Edtech.com's Summary

Cirrus Identity is hiring an Account Executive to lead sales efforts primarily within the Higher Education and Research sectors. The role involves setting revenue growth goals, managing a sales team, nurturing leads, closing deals, and collaborating cross-functionally to align sales strategies with product offerings and customer success.

Highlights

Drive revenue growth by setting and tracking annual sales goals and managing deal flow in HubSpot.
Lead and mentor a small sales team, including a Sales Development Representative and other support staff.
Manage sales operations such as demo calls, pricing, contract communication, and coordination with customer success and engineering teams.
Develop and execute targeted marketing campaigns using HubSpot and contribute to communications like newsletters and blog posts.
Engage in industry events, represent the company at conferences, and build strategic partnerships in the higher education and research community.
Utilize CRM software, specifically HubSpot, and marketing analytics tools for data-driven sales decision making.
Require 5+ years of sales and marketing leadership experience in B2B SaaS, with proficiency in enterprise sales cycles and partner/channel development.
Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, technology, or a related field is required.
Preferred qualifications include familiarity with higher education markets, identity and access management (IAM) or cybersecurity knowledge, and international market experience.
Compensation ranges from $130K to $150K with benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401k, and generous PTO.

Account Executive Full Description

Job Qualifications

Account Executive

Required Qualifications

Proven Sales & Marketing Leadership Experience
- 5+ years in sales and marketing roles or equivalent
- Demonstrated success leading teams and driving revenue growth in B2B SaaS environments.
Strategic Sales Expertise
- Experience in enterprise sales cycles and partner/channel development.
- Ability to define and execute go-to-market strategies tailored for education and research verticals.
Data-Driven Decision Making
- Proficiency with CRM (preferably HubSpot) and marketing analytics tools.
- Establish and track key sales performance metrics and KPIs.
Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Experience building and mentoring high-performing teams.
- Ability to work cross-functionally with product, customer success, engineering, and executive leadership.
Exceptional Communication & Presentation Skills
- Excel at representing the company externally at industry events, in partner negotiations, and with key stakeholders.
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, technology, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications

Higher Ed Sales - Familiarity with the research and education market, including institutions, consortia, and funding structures.
Tech-Savvy - Experience with modern sales and marketing tools: HubSpot, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, SEO optimization tools, etc.
Domain Knowledge - Strong understanding of identity and access management (IAM), cybersecurity or adjacent tech sectors.
Industry Relationships - Established network within higher education and/or research organizations (e.g., Internet2, EDUCAUSE, InCommon).
Product-Led Growth (PLG) or Subscription-Based Models - Familiarity with go-to-market models for SaaS, especially those based on recurring revenue
Experience with International Markets - Understanding of global education and research identity federation landscapes (e.g., eduGAIN, REFEDS).

This is a full time remote position which requires US residency.

Cirrus Identity is an equal opportunity employer.

This position requires a background check.

Salary Range: $130-150K with opportunity for advancement

Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k, Generous PTO

Job Description

Account Executive

Company Overview

Cirrus Identity is an innovative identity solutions provider serving primarily the Higher Education and Research community. We serve over 150 universities and research organizations. The majority are US based, but we are expanding to other countries as well. Our team consists of many seasoned professionals who have worked at universities in the past. We value:

Mindset

We value mindset. We are purpose-driven and approach the growth of our products, relationships and selves with a sense of optimism, abundance and fun.

Relationships

We value trust, respect and integrity with our customers, partners and team to foster genuine relationship and communication.

Teamwork

We value teamwork. We leverage each other's strengths and often collaborate to make judicious and empathetic decisions. We focus on creative and solutions-oriented results that benefit Cirrus Identity Customers.

Strategic Solutions

We value strategic solutions. We work effectively to deliver high-quality, dependable solutions that drive company growth. These solutions work harmoniously with each other and with common customer architecture.

Leadership

Cirrus Identity is a strategic partner in our industry, as demonstrated by the actions of each member of our team.

Our headquarters are in Oakland, CA, but our team is largely remote. We use a variety of tools such as video-conferencing, Slack, ticketing systems, issue trackers and email to ensure close collaboration.

Position Overview

Cirrus Identity’s sales have grown steadily every year, due in large part to the efforts of our small but hard-working sales team. The Account Executive sets annual goals for revenue growth, manages a small and dedicated team to develop new leads, nurtures leads through email and conference follow up, and closes deals as quickly as possible in the Higher Education market. The Account Executive works closely with product leadership, which often serves in a “sales engineer” capacity, to ensure that the deals we close are in alignment with our current product offerings and our product roadmap. The Account Executive partners with our VP of Customer Success to ensure that we are documenting customer use cases collected in the sales cycle and sharing those across Cirrus teams as appropriate, as well as scheduling customer kick-offs at a pace our Customer Success team can support.

The Account Executive manages a Sales Development Resource position (currently vacant, which the AE will fill), and delegates work to other support resources.

The position reports to the CEO and will also meet regularly with members of the leadership team to align sales efforts with other teams.

