Partnerships Director

Springboard Collaborative invites successful sales professionals with a proven track record of consistent quota achievement to apply for the position of Partnerships Director. The Partnerships Director will be responsible for full-cycle new business sales across a wide geographic region. A successful candidate will be an excellent communicator (orally and in written form), a problem solver, a self-motivated sales performer, and a passionate advocate for serving the early literacy needs in the nation’s largest districts. This posting is for two openings with a preference for candidates living in the western (WA, OR, or CA) or central (IL, OH, IN, MI, MN, TN, MS, AR, LA, TX, NM, CO, UT) United States.

Springboard Collaborative closes the literacy gap by closing the gap between home and school. We coach educators and family members to help kids learn to read by 4th grade. Springboard envisions a world in which parents and teachers work together—rather than in isolation—to accelerate student learning. The Partnerships Director supports this goal by taking our message into the K-12 market, building relationships in large districts, and selling our solution in response to the customer’s pain points as we grow our portfolio of partner districts year-over-year. This is an opportunity to have a direct impact on underserved communities and school systems within the United States.

The Partnerships Director will report to the Assistant Vice President of Sales and work as part of the Partnership Team. This is a great opportunity to support an entrepreneurial team to maximize the impact of a rapidly growing organization.

You can read more about the requirements, competencies, goals, and responsibilities below. We'd love to have you join us!

This is important

We are an equal-opportunity employer. Diversity is more than a commitment at Springboard Collaborative—it’s at the core of what we do and how we do it. No one can solve a problem better than those who experience it firsthand. That’s why Springboard aspires to hire a diverse team that is representative of the marginalized communities we serve.

We also know that having a diverse workforce makes for a better workplace. Springboard’s hiring process seeks individuals who value diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, etc.

Finally, if you’re passionate about an open role, we encourage you to apply— even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications listed on the job description!

Here are your priorities in the first year:

• You will master all Springboard Collaborative sales onboarding topics within the first 90 days of employment.
• Through proven sales methodologies, you will achieve 10,000 target enrollments in year one of the new district contracts.
• You will partner with at least two medium-large school districts (20,000+ students) for programming of at least 1,000 students in 2025.
• Through the effective pipeline generation strategies you bring to our organization, you will build a qualified 2025 pipeline of opportunities that represents at least 30,000 students by the end of 2025.
• You will achieve a minimum 33% win rate with sales opportunities that make it to the pitch stage in the organization’s sales lifecycle.

Here are your responsibilities within and beyond the first year:

• You successfully achieve district sales to the nation’s largest school districts.
• Cultivate relationships and sell programming to reach new business sales targets
• Succinctly and effectively communicate the organization’s mission and purpose, generating interest and enthusiasm for our work
• Manage towards quarterly and annual sales targets, knowing at any given moment where you sit relative to your targets and what needs to be done to over-achieve
• You build a plan for sales success through early engagement, qualification, and value-building.
• Successfully demonstrate knowledge of potential partners before engaging them by conducting deep research on strategically selected accounts and using that information to build interest and demand from within the account
• Develop clear action plans for accounts based on research findings
• Be curious about potential partners’ organizations and how our work may challenge their current way of working, anticipating and removing roadblocks to sales along the way
• You achieve or exceed established new business targets by promoting Springboard Collaborative’s solution to potential partners.
• Design projects to generate in-district demand and interest beyond cold calling or emailing. Effectively manage the projects in an effort to generate qualified leads that you can carry through the full sales cycle
• Using insight and market knowledge, ensure potential partners remain engaged with Springboard Collaborative while keeping your opportunity on track with your projected close date
• You effectively communicate our value propositions, handle objections, and continue to build value for the potential partner over time
• You expertly communicate and present our solution to school district personnel, helping them understand how our solution addresses their known and unknown pain points
• You communicate with internal teams regarding your sales opportunities.
• Forecast future business in Salesforce by logging all sales activity, updating opportunities to reflect most current revenue and student forecasts, and establishing next steps in all active opportunities.
• Communicate prospective partners’ goals and needs to internal teams responsible for partner onboarding, implementation, and renewal while selling our standard solutions.
• Report internally on learnings from the field, keeping relevant individuals and teams close to potential partners through your engagements.
• Be curious and innovative, working with internal individual teams to drive efficiencies throughout the full sales cycle to reduce the amount of time from opportunity creation to a closed-won sale.
• You build short and long-range sales plans.
• You respond to the current market and build a pipeline quickly to successfully add new partnerships to our portfolio for summer 2024 and fall 2024.
• You build strategic and tactical sales plans for your assigned territory that include key metrics that you will hold yourself accountable for.
• You have a proven track record of employing key sales strategies as part of an overarching sales methodology that drives your sales success.

