• Track CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) issued as a result of partnership activity and provide related follow-up support to partners.
• Conduct compliance checks across partnership agreements, data protection (GDPR), application regulatory compliance and accreditation, AQF, coordinating with the Compliance team on findings and corrective actions.
• Conduct compliance checks on student applications and the application process to ensure students meet university-specific compliance requirements, monitoring status of student PCI (Pre-CAS Interview) and communicating any compliance risk to the institution promptly.

5. Training & Capability Building

• Coordinate the global training schedule for partners and internal teams, ensuring newly onboarded universities and partners are trained promptly.
• Prepare training resources and institution information, distributing them to Partnership Executives and BDEs across regions.
• Maintain a global tracker of training completion across the partner and BDE network.

6. Reporting, CRM & Systems

• Maintain university/partner CRM profiles and scholarship information, and coordinate resolution of university portal issues with universities and IT.
• Produce consolidated activity, performance and competitor-intelligence reporting for the CEO and senior leadership.
• Support event management (webinars, seminars, recruitment fairs) across regions, tracking attendance, budgets and follow-up actions.

7. Supporting Global Partnership Targets

• Support the CEO in tracking progress against institution partnership targets, incentive structures and territory expansion initiatives.
• Coordinate cross-functional input from Sales, Marketing, Admissions, Compliance, IT and Accounts to support global partnership goals.
• Maintain detailed Excel-based tracking of partnership targets, training, and events for review in weekly management meetings.

8. TCL Global EdTech Services Promotion

• Identify potential partners within the TCL Global network — universities, franchise partners and application/agent partners — who could benefit from TCL Global EdTech services, including its mobile app, AI-powered CRM and AI counsellor.
• Work closely with the IT team and Commercial Manager to promote these EdTech services and their commercial proposition to prospective and existing partners.
• Support the adoption of TCL Global mobile app, AI-powered CRM and AI counsellor by qualifying partners, coordinating with IT and the Commercial team on onboarding and training.
• Feed partner insights and market feedback back to the IT/Commercial team to help refine the positioning of TCL Global EdTech services within the partnership network.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Experience

• Four or more years' experience in partnerships, business development or account management within the study-abroad or international education sector, ideally within a multi-country agency or consultancy model.
• Experience coordinating or supporting a network of country-based Business Development Executives or Partnership Executives.
• Familiarity with UK university partnership and application processes (CAS, offer/rejection tracking, commission structures); exposure to USA, Canada, Australia or Ireland markets is an advantage.
• Experience with compliance requirements in international student recruitment, such as data protection, application regulatory compliance and accreditation.
• UK graduate preferred, given the role's day-to-day engagement with UK partner universities.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong analytical skills, comfortable maintaining and interpreting Excel-based tracking of application ratios, rejections, training and partnership targets.
• Excellent relationship-management, negotiation and communication skills across university, franchise and agent stakeholders.
• Able to coordinate and support a distributed, multi-country team of BDEs and Partnership Executives without direct line management.
• Process-driven, comfortable coordinating across Compliance, IT, Admissions, Accounts and Marketing teams.
• Confident presenting in weekly management meetings and producing consolidated reports for senior leadership.
• Able to explain TCL Global AI-enabled EdTech services (mobile app, AI-powered CRM, AI counsellor) commercially to partners without needing a technical/developer background.

Personal Attributes

• Highly organised, comfortable running weekly reporting cadences and maintaining detailed trackers.
• Willing to travel internationally to visit partner universities and regional offices as required.
• A proactive problem-solver, able to re-engage lapsed partners and resolve escalations.
• Comfortable working across time zones with a globally distributed team.

Key Performance Indicators

• Improvement in application-to-offer ratio and reduction in rejection rates.
• Number of new partners (university, franchise, application) onboarded, and lapsed partners re-engaged.
• Training completion rate across the partner and BDE network.
• Compliance checks completed with no unresolved gaps.
• Timeliness and accuracy of consolidated activity and performance reporting to the CEO.
• Number of partners identified and successfully onboarded to TCL Global EdTech services (mobile app, AI-powered CRM, AI counsellor).

Working Arrangements

• Full-time position based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on a hybrid basis, with in-office attendance required when necessary.
• Reports directly to the CEO.
• Working hours of 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM or 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM, aligned with the UK partnership team.
• Global remit covering all partner types (university, franchise, application/agent), with no single fixed territory.
• International travel required to visit partner universities, regional offices and attend events.