Sales Manager, K12 (Strategic and Key Accounts) (Remote, US) at Newsela

Why You'll Love This Role: We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Sales Manager to lead and inspire a team of Strategic Account Executives focused on the K12 education market. The ideal candidate will be a results-oriented leader with a proven track record of exceeding sales targets, building high-performing teams, and driving strategic growth within complex sales cycles. This role requires a deep understanding of the K12 landscape, exceptional coaching abilities, and a commitment to fostering a positive, people-first sales culture. What You'll Be Doing: • Achieve Sales Goals: Consistently meet or exceed monthly and quarterly team sales revenue targets. • Pipeline Generation & Management: Drive the team to proactively build and maintain a robust sales pipeline, ensuring a minimum of 2.5x pipeline to quota coverage at all times. • Strategic Deal Coaching: Conduct regular pipeline reviews and provide in-depth coaching to the team through deal reviews, leveraging methodologies like MEDDPICC and insights from sales enablement tools such as Gong. • Accurate Forecasting: Deliver precise and reliable monthly and quarterly team sales forecasts. • Cultivate a High-Performance Culture: Maintain and champion a positive, "people-first" culture that motivates and empowers the team to perform at their highest capabilities, celebrating successes and replicating best practices across the team. • Continuous Sales Coaching: Continually coach and develop the sales team on advanced sales methodologies, prospecting skills, negotiation tactics, and effective presentation techniques tailored to the K12 market. • Performance Management: Consistently manage individual and team performance on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis, providing constructive feedback and implementing performance improvement or gap-to-goal plans when necessary. • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Coordinate and collaborate effectively with cross-functional leaders and teams (including SDR, CSM, Field Marketing, People/HR, Product, Finance, Enablement, and Operations teams) to support overall sales priorities and functions. • Territory Planning & Strategy: Guide reps in developing and executing comprehensive territory plans to maximize market penetration and achieve sales objectives within their assigned territory regions. • Recruitment & Onboarding: Actively participate in the recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding of new sales talent to expand and strengthen the team. • Market Feedback: Serve as a conduit for market and customer feedback to product and marketing teams to inform future product development and go-to-market strategies. • CRM Management: Ensure consistent and accurate usage of CRM (e.g., Salesforce) for pipeline management, forecasting, and activity tracking. About You: • K12 Market Expertise: Minimum of 5+ years of direct sales experience within the K12 education market. • Sales Leadership Experience: Minimum of 2+ years of experience leading a sales team, with a proven track record of managing teams to a collective quota of $5M+ annually. • Enterprise Sales Experience: Minimum of 4+ years of experience selling and/or leading teams to sell into large Enterprise accounts (e.g., school districts with 30,000+ students or complex state-level deals). • Sales Methodology Proficiency: Demonstrated proficiency in sales methodologies such as MEDDPICC, Challenger Sale, or similar structured approaches. • Leadership & Coaching Skills: Exceptional leadership, coaching, and mentoring abilities, with a passion for developing sales professionals. • Communication Skills: Superior verbal and written communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills. • Analytical & Forecasting Skills: Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret sales data, forecast accurately, and make data-driven decisions. • CRM Proficiency: Proficient in using CRM software (e.g., Salesforce) and other sales enablement tools (e.g., Gong, Salesloft). • Procurement Knowledge: Understanding of K12 procurement processes, funding cycles, and decision-making structures. • Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Education, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience. • Preferred Qualifications • Experience selling SaaS solutions into the K12 market. • Proven ability to navigate complex sales cycles with multiple stakeholders. • Familiarity with EdTech industry trends and competitive landscape. • Experience working in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check as part of our pre-employment process. Why you’ll love working at Newsela: • Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contribution to premiums and to HSA accounts. Additional benefits such as gym reimbursement, pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, Rocket Lawyer and more to help you stay healthy: mind, body, and soul. • Work From Home: We are a fully remote company. We provide a monthly tech stipend to support your WFH needs! • Supporting ALL Families: Inclusive benefits to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility support, adoption, and more! • Financial Wellbeing: Invest in your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes a employer match to help you build long-term financial security. • Time Off: Flexible PTO, paid sick time off, company holidays plus winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st). • Professional Development: Newsela offers an annual learning and development allowance to employees to attend external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and educational materials to foster professional growth within their current role and career aspirations at Newsela. • Make A Difference: No matter your role or department, the work you do each day helps share the future of education and improves the lives of students and teachers. About Newsela: Newsela is a leading education technology company dedicated to meaningful classroom learning for every student. We deliver integrated, AI-powered solutions designed to unlock student engagement, empower teachers, and drive meaningful learning outcomes. Our suite of products supports knowledge and skill development, writing practice, daily instruction, assessment, and data-informed decision-making across K–12 classrooms. Grounded in learning science research, Newsela’s solutions integrate content, assessment, and analytics to help educators track progress, understand student outcomes, and deliver high-impact instruction that supports every learner. #LI-Remote Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s individual skills, qualifications, and experience. Total compensation for this role also includes incentive stock options and benefits. This role will also will also be eligible for variable compensation. On-Target Earnings (OTE) Range$220,000—$240,000 USD