Senior Strategic Business Advisor, Systems Strategy

About Ellucian

Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries, serving more than 21 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes.

About the Opportunity

At Ellucian, we’re transforming how higher education experiences technology and helping institutions realize the true value of modernization. 

 

As a Strategic Business Advisor, Systems Strategy within the Solution Sales Organization, you will serve as a senior-level advisor focused on Ellucian’s most strategic system and multi-institution opportunities. This role is designed for an experienced leader who can engage system offices, state networks, executive stakeholders, and complex institutional buying groups to shape modernization strategy, align business priorities to Ellucian capabilities, and accelerate high-value opportunities. 

 

This is not a traditional presales role. It is a senior strategic role focused on helping system-level customers define transformation priorities, evaluate modernization pathways, and connect Ellucian’s product capabilities, services approach, and value narrative to measurable institutional and system outcomes. You will partner closely with Account Executives, Solution Specialists, Solutions Consultants, Platform Architects, and cross-functional leaders to support systems GTM motions, prioritization, use-case development, and executive engagement. 

 

You will play a critical role in ensuring Ellucian shows up as a strategic partner for statewide and system-led transformation efforts. Not just as a software provider, but as a trusted advisor capable of guiding complex decisions across strategy, readiness, delivery, and long-term value realization.

This role matters because the Strategic Business Advisor, Systems Strategy brings senior-level business leadership to Ellucian’s most important system opportunities. This role helps customers define the “why,” prioritize the “what,” and align the “how” across product, services, and executive decision-making. 
 
As Ellucian continues to strengthen its systems strategy and modernization motions, this role ensures we engage customers with the right level of strategic depth, executive credibility, and cross-functional alignment — helping institutions and systems move from interest to confidence, and from confidence to transformation. 

 

Where You Will Make an Impact 

 

• Lead executive-level discovery and strategy engagements with system offices, higher education consortia, and institutions to understand strategic priorities, governance models, operational complexity, and modernization goals. 
• Serve as a senior advisor on system opportunities, helping shape account and pursuit strategy for complex, multi-stakeholder deals involving modernization, shared services, SaaS transformation, and long-range platform planning.  
• Partner with internal leaders supporting Ellucian’s systems GTM strategy to align customer priorities, system-level use cases, and field motions with product capabilities, roadmap direction, and services strategy.  
• Build and refine executive narratives that connect institutional and system-wide challenges to Ellucian’s differentiated value, elevating conversations from product features to business transformation and mission impact.  
• Develop business cases, value frameworks, and ROI narratives that help executive stakeholders assess tradeoffs, prioritize initiatives, and build confidence in modernization strategies.  
• Guide strategic discovery outputs so they can be reused across pursuits and translated into actionable inputs for solution design, services scoping, implementation readiness, and Sprint 0 planning.  
• Support prioritization of system opportunities by contributing customer insight, market context, and executive-level feedback into internal planning, messaging, and go-to-market motions.  
• Represent the voice of the customer and the system office, ensuring business needs, product gaps, and strategic themes are captured and communicated back into product, services, and solution sales teams.  
• Partner with Account Executives on executive presentations, workshops, board-ready narratives, RFP strategy, and critical customer conversations that require senior presence and business credibility.  
• Act as a thought leader externally with system offices, higher education associations, and strategic forums, positioning Ellucian as a partner in institution-wide and system-wide transformation. 

 

What You Will Bring 

 

• 10+ years of experience in strategic consulting, enterprise SaaS, higher education transformation, solution strategy, or executive-facing business advisory roles.  
• Proven success working with complex, high-visibility opportunities, ideally including higher education systems, statewide initiatives, multi-campus environments, or enterprise transformation programs.  
• Deep understanding of higher education operating models and the interdependencies across student, finance, HR, academic operations, and administrative services.  
• Demonstrated ability to engage senior leaders including chancellors, presidents, provosts, CFOs, CIOs, and system office executives in strategic transformation discussions.  
• Experience shaping executive business cases, modernization strategies, value frameworks, and decision support materials for large, complex buying cycles.  
• Strong ability to synthesize customer needs into structured use cases, strategic themes, and value narratives that align with product capabilities, roadmap direction, and delivery considerations.  
• Experience navigating ambiguity and helping organizations make decisions across multiple modernization paths, priorities, and stakeholder groups.  
• Strong executive presence, facilitation skills, and the ability to lead high-value conversations with confidence, credibility, and empathy.  
• Ability to work across cross-functional teams including Sales, Solution Sales, Product, Professional Services, and leadership teams to drive alignment and action.  
• Comfort discussing SaaS, AI, platform, and services concepts at a level appropriate for executive and strategic audiences.  
• Passion for higher education and a strong point of view on how institutions and systems can modernize with clarity, confidence, and measurable outcomes.  
• Senior-level strategic advisory experience, with the ability to navigate complex, high-visibility opportunities and executive environments.
• A systems-thinking mindset that connects institutional priorities, stakeholder needs, product strategy, and delivery realities into a cohesive approach.
• Strong executive facilitation and discovery skills, with the ability to influence direction, drive alignment, and build consensus across large stakeholder groups.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling abilities, translating vision into value and execution.
• A trusted-partner approach that balances customer advocacy with sound business judgment and operational discipline.
• A collaborative leadership style that brings structure, perspective, and executive-level credibility to cross-functional teams and Pods.
• A pragmatic approach to transformation, recognizing that successful modernization requires prioritization, organizational readiness, and continuity from strategy through delivery.

What makes #Ellucianlife

• Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
• Flexible time off
• Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account (LSA) that allows you to contribute towards your health, financial or learning interests
• 401k w/ match & BrightPlan - to help you save for the future
• Parental Leave
• 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
• Telemedicine
• Wellness
  • Headspace Care (mental health)
  • Wellbeats (virtual fitness classes)
• RethinkCare & Wellthy– caregiver support
• Diversity and inclusion programs which provide access to internal employee resource groups
• Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
• We Foster a learning culture with:
  • Education Assistance Program
  • Professional development opportunities
  • LinkedIn Learning

#LI-AC1
#LI-REMOTE