[Hiring] Director of Research & Proposals @Open Up Resources

Role Description

The Director of Research & Proposals is responsible for identifying, creating and submitting the highest quality responses to all proposals in order to bring the full portfolio of curricula to all students across the country by increasing sales and brand awareness. The Director will strategically lead and execute the combined organization’s research endeavors by gathering and disseminating knowledge of competitors and trends in the marketplace. This position reports into the EVP/VP of Sales.

Key Responsibilities

• Cross-Functional and Executive Leadership
  • Lead, coach and grow direct reports
  • Create annual goals, KPIs and a sustainable vision for the proposals team
  • Partner with the CFO to manage and maintain the proposals annual budget
  • Represent the combined organization with state leaders, districts, partners and vendors
  • Oversee and facilitate the Adoptions/RFP Committee
• Research
  • Provide consistent trend reporting in the marketplace to better position the combined organizations
  • Share intelligence regarding competitor strategies and pricing with Sr. Leadership and Sales teams
  • Identify potential grant opportunities
• Sales and Marketing
  • Manage all aspects of RFP responses
  • Review RFPs based upon the current curriculum portfolio and present to the RFP Committee
  • Partner with the Academics team and other internal key stakeholders to ensure content accuracy
  • Proofread, edit, and approve final response submissions
  • Facilitate all legal documents for the responses
  • Ensure all responses and samples are submitted before district deadlines
  • Support the organization of the Sales teams regarding district requests for presentations
  • Partner with districts to ensure successful pilots of the curricula
  • Communicate with subcontractors regarding district contracts throughout the length of the awarded contract
• State Adoption Process
  • Manage all aspects of the State Adoption Process
  • Collaborate with internal stakeholders regarding state adoption requirements before moving forward in the adoption process
  • Partner with the Academics team to ensure proper correlations and samples are received by the state
  • Manage an internal team around needs for state specific curriculum
  • Review and update tracking of state curriculum adoption schedules on a continual basis
  • Partner with the Sales team for accurate financial forecasting
  • Partner with the Marketing team, and Product Marketing Managers, for proper outreach within the allowed time frames, pricing trends, and market awareness
• Systems & Tools
  • Content Library Management: Oversee maintenance of centralized knowledge base for all programs
  • Online Bid Portal Management: Ensure districts, state and subscriptions to agency bid sites are up to date and checked in a timely manner, including approving subscription annual renewals
  • Collaborate with the Operations’ analytics team to continuously improve reportable data for proposals

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in leading and managing strategic, national account field engagement and/or in sales in K-12 education arena
• Demonstrated understanding of the district and state adoption proposals cycle
• Strong command of K-12 education concepts related to science, math and ELA
• Experience engaging with large urban school districts
• Superior written and oral communication skills
• Background in educational technology preferred
• Must be self-directed and comfortable working remotely
• Must have extreme attention to detail
• Willingness to travel up to 10%

Benefits

• Highly competitive total rewards packages
• Employer-paid healthcare
• Dental and vision coverage
• 401k matching
• Generous paid time off
• Much more!

Company Description

At Activate Learning and Open Up Resources, we believe in building and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where all applicants are considered for employment without attention to color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. We are a virtual organization.