Description

Riipen’s mission is big: eliminate underemployment. We believe we can do this by providing equitable access to project based learning opportunities to learners and earners across the world.

The Senior Manager, Canadian Ecosystem plays a pivotal role in driving Riipen’s national ecosystem strategy by leading and cultivating high-impact partnerships with key sectors, workforce development organizations, industry and postsecondary institutions. This senior role is critical in ensuring Riipen's contributions align with national talent development priorities, positioning the company as a leader in the development of innovative talent pathways.

The role leads a dedicated portfolio of sales engagements across postsecondary and workforce organizations —pursuing and securing transformative, multi-year partnerships aligned to institutional priorities and workforce impact goals. As a senior individual contributor, you will own the full lifecycle of strategic pursuits: identifying opportunities, shaping value propositions, engaging executive stakeholders, and mobilizing internal teams to secure high-value partnerships. You will operate with authority, rigor, and presence, contributing meaningfully and ensuring that partnerships are aligned with broader organizational objectives.

This role is fully remote and open to candidates in Canada.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of comprehensive ecosystem strategies that drive national partnership growth, leveraging your deep understanding of postsecondary, industry and regional needs.
• Identify and create new markets and initiatives by strategically cultivating relationships with senior partners, securing funding, and driving licensing opportunities.
• Engage senior institutional, industry and workforce leaders —to build trust and position Riipen as a long-term strategic partner.
• Run world-class discovery, translating institutional priorities, constraints, and policy drivers into compelling partnership narratives and proposal structures.
• Shape and present compelling narratives to senior stakeholders, leveraging data-driven insights to showcase the long-term value of partnerships and ensure future engagement.
• Spearhead the development and submission of high-impact government funding proposals, grant applications, and strategic pitches to both public and private sector partners ensuring tailored, outcome-focused proposals that reflect institutional goals and measurable impact.
• Build and advance a healthy pipeline of strategic opportunities through a mix of direct engagement, ecosystem relationships, and targeted outreach.
• Deliver against an individual new business quota, ensuring growth is aligned to partner readiness, impact goals, and long-term success.
• Collaborate with internal partners—pulling in expertise at the right moments to strengthen solution fit and accelerate partnership momentum. Ensure data, insights, and messaging are cohesive and aligned with partner needs, while also establishing Riipen’s thought leadership in the ecosystem.
• Establish yourself as a leading figure within designated sector and regional ecosystems, proactively engaging with senior industry leaders and policymakers to identify opportunities for advancing Riipen’s mission

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Bring significant experience in strategic business development, ecosystem partnership management, and engaging with key stakeholders across public, private, and academic sectors.

• Have a proven track record in successfully driving and negotiating high-value agreements with senior decision-makers across a range of partners, including government agencies, non-profits, academic institutions, and industry leaders with experience in securing multi-year agreements.

• Possess advanced relationship-building and influence skills, with extensive experience in navigating complex, multi-stakeholder environments to foster collaboration and deliver measurable outcomes.

• Have demonstrated expertise in drafting and securing government funding, grant applications, and high-level partnership proposals, contributing significantly to organizational growth.

• Understanding of the dynamics that shape postsecondary, economic and workforce development ecosystems—including funding cycles, governance structures, institutional readiness, and employer-aligned program needs.

• Excel at engaging with senior leaders and stakeholders, with exceptional written and verbal communication skills that elevate the conversation at the executive level and foster conviction.

• Have a well-established network of senior-level contacts across various sectors and a strong ability to leverage this network to create impactful, long-term partnerships.

• A track record of performing in evolving, fast-moving environments, bringing clarity, momentum, and astute judgment to opportunities without waiting for perfect structure.

Benefits

• Remote/travel working opportunities (when appropriate)
• ️ 4 weeks of annual vacation
• Paid sick leave
• Extended Health and Dental benefits from your first day
• We will ensure you have a great work-from-home setup
• Learning & Development Stipend after 6 months of employment

We appreciate your interest and application. Only those applicants under consideration will be contacted.

Riipen is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on merit and business needs, and not on race, colour, creed, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions or any other classification protected by federal, state or provincial and local laws and ordinances.

Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified individuals with disabilities, upon request.

About Riipen

Conceptualized by Dana Stephenson and Dave Savory for their capstone entrepreneurship project at the University of Victoria, Riipen addressed an issue that they faced personally as learners — the challenge of gaining relevant work experience, building a network of possible employers, and then demonstrating their skills to that network in order to find work that would help them start their careers. They were facing the graduation conundrum — You can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience without a job.

Since inception in 2013, Riipen has expanded its reach internationally and has developed a state of the art technology platform that caters and provides significant competitive advantages for organizations and academic institutions while staying true to their original goal of supporting student development. Riipen has enabled 193,000+ students at 590+ post-secondary institutions and training providers to partake in applied learning with 31,000+ companies. All of this leads us to our mission: Eliminate Underemployment.