Business Development Executive

Are you looking for more than just a job and want to make difference? If so, then join the National Student Clearinghouse talent community and discover your impact today We are a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and the leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services. Serving the education, workforce and learner communities has been at the heart of our mission for over 30 years. Our work performed in a trusted, secure, and private environment provides numerous time- and cost-saving benefits to students, schools, administrators, and requestors. Education leaders rely on the Clearinghouses unique national student data resources to better understand student pathways and outcomes in order to help students succeed, and our research better informs practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways and enables informed decision making. About the Role: The Senior Specialist, Higher Education Relationships (a.k.a. Business Development Executive (BDE)) will be responsible for identifying, engaging, and closing new business opportunities across the higher-ed enterprise, including but not limited to, the college of admissions, registrars office, central IT, continuing education and workforce development. The BDE will leverage their higher-ed subject matter expertise to understand the unique challenges faced by educational institutions and present compelling and tailored solutions. The ideal candidate will have a technical background, deep understanding of the higher education sector, and a proven track record of achieving sales goals. This role requires regional travel (up to 50% of the time) to meet current and prospective customers virtually and face-to-face. Currently, this is a remote-first position, and the regional travel requirements are up to 50% or more of the time. Therefore, candidates must either reside within the noted region and in one of the specific states as listed under the What you Bring to the Table section. How You Contribute: Customer Focus: Business Development Strategy: Develop and execute a strategic plan to target new business opportunities across the higher-ed enterprise. Identify high-potential leads and maintain a robust pipeline of prospects. Build and manage a pipeline of opportunities as defined. Conduct detailed sales presentations and product demonstrations - tailoring the content to the specific audience, emphasizing the benefits and ROI of our solution. Optimizes Work Processes: Relationship Management and Contract Negotiations: Build and maintain strong relationships with key decision makers, including college admissions directors, registrars, provosts, IT managers, and other stakeholders. Address complex questions and provide customized solutions to meet the needs of our customers. Lead contract negotiations ensuring mutually beneficial terms and conditions. Collaborate with legal and finance teams to finalize agreements. Product and Industry Expertise: Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of our technical solutions, including transcript ordering, PDF-2-Data conversion, Slate integration, Custom Research and Data as a Service, (DaaS) offerings. Articulate the technical benefits of our products and how they align with the operational needs of colleges and universities. Stay current on industry trends, technology advancements, and regulatory changes in the higher education sector. Use this information to guide sales strategies and advise clients on best practices. Collaborates: Partner with others across the organization (e.g. product teams, implementation, legal, finance) to ensure shared objectives are met in serving a client. Ensure open dialog to determine how each partys interest can be considered in the development of a solution. Bring an outward mindset towards inclu ing others in solutioning while maintaining ones own personal interests - demonstrates balance of self-awareness and self determination to create better results. Demonstrate problem solving skills including brainstorming options, evaluation of alternatives, enlarging the potential benefits, building reciprocity, and employing objective standards. Communicate Effectively: Bring energy, curiosity, and conviction to conversations; Effective in a wide range of settings, from one-on-one meetings to presentations. Build rapport by relating to others, acknowledging, and empathizing; listen to understand the business issues, and for emotional content. Craft questions that convey expertise, elicit information, and drive deeper to ensure needs and ideas are explored fully. Maintain accurate records of sales activities, revenue forecasts, and deal status in Salesforce.com. Be Open and Authentic: Demonstrate openness to new perspectives and ideas. Seeks to understand others interests and needs through thoughtful questioning and listening. Build trust with internal and external stakeholders by demonstrating consistency between words and actions. Faces difficult issues and tackles them with optimism and confidence; confident delivering all messages to internal and external stakeholders. Understands which issues to tackle and demonstrates a willingness to develop tactics to address concerns. Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodation will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions. What You Bring to the Table: Bachelors degree, or a combination of education and experience including military service will also be considered. 5+ years of professional experience in the education industry, business development and/or sales. Experience working in or selling into higher education, state educational agencies, school districts or educational organizations. A history of consistently meeting or exceeding annual sales/business development targets. Proven track-record of developing positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Demonstrated ability: Working on multiple initiatives simultaneously. Lead complex business development opportunities that are win-win for the client and the organization. Strong negotiating skills. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Salesforce and willingness to learn new applications. Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with all levels of staff. Must reside in the following states and live within a reasonable commutable distance to a major airport: Nevada, California Must be at least 18 years old. Additional Desired Requirements: Advanced degree. Familiarity with working on RFPs in the higher education industry. Familiarity with marketing big data and/or data-related services. Experience in education administration or previous knowledge of the features and benefits of Clearinghouse services. Experience with Salesforce. Physical Demands: Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day. Use of a copy machine and telephone. Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day. When at HQ, re