If you are a seasoned business development pro with a flare for building relationships and spotting opportunity, read on. You may have just found your next move. American Student Assistance (ASA.org), a non-profit organization changing the way kids learn about careers and plan for their futures, has an immediate opening on our executive team. The Vice President of Business Development will report directly to the President & CEO and be responsible for identifying opportunities for business growth, including coordinating with company executives to vet partnership organizations, analyzing business opportunities, proposing new business ideas, and optimizing partnership strategies.

What’s ASA all about

American Student Assistance (ASA) is a pioneer of student-led career learning helping millions of middle and high schoolers plan their futures – on their terms. Our mission is to radically transform the way careers are planned and pursued, and we’re doing this by creating digital tools that empower students to explore education and careers that align with their goals.

Since our founding in 1956, ASA has been at the forefront of educational innovation for middle and high school students nationwide. Our work has consistently adapted to meet their needs in a changing education landscape, and today, we’re focused on developing resources and opportunities that support students during the transition from high school into their careers.

ASA is a hybrid workplace with 2 required in office workdays per week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

A successful candidate will:

• Have a passion for partner management and working with youth-supporting organizations to grow and further innovate in an evolving field.
• Adept at combining analytical skills, relationship-building abilities, and strategic thinking to contribute to an organization’s growth.
• Known for being creative, analytical, and goal-focused with extraordinary negotiation and organizational skills coupled with superior communication skills and the ability to establish a rapport quickly and develop deep relationships.
• Possess exceptional organizational, time management, and prioritization skills and embrace superior attention to detail; think systematically with an eye towards continuous process improvement and experience.

Responsibilities:

As the VP of Business Development, you will be responsible for sourcing, evaluating, developing, and maintaining relationships with prospective national and community-based organizations, nonprofits, and high-quality point solution partners aligned with ASA’s mission.

• Strategic Planning/Market Analysis: Analyze market trends and competitive landscapes to identify growth opportunities. Propose new business ideas and innovative approaches to drive revenue and expansion. Develop growth strategies aligned with the company’s vision and goals.
• Partnership Evaluation: Research and identify potential partners and create a process for managing incoming partnership requests. Create and present partnership overviews, proposals and develop plans for execution. Collaborate with executives to assess potential partnerships and their alignment with business objectives. Set up discovery meetings with potential partners to identify and develop new business opportunities; determine fit for ASA and alignment for senior leader ownership.
• Relationship Building: Cultivating strong relationships with external stakeholders and partners. Spearhead new partner acquisition efforts by managing the prospect evaluation process including researching prospects and developing profile analysis to gauge collective interest, using evaluation criteria to create a scorecard, managing the partnership pipeline including the prospect evaluation and acquisition process.
• Pipeline Management/Contract Negotiation: Develop mutually beneficial proposals, negotiate contract terms with clients and communicate with stakeholders, prepare and process contracts. Track, identify and add qualified prospects to a partnership pipeline in Salesforce. Provide monthly reporting to senior leaders.
• Performance Optimization: Continuously improving partnership strategies for maximum impact. Refine and optimize partner evaluation and program measurement rubrics. Establish consistent, objective program performance standards of accountability. Contribute to consistent approach to partner impact evaluation.

Experience:

10 years of experience in business development (experience in the K12 Education and the Edtech sector preferred) with proven propensity as an initiative-taker and problem-solver. Proficiency in Salesforce (including CRM and contract management) is required.

Skills:

• Demonstrated success in evaluating program models and selecting and successfully operationalizing innovative programs. History of successfully developing/delivering partnerships that support company vision and build thought leadership brand awareness/sentiment. Outstanding track record of managing large scale partnerships.
• Strong interpersonal skills: Ability to quickly establish a good rapport with all contacts. Ability to motivate others to accomplish objectives and build consensus. Must be able to work with all levels of the organization as well as with content contributors and organizational partners. Must be able to fluently and confidently converse with all levels of the business. Proven relationship management experience required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: Superior communication skills are mandatory. Must be able to communicate both verbally and in writing with all levels of management including senior leaders. Outstanding presentation and negotiation skills: superior success influencing up, down and across an organization; influencing without authority. Superior writing skills; including synthesizing multiple business priorities into coherent, relevant and impactful communications/presentations. Must be able to distill large amounts of information into easily digestible pieces for consumption and have a keen ability to adapt messages for audience relevance. Demonstrated results in managing through complex systems and proven experience negotiating win-win agreements
• Excellent organizational ability: Must be detail-oriented, process-driven, able to prioritize own work, set and meet deadlines, and manage multiple projects simultaneously. Must have the ability to handle a high volume of work in a short period of time and be able to organize and assimilate information across multiple business units in a succinct manner. Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment is crucial.
• Strength in hiring, recruiting, managing, developing, coaching, and retaining individuals and teams, empowering them to elevate their levels of responsibility, span-of-control and performance.