Ascend Learning

Sr Director Sales Operations

Ascend Learning$180K — $257K *
Business Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of progressive business experience with a focus on people leadership.
  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Analytics, or related field; equivalent experience accepted.
  • Experience managing a sales operations or revenue operations team is preferred.
  • Strong influence and partnership skills with senior leadership teams.
  • Deep understanding of the sales cycle, focusing on forecasting and revenue planning.
  • Proficient in sales pipeline management and industry best practices.
  • Familiar with CRM tools such as Salesforce and business intelligence platforms like Tableau.

Responsibilities

  • Manage the sales operations across various marketing-facing brands and business units.
  • Oversee sales planning and budgeting, including forecasting, quota assignment, and territory design.
  • Implement sales methodologies and improve processes for enhanced sales efficiency.
  • Evaluate and manage sales compensation plans and commission structures to align with objectives.
  • Ensure timely distribution of sales reports that support business decisions.
  • Drive system initiatives for sales processes, enhancing data visibility and revenue forecast accuracy.
  • Lead a team dedicated to revenue analysis and sales support, developing team capabilities.

Benefits

  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Company-paid life insurance
  • 401(k) plan with company match
  • Paid time off and parental leave
  • Employee assistance program
  • Wellness programs including Headspace
  • Charitable matching program
Full Job Description
WHAT YOU'LL DO

Ascend Learning is hiring a Senior Director of Sales Operations to support senior commercial leadership across all of healthcare. The Senior Director of Sales Operations is a key management partner driving the operational and strategic initiatives that deliver the annual revenue plan. This role owns organization-wide performance tracking, pipeline governance, and data-driven process improvement in line with strategic priorities, and manages the sales tech stack accordingly. Working closely with the Vice President of Commercial Operations, sales leadership, finance, and other division executives, the Senior Director delivers recurring reporting and analysis that improves revenue visibility, predictability, and forecast accuracy across the business. This role also leads a team spanning revenue analysis and sales support, and is accountable for building that team's capability over time.

WHERE YOU'LL WORK

This position has the flexibility to work remotely within the United States. Eastern or Central time zone preferred.

HOW YOU'LL SPEND YOUR TIME
  • Manage the sales operations function across multiple marketing-facing brands and business units.
  • Oversee sales planning, reporting, and budgeting, including annual and ongoing forecasting, quota assignment, headcount planning, account assignment, and territory design.
  • Define and implement sales methodologies, continually improve cross-functional processes, and deliver data-driven recommendations to maximize sales efficiency and support execution.
  • Evaluate, recommend, and manage sales compensation plans, commission payouts, and incentive schemes to motivate the team and align incentives with company objectives.
  • Owns the accuracy and timely distribution of sales reports and other intelligence essential to the sales organization, and drives ongoing improvements to existing reports and new reporting tools to better support business decisions and outcomes.
  • Directs sales-org process and systems initiatives - including maintenance, enhancements, and data visibility/predictability improvements - to forecast and enable delivery of annual revenue plan metrics.
  • Provides leadership for ad hoc projects including data mining, data analysis, financial modeling, reporting, and executive presentation materials.
  • Leads and develops a team spanning revenue analysis and sales support - building team capability while maximizing support to the sales organization.
  • Sets performance goals, conducts regular development conversations, and manages performance for all direct reports.
  • Partners with Legal, Finance, and Sales leadership on deal structuring, contract review, and pricing/discounting governance.


WHAT YOU'LL NEED
  • 10+ years of progressive business experience, including demonstrated success in a people-leadership role.
  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Analytics, or related field preferred. Equivalent experience will be considered.
  • Prior experience managing or scaling a sales operations or revenue operations team preferred.
  • Demonstrated success influencing and partnering with senior leadership.
  • Extensive understanding of best practices across the sales cycle - including forecasting, revenue planning, sales enablement, and presales/sales support - with demonstrated experience putting that knowledge into action.
  • Expertise in sales pipeline management, sales operations goals, and industry best practices.
  • Familiarity with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or a related CRM platform, database/table maintenance, and business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, or similar).
  • Outstanding interpersonal and influence skills; excellent written and verbal communicator.
  • Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with ambiguity, quickly adapting to changing priorities and demands.
  • Willing and able to ask hard questions and challenge the status quo constructively.
  • Experience driving cross-functional projects end-to-end, and negotiating competing priorities across organizations and levels.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office/365, most importantly Excel and PowerPoint.
  • Experience with SharePoint and modern BI/reporting platforms (Tableau, Power BI, or similar) considered a plus.
  • Ability to travel up to 20%.


HIRING RANGE

The current full-time, annualized base pay hiring range for this role is $180,400.00-$257,950.00. In accordance with applicable state laws, we are providing the expected pay range for this position. Individual compensation will be determined by various factors, including relevant experience, qualifications, current business needs and local market factors. Most regular, full-time employees are eligible to participate in an Ascend incentive bonus or sales plan.

BENEFITS

  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Company paid life Insurance
  • 401(k) with company match
  • Paid time off and parental leave
  • Employee assistance program
  • Other wellness programs such as Headspace and Airvet
  • Charitable matching program

About Ascend Learning

Ascend Learning is a leading provider of educational content, software and analytics solutions for healthcare and other vocational industries. The company's products and services are designed to help students and professionals improve their knowledge and skills, and to help employers improve their workforce performance. Ascend Learning's portfolio includes more than 1,000 digital and print-based products, including textbooks, online courses, simulation tools, and certification and licensure exam preparation materials. The company serves a wide range of customers, including colleges and universities, healthcare organizations, and government agencies. Ascend Learning was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Learn more about Ascend Learning
Size
1,500 employees
Industry
Founded
2010

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