Higher Ed - Business Development Associate

Vista Higher Learning is a company focused on developing culturally authentic language learning products for K-12 schools and universities. They are seeking a Business Development Associate to accelerate growth and course adoption in higher education segments by engaging with faculty and managing projects in collaboration with marketing and sales teams.

Responsibilities

• Proactively, effectively and reliably identify and engage faculty and program leads in underserved or high-potential markets
• Initiate contact through telephone calls, emails, and digital outreach to engage faculty and program leads
• Converts initial contacts into meaningful conversations that advance the sales cycle and conduct structured discoveries and needs analysis with prospects
• Qualify prospects through structured discovery, needs analysis, and consultative conversations, ensuring all activity and outcomes are accurately documented in Salesforce
• Own the early-stage pipeline for smaller opportunities, progressing them through to close; for larger opportunities, ensure seamless, well-documented handoff to sales team
• Qualify leads based on clearly defined criteria, and document progression in Salesforce
• Facilitate organized and well-documented transitions of qualified opportunities to sales reps, providing thorough engagement summaries and suggested next steps
• Execute regional sampling programs: distribute trial access and courseware, track engagement, gather feedback, and report actionable insights to relevant stakeholders to inform product strategy and drive adoption
• Partner with Marketing to follow up on campaigns and events, respond promptly to all marketing-generated leads, and advance opportunities through the pipeline
• Support retention and base business by aligning outreach with marketing and customer success messaging, leveraging data (e.g., Course Tech Usage, Student Buying Behaviors) to secure new edition adoptions
• Maintain meticulous records of all outreach, sampling, and qualification activities to ensure data accuracy, transparency, and compliance with VHL standards
• Demonstrate creative problem-solving and resourcefulness in overcoming access barriers and penetrating niche segments, while upholding VHL’s values and compliance standards
• Provide regular updates activity volume, pipeline status, sampling feedback, and results
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (marketing, product, business operations, account management) to review pipeline quality, handoff effectiveness, identify opportunities for continuous improvement and align solutions with client needs

Skills

• Bachelor's degree minimum
• 1+ years' experience in sales support, business development, project coordination, or customer success
• Relationship building, interpersonal and communication skills to effectively and appropriately speak with potential customers and team members in a professional and meaningful way
• Experience using a CRM or similar sales tools to manage sales activities
• Willingness to travel up to 10% of time
• Experience in the education technology (ed-tech), higher education, language learning or publishing industry
• Experience using Salesforce.com

Benefits

• Life/health/dental/vision insurance
• 401(k)
• Educational assistance
• Commuter pass subsidies
• Generous employee referral bonuses
• PTO
• Paid holidays

Company Overview