Head of Strategy and Business Operations

Organisation:

Busuu’s vision is to empower everyone in the world through languages. They are the world’s largest online community for language learning, with more than 120+ million users from 190 countries, growing at up to 20,000 new users per day. The app makes learning a language easy by combining AI-powered courses with instant feedback from their global community of native speakers and live tutoring from qualified teachers across the world.

Today, Busuu is one of the top 50 EdTech companies in the world, and has won numerous awards for innovation and impact in language learning. It has been proven through numerous effectiveness studies with renowned universities that Busuu’s product is superior with quicker learning outcomes compared to other products in the market. Headquartered in London, the company currently has 210 employees with a growing presence in Madrid where they also have an office. Alongside the company's B2C product, Busuu has developed an enterprise offering used by over 250 companies including King.com, Inditex and DHL to improve their workforce's language skills. Busuu currently covers 12 languages including 8 European languages, as well as Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. Busuu is overseen by a strong executive team, including CEO and co-founder, Bernhard Niesner, COO, Arnaldo Muñoz, CCO, Matthew Ansbro, CTO, Joonas Kukonen, CFO, Stuart Taylor, CLO, Kirsten Campbell.

In January 2022, Busuu was acquired by one of the largest EdTech companies in the world, Chegg (NYSE:CHGG). Being part of Chegg will help Busuu to accelerate their growth and achieve their vision even faster. At its heart, Chegg is fiercely dedicated to the learner and is always looking for ways to help them succeed both in their studies and in life – a perfect partner for Busuu.

This new role at Busuu will help us define and build the strategic narrative around our hyper-growth opportunities unlocked through the acquisition: from accelerating our organic and non-organic growth to building best in class operational practices in the execution of that strategy. Working closely with senior leadership, this person will also lead new business opportunities. For that the person will work extremely close with senior leadership

The Role:

As a Head of Strategy and Business Operations, you will be instrumental in developing insights and recommendations across Busuu business. You will be a key member of the team working with both Busuu and Chegg leadership to develop and challenge our long-term vision for the organisation. The right person will be dynamic and collaborative with an ability to digest large amounts of data and communicate their findings to senior leaders effectively. Attention to detail, a solid understanding of how our business operates and what key levers drive performance are a must.

Responsibilities and Requirements:

• Evaluate key business metrics (e.g. conversion, attach, retention, financial performance, etc.) and build thoughtful and detailed models to support business cases
• Work in a highly dynamic environment and enjoy rolling up your sleeves to deliver results resourcefully

• Draw insights from large amounts of information and communicate them to senior leaders
• Play a central role in defining content investment and product expansion areas, utilising deeply studied models, scenario analysis, and competitive research
• Be a key contributor to our strategy and execution within the learning services portfolio using analytics, competitor research, financial models and operational intelligence
• Develop cross-functional relationships across various functional organisations to gain a deep understanding of their needs, gaps and opportunities
• Present regularly to operational leaders on insights and strategic recommendations

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum of 3-6 years of experience in investment banking, private equity, venture capital, consulting, or equivalent experience in a technology/media company

• Strong financial modeling experience and/or deep understanding of how key business drivers affect a company’s financials
• International background
• Experience developing and executing on operational and strategic initiatives, preferably at a fast-growing company
• Demonstrated ability to drive business insights and operational improvement in a collaborative, cross-functional environment
• Highly analytical, strategic and creative thinker with strong business judgment

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to build relationships, influence stakeholders, and inspire others
• Experience in communicating and interacting across an organisation to share, inform, improve and maintain open dialogue
• Proactive and relentless: Independently capable of seeking information, solving conceptual problems, corralling resources, and delivering results in challenging situations
• High-energy, team-first attitude: motivated to work hard in an ever-changing environment
• Passion for improving people’s lives through education

At Busuu we want to ensure that you have access to some great benefits:

• Our centrally located London office is well-equipped with free breakfast, plenty of snacks, fresh fruit, and free dinner of your choice if you need to stay late
• Busuu offers a great Private Health Insurance scheme
• There is a personal training budget just for you, so you can learn more in your field, attend virtual conferences and events that you find interesting

• We like to support our teams with their work-life balance so we offer flexible working hours and a hybrid model of working
• We offer enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Staying connected as a team is very important to us, so we have lots of social activities for you to join such a team lunches, Friday socials, quarterly team, and company events

What happens next

We aim to have a simple and speedy hiring process and we want to make sure that we are right for you as much as the other way around. The hiring process is the following steps:

• CV application review - We will review it as quickly as possible
• Let’s chat - Quick chat with our recruiter about your experience and the role
• Video calls- With the Head of Business Strategy at Chegg and the COO of Busuu, and other members of our team
• A case study- To be presented to key members of Busuu Leadership Team

Our platform is for everyone, and so is our workplace. We pride ourselves on embracing our differences, whether they're cultural, racial, religious, or otherwise. This means each one of us comes to work knowing that we have a voice – and a safe, judgment-free zone to speak freely.

If you like the sound of that, join us. We'd love to hear what you have to say.