About the role
ClassMate is World Book's next-generation K-12 instructional platform - and we're building the sales engine that will put it in classrooms across the country. We're looking for a Sales Manager who has the drive to build the team and leads it to a scaled, repeatable revenue motion.
This is a player-coach role. You'll carry a personal book of strategic accounts and run point on our most consequential deals; you'll also lead a team of National Account and Bottoms-up Sellers. You'll own the team's quota, the forecast it rolls up to, and the playbook that gets us there.
You know what it takes to navigate long cycle district buyers and capitalize on high velocity school deals. You're as comfortable opening a CAO conversation as you are coaching a rep through their pipeline review. If that sounds like you, this role was built for you.
What you'll do
Carry your own quota
- Own a personal book of strategic district accounts - typically the most complex, highest-value opportunities in the pipeline.
- Run executive-level conversations with Superintendents, CAOs, Directors of Curriculum, and CTOs. Build multi-threaded relationships across cabinet and committee.
- Personally drive deals through Discovery, Evaluation, Vendor Selection, and Procurement - including RFP responses, pilot design, and board-approval support.
Lead and coach the team
- Manage and develop a team of four sellers operating across National Accounts, Large/Mid Districts, Small Districts, and individual Schools.
- Coach reps through the realities of K-12 selling: 12-24 month district cycles, July 1 fiscal-year timing, board approvals, multi-stakeholder consensus, and the very different velocity of school-level deals.
- Run weekly 1:1s, pipeline reviews, and deal strategy sessions. Build sellers who can navigate from classroom champion to cabinet sponsor.
- Own hiring, ramping, and performance management. Identify when to scale the team up - and when a rep needs a new plan to get back on track.
Own pipeline, forecast, and revenue plan
- Drive pipeline coverage discipline. Ensure each rep is building enough qualified pipeline (Discovery and beyond) to clear quota with appropriate stage-weighted coverage.
- Run a clean Salesforce instance: stage hygiene, BANT qualification, next steps, close-date discipline. The forecast is only as good as the data. Build and defend an accurate forecast.
- Surface risk early. When pipeline maturity signals trouble against the plan, you'll be the first to call it and propose the response.
Partner cross-functionally to sharpen GTM
- Work with Marketing to refine ICP targeting, messaging, and demand-gen plays across the four buying segments.
- Partner with Product to feed field intelligence into the roadmap - what's winning deals, what's losing them, and what gaps competitors are exploiting.
- Iterate on sales scripts, discovery frameworks, demo flows, and competitive positioning. Translate what works in the field into a repeatable team playbook.
- Coordinate with Customer Success and Training to ensure clean handoffs and renewal-ready accounts.
What you bring
Required experience
- 6+ years of K-12 EdTech sales experience, with a strong track record selling instructional or curriculum solutions into school districts.
- 2+ years of direct sales management experience - hiring, coaching, and managing quota-carrying reps to plan.
- Demonstrated success closing complex district deals ($100K+) with multi-stakeholder buying committees, RFPs, pilots, and board approvals.
- Fluency with the K-12 buying cycle - needs assessment, goal setting, vendor evaluation, procurement - and the personas who drive each stage (Superintendent, CAO, Director of Curriculum, Director of Instructional Technology, Principal, Instructional Coach).
- Salesforce proficiency: stage management, forecasting, pipeline analytics, and rep accountability.
How you operate
- Player-coach mindset. You can close a deal on Tuesday and run a rep's pipeline review on Wednesday without dropping either one.
- Forecast discipline. You believe a missed forecast is a process problem, not a luck problem - and you build the systems to fix it.
- Coaching instinct. You'd rather make a rep great than do their job for them. You give direct feedback and you make it stick.
- Cross-functional credibility. Marketing, Product, and CS partners want you in the room because you bring sharp field signal, not just complaints.
- Comfort with ambiguity. ClassMate is a growing product line - you're as ready to write the playbook as to run it.
Compensation and logistics
- Base salary: $115,000
- Variable compensation tied to team quota attainment and personal quota performance.
- Comprehensive benefits: medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with match, paid time off, and professional development support.
- Location: Fully remote within the U.S. Travel expected for district visits, conferences, and team meetings - typically 25-35%, weighted toward Q1-Q2 buying season.
- Reports to: Vice President of Sales
