Role Overview:

Our client, a leading education institution, is looking for a highly driven and experienced professional to lead their placements function. As the Lead - Placements, you will play a pivotal role in expanding placement opportunities for their students and activating corporate partnerships across geographies. You will be a key external representative, forging high-value relationships with HR leaders, CEOs, Founders, and ecosystem enablers.

Key Responsibilities:

- Owning and leading the end-to-end placement strategy for full-time MBA cohorts, ensuring exceptional outcomes across domains such as consulting, product management, finance, marketing, operations, and emerging sectors.

- Building deep and sustained relationships with HR leaders, CXOs, founders, and decision-makers from top Indian and multinational companies to drive full-time, internship, and live project opportunities.

- Identifying and unlocking new recruiters and industry segments for placements, including high-growth startups, VC/PE firms, and unicorns, to diversify and future-proof placement channels.

- Designing and managing structured campus recruitment drives, lateral hiring cohorts, and focused hiring campaigns tailored to student strengths and company hiring patterns.

- Partnering with the marketing and design teams to build impactful employer branding campaigns via LinkedIn, webinars, CXO mixers, HR roundtables, and industry reports.

- Leading, mentoring, and scaling a high-performing placements team. Set performance KPIs, drive daily execution, and create frameworks for lead generation, outreach tracking, and conversion optimization.

- Overseeing the backend infrastructure of placements, including CRM usage, JD quality, interview tracking, student shortlisting, feedback loops, and offer validation to ensure seamless operations and data accuracy.

- Working closely with the Career Prep, Student Affairs, Admissions, Academics, and Alumni Relations teams to ensure an integrated experience across resume reviews, policy creation, domain mentoring, and placement orientation.

- Collaborating with the international placements team to align global mandates and coordinate efforts for cross-border placements and client engagement.

- Preparing placement reports, quarterly reviews, and cohort statistics for internal stakeholders and prospective students. Contribute insights to strategic institutional decisions around new programs and industry alignment.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

- 10+ years of work experience in corporate relations, business development, education sales, or similar roles.

- Experience in business development or partnerships across regions is a plus.

- Excellent B2B relationship-building and sales ability; strong CXO-level presence.

- Ability to lead end-to-end partnerships from identification to execution.

- Knowledge of talent acquisition trends and job markets.

- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.

- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to work independently in a fast-moving, high accountability environment.