Head Of Sales And Customer Success

Overview

Run the Future offers identity-affirming, high impact entrepreneurial learning experiences focused on BIPOC youth and young adults. We strive to create learning experiences that change student life-outcomes within an affirming and supportive community. We believe that learning about entrepreneurship builds important skills and mindsets for young people: Curiosity, research, goal-setting, learning from failure, building social capital, and problem solving. We also believe that it illuminates highly motivating and career-relevant pathways that haven't been as visible in communities of color historically, and which will enable greater economic opportunity over time.

Run the Future is evolving from a hybrid learning experience, which includes online learning content, virtual instruction, and in-person learning sessions, into a scalable blended learning product that can reach 10,000 learners by the end of 2024. Run the Future is a nonprofit social venture, developed through a partnership between Formation Ventures (https://formation.ventures/) and Cambiar Education (https://www.cambiareducation.org/).

About this Role

We are supporting the next generation of BIPOC innovators by empowering young people to find solutions to purposeful problems through engaging, rigorous, and hands-on learning experiences. The Head of Sales and Customer Success will own getting these experiences to young people - most frequently by leading our B2B Sales and partnership development efforts with organizations whose purpose is to support young people's learning. This person will also supervise the Customer Success team, ensuring that partners can see and celebrate the impact that leads to sustained and expanding relationships. This is the right role for someone who is excited to build the sales function of an early stage and growing edtech nonprofit.

Head of Sales and Customer Success Responsibilities

• Co-create and implement Run the Future's growth strategy
  • Partner with Run the Future's co-founder to test, codify, and lead our growth strategy, aligned to org-wide goals and objectives, and own identifying viable markets and market segments, and managing the end-to-end revenue pipeline
  • Collaborate with the senior leadership team on pricing strategy, product structure, and the customer journey
  • Partner with Run the Future's founders to drive strategic business development and growth initiatives across the company as needed
• Acquire new, high-impact partners
  • Design and lead the customer acquisition, activation, retention, and revenue growth strategy
  • Identify, cultivate, and close new partners across all products
  • Design and lead high quality partner engagement models, for both direct delivery and blended learning/train-the-trainer contexts
  • Build authentic customer relationships that will contribute to partnership growth and renewal
  • Support and coach the Director of Program Delivery in managing the instructional team to meet exceptional learning outcomes for Run the Future learners across both direct delivery partnerships and external instructor/partner contexts
• Grow revenue in line with progressive targets
  • Design, test, and implement pricing strategy for Run the Future's various delivery models
  • Drive rapid increase in partner revenue in 2024 and Y-o-Y for the next three years
  • Build, refine, and manage to a scalable and sustainable financial model for both direct delivery and blended learning partnerships that will support rapid revenue growth
• Lead external-facing teams
  • Build and directly manage growth, Customer Success, and program delivery teams
  • Supervise two direct reports: Run the Future's Director of Program Delivery, and Director of Operations, both of whom are people managers
  • Participate as a member of the four-person senior leadership team, consisting of Formation Ventures' CEO, Cambiar Education's CEO, and Run the Future's SVP of Technology
  • Collaborate with other senior leaders to “own the whole” of the organization, take ownership of any major blocker to org-wide success, and proactively uphold organization values

Desired Experience:

• 7+ years at Director or VP-level with high growth organizations
• 10+ years of experience in business development, sales strategy, go-to-market strategy, and/or growth functions, preferably in edtech or education sectors
• People Development:
  • 5+ years of building and managing teams within a growing and evolving organization
  • Enjoys supporting and building teams, helping others grow, and managing a group of ambitious managers and their direct reports
• US K-12 and Higher Education Industry Knowledge:
  • 5+ years of strategic partnership experience with school or system leaders and/or as a strategy consultant
  • Familiarity with the industry sales cycles, and ability to create consistent and repeatable sales systems, from business development to opportunity pipeline and sales funnel velocity
  • An understanding of what instructional excellence looks like, particularly in an online environment
• Strategic Leadership:
  • Experience leading successful strategy projects focused on go-to-market, partnerships, and improving future growth and profitability
  • Exceptional project management and operational leadership skills
  • The ability to prioritize the most impactful work and clearly communicate those priorities to stakeholders such as CEOs, funders, and board members
  • Experience building sustainable systems and using both quantitative and qualitative data to inform decisions

This Job Might Be For You If You:

• Love the startup phase - with all the excitement, challenge, and hard work that come with it - and bring an ownership mindset and “whatever it takes” attitude to all of your work
• Are comfortable leading departments in an ambiguous work environment that often requires fast turnaround time
• Communicate clearly and with quick turnaround at all levels, and across diverse stakeholders
• Are passionate about entrepreneurship, and about supporting BIPOC and youth entrepreneurs

This Job Might Not Be For You If You:

• Are status conscious, hierarchy-driven, or resume/credential-focused
• Struggle to give or receive feedback or engage in healthy dialogue
• Don't want to build alongside young people in leadership roles

Bonus Points:

• 5+ years of experience working remotely with team members across different time zones
• Proximate lived experience with our target audience(s) of learners

Your Team:

• The Head of Sales and Customer Success will report to Formation Ventures' CEO
• This role will directly supervise the Director of Program Delivery and the Operations Lead
• As a leader in the organization, this role will collaborate closely across all departments

The Partner Organizations

Cambiar Education believes that every person holds great potential to make a transformative difference in the world. We partner with leaders, including youth leaders, and communities to research, design, and launch game-changing solutions to our greatest challenges. Our curiosity and eternal optimism help us to see problems as opportunities and to approach challenges with a model that will create lasting change. Learn more and read about our values (Create, Love, Grow, Laugh) here (https://www.cambiareducation.org/about#:~:text=We%20value%20and%20celebrate%20diverse,to%20bring%20their%20authentic%20selves.).

Formation Ventures' mission is to accelerate emerging Black entrepreneurs as they explore, connect, launch, and grow their visions into wealth-building ventures. We do this through learning and exposure, incubation, and funding opportunities designed with and for Black 16-26 year olds. Our vision is that emerging Black entrepreneurs thrive within a supportive community that offers fun yet rigorous developmental experiences to help them grow their ventures and that they have the resources and connections necessary to build their dreams and design a new future for themselves and their communities. Learn more and read about our values (Transparency, Real World Relevance, Affirmation, Flexibility, Learning) here (https://formation.ventures/how-it-works/).

Technology Requirements

Because our workplace operates remotely, this role requires access to a workspace with an internet connection speed that will support uninterrupted video conferencing via Zoom. The Head of Growth and Customer Success must be able to meet regularly with remote team members and partners on camera without background distractions.

Location, Hours, and Travel Requirements

This position is designed to be remote/virtual, as Formation Ventures and Cambiar have team members based throughout the country. Regular working hours are 8am-6pm in employees' home time zones, however, as an early-stage startup we expect occasional evening or weekend work time to be necessary in order to meet our goals. This position will require up to 30% travel / 12 weeks per year to attend team retreats and conferences, meet in person with team members for working sessions, and meet in person with partners.

Salary and Benefits

This is a full-time role, with a salary of $150,000-200,000 annually depending on experience. Benefits include medical, dental and vision coverage; participation in a 401K plan with employer contribution; life insurance coverage; unlimited PTO; paid holidays; and paid parental leave.

Formation Ventures and Cambiar Education are equal opportunity employers.