Business Development Director - Enterprise Partnerships & Licensing
UpToDate
About the Role:
Wolters Kluwer is seeking a strategically minded, execution-oriented Director of Enterprise Partnerships & Licensing Business Development to lead and coordinate high-impact partnerships and licensing initiatives across its global divisions. This newly created role sits within the Global Strategy function and is designed to elevate how Wolters Kluwer engages with its most strategic partners—especially those spanning multiple business units.
The ideal candidate will bring a strong track record in business development and cross-functional leadership. They will serve as a catalyst for scalable, high-quality dealmaking, partnering closely with divisional teams to drive alignment, improve execution velocity, and maximize the strategic and financial value of our external partnerships.
Responsibilities:
Ensure each division is equipped with clear, coherent licensing narratives and commercial frameworks tailored to strategic partner audiences.
Promote cross-divisional alignment on licensing structures, pricing models, entitlements, and messaging to support a unified external posture.
Embed licensing best practices into divisional business development processes, playbooks, and governance tools to ensure repeatability and consistency.
Oversee the execution of licensing agreements, ensuring clarity around scope, rights, renewals, and obligations across content, data, and technology partnerships.
Support the development of scalable licensing models that address evolving partner needs, enabling efficient packaging, bundling, and co-sell strategies.
Establish and enforce legal and commercial standards to ensure licensing and partnership deals are executed with rigor, compliance, and scalability.
Provide tools, templates, and approval protocols that streamline the review and negotiation of licensing agreements while maintaining legal discipline.
Act as coordinator for Enterprise Partners (e.g., Big 4, Big Tech) with cross-divisional engagements involving licensing or integrated offerings.
Coordinate with Law department and Divisional BD teams to ensure licensing and partnership deals are risk-aligned, commercially sound, and operationally executable.
Collaborate with Executive Sponsors to shape and operationalize strategic plans for key licensing and partnership accounts.
Develop and maintain a cross-divisional partner strategy, with particular focus on licensing-led growth with top-tier accounts.
Track and report on licensing KPIs and commercial performance metrics, ensuring transparency and alignment with divisional and enterprise strategy.
Drive best practices in licensing-related pricing, packaging, and go-to-market coordination, especially for complex, multi-division partner deals.
Streamline licensing execution by embedding repeatable frameworks and reducing friction between stakeholders from sourcing to deal close.
Identify and source new licensing and content monetization opportunities, leveraging partner feedback, market trends, and internal asset capabilities
Qualifications:
10+ years of relevant experience in strategic partnerships, licensing, business development, or corporate strategy.
Proven success in managing high-impact deals across complex, matrixed organizations.
Strong understanding of licensing and commercial models, especially in data, content, SaaS, or professional services.
Demonstrated ability to influence and align cross-functional stakeholders, including at the executive level.
Excellent analytical, communication, and program management skills.
Bachelor’s degree required; MBA, JD, or relevant advanced degree preferred.
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Applicants may be required to appear onsite at a Wolters Kluwer office as part of the recruitment process.
Compensation:
Target salary range CA, CT, CO, DC, HI, IL, MD, MN, NY, RI, WA: $208,800 - $295,550