VP of Sales
Job Description:
The VP of Sales is directly accountable for driving new revenue growth at Smart Panda Tools. You will lead the full sales cycle, from identifying institutional needs and building relationships with university leadership through to closing enterprise-wide agreements. This role requires a consultative approach, a proven record of expanding institutional accounts, and the ability to navigate complex buying committees that span academic, administrative, and IT leadership.
As the primary driver of front-line growth, you will own pipeline development, forecast accuracy, and new logo acquisition while ensuring that every prospect interaction reflects the operational credibility and domain expertise our partners expect.
Why Join Us?
Smart Panda Tools builds the enterprise infrastructure that higher education institutions rely on to modernize transcript evaluation, automate credit articulation, and protect their academic authority. Our Student Mobility Suite is used by nearly 200 universities to process millions of transcripts without replacing the systems those institutions already depend on.
We are a team of higher education veterans, engineers, and enrollment operations experts. Many of us have sat in the Registrar’s chair, managed enterprise IT systems, and built the infrastructure to connect them. We build the technology we wish we had.
The people who thrive here care deeply about operational detail and student outcomes. They want to understand why institutions work the way they do before building something to improve it. They bring strong opinions while remaining curious, and design for the specific rather than the generic.
Administrative friction should never obstruct the path to great education. If that resonates, we’d like to work with you.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop New Business: Map and penetrate target higher education institutions to generate new revenue opportunities. Identify key decision-makers, initiate conversations, and build a steady pipeline of qualified opportunities through outbound strategy and industry relationships.
- Navigate Institutional Buying Committees: Build consensus-driven relationships across all levels of university leadership: Registrars, VPs of Enrollment, CIOs, Provosts, and procurement. Understand how each stakeholder evaluates the decision and position our infrastructure accordingly.
- Manage Complex Deal Cycles: Shepherd large institutional prospects from initial contact through to an enterprise-wide agreement. Manage multi-stakeholder evaluations, product demonstrations, RFP responses, and procurement processes.
- Own the Pipeline: Build and maintain a sales pipeline within Pipedrive with a high level of forecast accuracy and clear visibility into deal health, stage progression, and expected close timelines.
- Deliver Tailored Demonstrations: Master the Student Mobility Suite to deliver product demonstrations that connect specific capabilities to each institution’s operational environment and SIS infrastructure.
- Collaborate on Proposals and Bids: Partner with Marketing, Product, and Solutions Engineering to craft RFP responses and proposals that demonstrate operational understanding, not just feature lists.
- Negotiate and Close: Lead contract, pricing, and terms negotiations to secure new institutional partnerships.
Required Qualifications:
- 10+ years of sales or account management experience, preferably in SaaS or within the higher education market
- Proven track record of meeting or exceeding retention and expansion targets
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Strong negotiation, presentation, and communication skills
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Experience building and maintaining relationships with institutional leadership (Registrars, VPs of Enrollment, CIOs, Provosts)
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Ability to understand complex software solutions and articulate their value in the context of a partner’s specific operational environment
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Proficiency with CRM software (Pipedrive experience is a plus)
- Self-motivated and able to work independently in a remote environment
- Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or a related field
Preferred Qualifications:
- Direct experience working within higher education institutions or EdTech companies.
- Familiarity with transcript evaluation, transfer credit articulation, or enrollment management workflows.
- Experience managing institutional accounts where the buying committee includes both academic leadership and IT leadership.