Below are key areas of responsibility for this role:

Revenue Growth

Set sales goals in collaboration with the Cirrus Identity CEO.
Conduct retrospective analysis of sales efforts and develop recommendations to improve sales strategy and operations to grow revenue.
Establish annual goals for revenue growth and track sales on a monthly basis against established goals.
Provide quarterly sales updates including sales forecasts for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Maintain up-to-date deal flow in Hubspot to track new deals and renewals, with support from Cirrus Identity’s Head of Operations
Cultivate relationships with potential customers and partners to support continued revenue growth.
Nurture and develop leads through email, calls, conference interactions, and (when valuable) site visits.
Develop and manage the annual Sales budget, including conference and non-conference expenses.

Sales Operations

Work with Sales and Marketing Associate initially, and SDR once that role is filled, to ensure demo requests are responded to (and handle response and scheduling when necessary).
Prep and conduct demo calls, and conduct demo call follow up, including additional calls if necessary.
Manage the process to provide customers pricing info in a timely manner, working with CEO, Engineering and Customer Success for complex implementations.
Work closely with VP of Customer Success to manage customer relationships including handoff from sales to Customer Success, overall workload across the teams (including timing of kick off calls), analysis of strategic customers, identifying customers for churn risk and upsell opportunities, recruiting customers to provide testimonial quotes and use case stories, and managing customer expectations in general.
Work with CEO, VP of Engineering and other teams as appropriate to complete RFI / RFP responses.
Manage the process to provide and track status of customer contracts. Manage communications throughout the customer contract process between the CEO and Director of Compliance and the customer’s procurement and/or general counsel department.
Coordinate with the Head of Operations readiness for billing/invoicing for new deals.
Oversee review of customers usage versus usage tier on a regular basis and follow up with customers at renewal when usage tier increases are appropriate.
Oversee administration of Cirrus Identity’s CRM platform, HubSpot. Perform a quarterly update of key company, contact and deal data working with Customer Success. Update and maintain product subscriptions and key customer data.

Management Responsibilities

Manage one SDR and help allocate work to additional operations resources.
Select and manage company staff or outsourced vendors who provide sales and marketing support, including:
- Develop and maintain job descriptions for these roles.
- Recruit new staff to fill vacancies.
- Supervise training, retention, and performance management for all sales staff in accordance with the company hiring process, personnel policies, budget requirements, and culture priorities.
Be proactive in identifying, mitigating and resolving potential conflict within the sales team and with other Cirrus Identity teams.
Set performance expectations with full-time and contract technical staff, and provide regular clear and specific feedback.

Marketing and Communications

Communications

Contribute to publication of quarterly newsletter.
Design and execute targeted email campaigns utilizing HubSpot data.
Help identify opportunities for strategic blog posts, webinars, and other promotional campaigns.

Community Engagement

Participate in community workgroups and committees where appropriate, such as the InCommon Catalyst group, EDUCAUSE workgroups, etc.
Prepare for conferences, provide engaging collateral, and engage customers and prospects.
Attend conferences and help staff the Cirrus Identity booth as well as engaging with current and potential partners and prospects.
Work with VP of Customer Success and Head of Operations to plan and produce the Annual User Group Social.
Lead outreach efforts for customer presentations at conferences with Customer Success. Oversee the develop content and ensure proposals are submitted.

Business and Partnership Development

Work with CEO to maintain and develop technical and professional services partners as needed to develop awareness of Cirrus Identity, sustain good partnerships and leverage joint sales processes.
Contribute to partnership development with software companies that could leverage our solutions to expand their footprint and competitiveness in the higher education market.
Cultivate and deepen relationships with non-profits organizations that provide leadership in our target markets: InCommon, CANARIE, JISC, Geant, GakuNin, etc.
Work with CEO on reselling contracts with vendors - Steeves, Visual Zen, SHI, Cisco and others.

Original Job Description

Job Qualifications

Account Executive

Required Qualifications

Proven Sales & Marketing Leadership Experience
- 5+ years in sales and marketing roles or equivalent
- Demonstrated success leading teams and driving revenue growth in B2B SaaS environments.
Strategic Sales Expertise
- Experience in enterprise sales cycles and partner/channel development.
- Ability to define and execute go-to-market strategies tailored for education and research verticals.
Data-Driven Decision Making
- Proficiency with CRM (preferably HubSpot) and marketing analytics tools.
- Establish and track key sales performance metrics and KPIs.
Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Experience building and mentoring high-performing teams.
- Ability to work cross-functionally with product, customer success, engineering, and executive leadership.
Exceptional Communication & Presentation Skills
- Excel at representing the company externally at industry events, in partner negotiations, and with key stakeholders.
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, technology, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications

Higher Ed Sales - Familiarity with the research and education market, including institutions, consortia, and funding structures.
Tech-Savvy - Experience with modern sales and marketing tools: HubSpot, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, SEO optimization tools, etc.
Domain Knowledge - Strong understanding of identity and access management (IAM), cybersecurity or adjacent tech sectors.
Industry Relationships - Established network within higher education and/or research organizations (e.g., Internet2, EDUCAUSE, InCommon).
Product-Led Growth (PLG) or Subscription-Based Models - Familiarity with go-to-market models for SaaS, especially those based on recurring revenue
Experience with International Markets - Understanding of global education and research identity federation landscapes (e.g., eduGAIN, REFEDS).

