Sales Development Representative

Today, 67% of students and 82% of low-income students can’t read at grade level by the end of third grade. That’s when students are supposed to go from learning to read to reading to learn. It’s America’s number one education crisis and we know how to fix it.

Ignite Reading delivers one-to-one virtual tutoring that teaches every student the foundational skills they need to become a confident, fluent reader. We pair students who need extra support with expert reading tutors who provide daily, 15-minute, Science of Reading-based instruction that rapidly closes their decoding gaps. We focus on the foundational reading skills—phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight words—kids need to master so they can decode a sentence. Students in Ignite Reading’s program achieve over 2 weeks of reading skills growth per week of instruction, and notably all students achieve the same outstanding results including students with IEPs, multilingual learners, students of color and those receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

Ignite Reading is a mission-driven public benefit corporation. We believe we can do well for our team members and shareholders while we solve one of the nation’s biggest challenges. We believe we will be more successful with a diverse team and are seeking candidates who have lived experience related to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Your Role

The Sales Development Representative (SDR) will play a critical role in driving the success of our sales efforts by conducting rapid follow up with leads from the marketing team, qualifying leads, and setting appointments for the sales team. Using a mix of email, phone calls, and social media, this position will own the key performance metric of booking meetings for the sales team with district and school leaders who show inbound interest in Ignite Reading’s services. The SDR will also leverage basic AI-enabled tools to support message drafting, accelerate research, summarize district information, and optimize follow-up efficiency—while ensuring all final outreach reflects Ignite Reading’s tone, accuracy, and relationship-centered approach. In addition, this individual will be a key contributor in crafting Ignite Reading’s lead follow up strategy through the insights they gather from their work.

The ideal candidate should have a passion for engaging prospects, be a strong writer, communicator, and listener, and have experience as a SDR previously selling into the K-12 education market. As a member of the Partnerships team, this position will report to the VP of Partnerships.

Key Responsibilities

• Rapidly engage and qualify inbound leads through multi-channel outreach (email, phone, and social), assessing fit, urgency, and readiness to enter the sales process

• Book high-quality meetings for the Partnerships team with district and school leaders, consistently meeting or exceeding meeting conversion targets

• Leverage AI-assisted tools to draft, personalize, and optimize outreach messaging (emails, call scripts, and sequences), ensuring all communication aligns with Ignite Reading’s voice and quality standards

• Develop and iterate on outbound messaging, email cadences, and follow-up strategies to improve engagement and conversion rates

• Partner closely with Sales and Marketing to evaluate lead quality, share frontline insights, and refine targeting and campaign effectiveness

• Analyze lead behavior, objections, and engagement patterns using Hubspot and AI-enabled insights to improve follow-up timing and conversion performance

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date records of all activities, communications, and pipeline progress in HubSpot, ensuring data integrity and visibility across teams

• Conduct research on school districts using tools like GovSpend, TripleSession, and online sources to assess funding, enrollment, and literacy needs for effective qualification

• Track and report on key performance metrics (e.g., response rates, meetings booked, conversion rates), providing regular insights and recommendations to improve performance

• Contribute to marketing and growth strategy discussions by sharing qualitative insights from prospect interactions and testing new outreach approaches

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience as an SDR, with a track record of meeting or exceeding meeting-booking targets

• Experience selling into or working with K-12 school districts, with an understanding of how district and school leaders make purchasing decisions

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft clear, compelling, on-brand outreach and refine AI-generated drafts for accuracy and tone

• Experience maintaining accurate pipeline records and activity logs in a CRM such as HubSpot or Salesforce, including comfort with AI-enabled features like task generation, note summarization, and draft assistance

• Comfort conducting research on school districts using tools like GovSpend, public enrollment data, or similar sources to assess fit and inform outreach

Why Join Ignite Reading?Transparent Compensation

At Ignite Reading, we've embraced a transparent compensation structure to promote fairness and equity, provide accountability, and build trust within our organization.

Salary: $80,000 base + Commission (10% of base) This role is full-time, exempt.

We also ensure you have the tools you need to thrive both in and out of work.

📈 Employee Stock Options - we want our success to be yours too

🩺 Medical, Dental, and Vision plans to support you and your well-being (80% employee coverage, 70% dependent coverage)

🏥 Short-term Disability (100% employer paid)

🏦 401(k) retirement plans with company contribution

👶 12-weeks paid parental leave

🌴 Unlimited vacation days (+ 12 paid holidays)

💻 Technology Stipend

🧘 Wellness Stipend

🛟 Voluntary Life Insurance

👩‍💻 Professional Development Stipend

We believe in building and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where all applicants are considered for employment without attention to color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often don't apply for roles if they don't meet all the criteria – unlike majority candidates meeting significantly fewer requirements. We strongly encourage you to apply if you’re interested!

We are seeking candidates who have lived experience related to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are a virtual organization with headquarters in the California Bay Area.