Higher Education Community & Partnerships Manager

As we continue to invest in education, we're looking for a Higher Education Community & Partnerships Manager to own our institutional growth strategy across universities and bootcamps in the US and beyond. Figma already has millions of students using the product every day, but we're just getting started on building the institutional layer to match. This is a new role with a real opportunity to build from the ground up—developing relationships with professors, instructors, technology centers, and program leadership at the world's top design schools, HCI programs, and bootcamps, and writing the playbook for how Figma shows up at the institutional level.

This is a full time role that can be held from one of our US hubs or remotely in the United States. 

What you'll do at Figma:

• Build and grow an educator community: identify, engage, and cultivate a network of educators at top university and bootcamp programs who are bringing Figma into their classrooms and giving them the resources and recognition to go deeper
• Drive curriculum integration: identify high-impact courses and partner with educators on teaching resources, assignments, and course packs that make Figma the easiest tool to teach with
• Partner with university technology centers: work with campus tech centers to make sure every incoming student knows about Figma's free education program from day one
• Cultivate institutional relationships: build close ties with program deans, department chairs, and leadership at the world's leading design schools programs
• Lay the foundation for institutional growth: do early work that positions Figma to partner with universities at an institutional level and help define what that path looks like
• Create compelling professor programming: design and launch events, resources, and community activations that give professors genuine reasons to champion Figma in their courses and recommend it to colleagues
• Partner with the broader Figma EDU team: work closely across the team to make sure our institutional work and our student programs are pulling in the same direction
• Measure success through data: track adoption, engagement, and relationship depth across institutional partnerships to understand what's working and iterate accordingly

We'd love to hear from you if you have:

• 5+ years of experience in academic partnerships, faculty engagement, higher ed community programs, or institutional relationship management
• Demonstrated success engaging and influencing university leadership — including deans, department chairs, and technology center directors — to drive institutional outcomes
• Experience building programs or communities from scratch with limited resources and without a defined playbook
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to tailor messaging for academic and institutional audiences
• A scrappy, entrepreneurial approach, comfortable operating in an ambiguous and resource-constrained environment

While it's not required, it's an added plus if you also have:

• Experience as an educator or working directly within a university setting
• Familiarity with design education, HCI programs, or creative disciplines
• Experience working at a high-growth tech company or startup
• Background in community building and education marketing
• Familiarity with sales or business development in an institutional or academic context