Job Description

Account Executive

Company Overview

Mindset

We value mindset. We are purpose-driven and approach the growth of our products, relationships and selves with a sense of optimism, abundance and fun.

Relationships

We value trust, respect and integrity with our customers, partners and team to foster genuine relationship and communication.

Teamwork

Strategic Solutions

Leadership

Cirrus Identity is a strategic partner in our industry, as demonstrated by the actions of each member of our team.

Position Overview

The Account Executive manages a Sales Development Resource position (currently vacant, which the AE will fill), and delegates work to other support resources.

The position reports to the CEO and will also meet regularly with members of the leadership team to align sales efforts with other teams.

Below are key areas of responsibility for this role:

Revenue Growth

Set sales goals in collaboration with the Cirrus Identity CEO.
Conduct retrospective analysis of sales efforts and develop recommendations to improve sales strategy and operations to grow revenue.
Establish annual goals for revenue growth and track sales on a monthly basis against established goals.
Provide quarterly sales updates including sales forecasts for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Maintain up-to-date deal flow in Hubspot to track new deals and renewals, with support from Cirrus Identity’s Head of Operations
Cultivate relationships with potential customers and partners to support continued revenue growth.
Nurture and develop leads through email, calls, conference interactions, and (when valuable) site visits.
Develop and manage the annual Sales budget, including conference and non-conference expenses.

Sales Operations

Work with Sales and Marketing Associate initially, and SDR once that role is filled, to ensure demo requests are responded to (and handle response and scheduling when necessary).
Prep and conduct demo calls, and conduct demo call follow up, including additional calls if necessary.
Manage the process to provide customers pricing info in a timely manner, working with CEO, Engineering and Customer Success for complex implementations.
Work closely with VP of Customer Success to manage customer relationships including handoff from sales to Customer Success, overall workload across the teams (including timing of kick off calls), analysis of strategic customers, identifying customers for churn risk and upsell opportunities, recruiting customers to provide testimonial quotes and use case stories, and managing customer expectations in general.
Work with CEO, VP of Engineering and other teams as appropriate to complete RFI / RFP responses.
Manage the process to provide and track status of customer contracts. Manage communications throughout the customer contract process between the CEO and Director of Compliance and the customer’s procurement and/or general counsel department.
Coordinate with the Head of Operations readiness for billing/invoicing for new deals.
Oversee review of customers usage versus usage tier on a regular basis and follow up with customers at renewal when usage tier increases are appropriate.
Oversee administration of Cirrus Identity’s CRM platform, HubSpot. Perform a quarterly update of key company, contact and deal data working with Customer Success. Update and maintain product subscriptions and key customer data.

Management Responsibilities

Manage one SDR and help allocate work to additional operations resources.
Select and manage company staff or outsourced vendors who provide sales and marketing support, including:
- Develop and maintain job descriptions for these roles.
- Recruit new staff to fill vacancies.
- Supervise training, retention, and performance management for all sales staff in accordance with the company hiring process, personnel policies, budget requirements, and culture priorities.
Be proactive in identifying, mitigating and resolving potential conflict within the sales team and with other Cirrus Identity teams.
Set performance expectations with full-time and contract technical staff, and provide regular clear and specific feedback.

Marketing and Communications

Communications

Contribute to publication of quarterly newsletter.
Design and execute targeted email campaigns utilizing HubSpot data.
Help identify opportunities for strategic blog posts, webinars, and other promotional campaigns.

Community Engagement

Participate in community workgroups and committees where appropriate, such as the InCommon Catalyst group, EDUCAUSE workgroups, etc.
Prepare for conferences, provide engaging collateral, and engage customers and prospects.
Attend conferences and help staff the Cirrus Identity booth as well as engaging with current and potential partners and prospects.
Work with VP of Customer Success and Head of Operations to plan and produce the Annual User Group Social.
Lead outreach efforts for customer presentations at conferences with Customer Success. Oversee the develop content and ensure proposals are submitted.

Business and Partnership Development

Work with CEO to maintain and develop technical and professional services partners as needed to develop awareness of Cirrus Identity, sustain good partnerships and leverage joint sales processes.
Contribute to partnership development with software companies that could leverage our solutions to expand their footprint and competitiveness in the higher education market.
Cultivate and deepen relationships with non-profits organizations that provide leadership in our target markets: InCommon, CANARIE, JISC, Geant, GakuNin, etc.
Work with CEO on reselling contracts with vendors - Steeves, Visual Zen, SHI, Cisco and others.

Let me find your next job.

Thanks - you're signed up.

Account Executive

Edtech.com's Summary

Account Executive Full Description

Job Qualifications

Job Description

Inside Sales Representative

Educational Sales Consultant, Inside Sales

Account Executive - Field Based Sales (Nursing Education)

Director Regional Sales- South Region

Sales Prospecting Commercial Account Executive - Corporate Impact