What you offer us

Here are the competencies and requirements we expect the right candidate to have:

• Valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion: You seek different points of view and leverage diverse perspectives in group processes and decision-making. You check your own views against the views of others.
• Strategic: You have a demonstrated ability to plan for success by building sales strategies, organizing your work, and prioritizing sales activities to achieve new sales targets. You see how the role’s work contributes to the overall success of the organization and our nation’s children. You work with many internal and external stakeholders in order to successfully and efficiently develop sales opportunities into new partnerships.
• Results Driven: You understand the customers’ needs and adapt your sales messaging to deliver the right results and meet those needs. You maintain meticulous records and account plans. You are driven to achieve success and can build and stick to a disciplined plan to achieve your sales quota.
• Collaboration: You coordinate efforts with internal and external teams, follow through on project plans and visions, manage all stakeholders, and ensure quick turn-around of requests.
• Customer Focused: You build customer satisfaction with Springboard Collaborative’s solution by accurately representing our solution in pre-sales stages to our potential partners.
• 5+ years of field sales experience selling to school districts
• Demonstrated experience in K-12 service/solution sales (e.g. professional services instead of software licenses or equipment) in districts larger than 10k+ students
• Training and adherence to a stated sales methodology
• Superb organization and record-keeping skills, where you use your records to constantly craft win plans for each of your opportunities
• Excellent oral and written communication skills

It would also be nice if you had:

• Proficiency in Salesforce CRM as a daily tool to guide you toward sales success
• Working knowledge of early childhood literacy initiatives, especially the Science of Reading preferred

While this description is meant to provide an overview of the responsibilities of the Partnerships Director, we are seeking candidates who demonstrate flexibility and can adapt to evolving needs in an entrepreneurial environment.

What we offer you

Compensation
Our compensation values: At Springboard, compensation equity is integral to the way we operate and our commitment to competitiveness, pay equity, performance-based rewards, transparent & equitable career growth, and progressive benefits.

Compensation for this role: Each role at Springboard is placed in a compensation band with 5 levels. Generally, we expect candidates that meet all the hiring criteria to be offered the midpoint of the band. This role sits within Band 5. The midpoint of this band is $122,193 (+ discretionary performance-based bonus) & benefits. The actual level of the successful candidate (and corresponding salary) will be based on compensable factors such as job-relevant education, job-relevant experience, training, licensure, demonstrated competencies, and other factors.

Our process to determine compensation: Springboard does not negotiate the offered salary during the offer conversation. Throughout the interview process, we will evaluate your alignment with the compensable factors listed in the job description. From there, we will determine your starting salary on a level within the job band.

Benefits

At Springboard, we feel it is important to take care of our employees, which is why we offer a competitive benefits package. These benefits include the following:

• The usual stuff - Medical insurance with a cash stipend for those who waive Springboard coverage. Options include PPO, High Deductible/HSA, and EPO.
• We’ll take care of it - We fully cover your vision & dental insurance premiums, plus your short & long-term disability coverage.
• Securing your future - We match up to 6% of your salary in 403(b) retirement contributions after your first twelve months at Springboard.
• Paid Time Off (PTO) is important - Four weeks (20 days) annually. At Springboard, time off isn’t earned. Everyone gets access to their time at the start of the calendar year.
• Holidays! - All 11 federal holidays, two extra floating holidays, weekdays between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Election Day, and your birthday!
• Under the weather? - We don’t cap the number of sick days available to employees.
• Paid Leave - Parental Leave (12 weeks after the first 6 months of employment). Marriage Leave (five days).
• Technology - All employees receive a Springboard laptop and optional monitor. Springboard uses Google Workspace and Asana.

• We are committed to your development - We provide personal & professional development funding of $2000/year.

• Your wellness is a priority - Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides support for stress/anxiety, finance, law, family, substance abuse, grief, and more.
• Transparency is key - We ensure regular opportunities to discuss individual and organizational development and our commitment to equity. Consistent and structured real-time feedback is foundational to Springboard’s culture.

Location and travel

Applications are welcome from any location within the United States, with a strong preference for candidates in the Western (WA, OR, or CA) or Central (IL, OH, IN, MI, MN, TN, MS, AR, LA, TX, NM, CO, UT) United States. Occasional regional travel is required to meet with prospective partners and attend conferences and meetings. Travel is expected to be about 15%, on average, but may be busier at different times of the year. Additionally, up to quarterly travel is required to participate in team and org-wide retreats. Springboard Collaborative’s headquarters office is in Philadelphia, PA.

Springboard requires in-person employees at a Springboard facility or participating in in-person SBC programming or events to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless a medical or religious exemption is approved. Being fully vaccinated means an individual is at least two weeks past their final dose of a CDC-authorized COVID-19 vaccine regimen. As a condition of employment, newly hired employees will be asked to provide their COVID-19 vaccination status and proof of vaccination, as required.

About Springboard

Since our founding in 2012, we have grown Springboard’s reach from 40 to nearly 20,000 students across 51 cities. Amidst rapid growth, Springboard consistently delivers best-in-class results. In schools that often struggle to get 20% of parents to show up for report card conferences, Springboard’s weekly family workshops average 88% attendance. Students average a 3-4-month reading gain during each program cycle, closing the gap to grade-level performance by about half in just five or ten weeks. Springboard’s work has been featured by Forbes, NPR, and the New York Times (twice). Nationally, Springboard Collaborative is the only organization to have cracked the code on equipping marginalized families to teach reading at home. You can learn more by watching our CEO on the main stage of ASU GSV.

Our org chart & mission

Click here to view Springboard’s structure at a glance, and here to browse our incredible staff. You can read more about how we engage teachers and families to accelerate student learning in this op-ed.