Description

Account Executive, State and Government Partnerships

About this role...
As an Account Executive for State and Government Partnerships, you will be the primary partner contact with responsibility for hands-on development and execution of NWEA sales relationships, results, and associate programs. You will ensure that goals and strategic objectives are met or exceeded and develop and maintain long-term supportive partner relationships with assigned state or federal education agency and local education agencies as applicable. As a qualified candidate, you will have a strong understanding of K12 Interim and Summative assessment products and will have experience working with decision-makers regarding assessment solutions at State Departments of Education.
Your next challenge...

• Develop and implement sales strategies, plans, and tactics for prospective and existing state and local accounts in alignment with the strategic direction of NWEA.
• Manager partner relationships by creating, expanding and sustaining strong partnerships at the state, district, and building levels
• Assume responsibility for the success of each account for the full lifecycle of relationship
• Develop and execute strategic state plans to identify and qualify large - scale state opportunities
• Manage and implement planning and strategy associated with state-level assessment programs prior to and through RFP release and response
• Create and manage capture plans, identify resource needs, and strategically guide the work of the capture team
• Demonstrate an understanding of the state's procurement process and lead response efforts to conclusion
• Lead the contract negotiation process to achieve an executed contract
• Foster and maintain ongoing relationships in assigned states with key state department staff, state board members, education associations, legislators, and governors as well as their staff. Regularly communicate schedules, issues and proactive updates to partners and internal stakeholders
• Collaborate to define goals, scope and success metrics for new partnerships within established parameters consistent with the established practices of NWEA
• Ensure appropriate and accurate partner billing and financial administration
• Use market, partner, and competitive analysis to create win-win opportunities for partners and NWEA
• Facilitate, as appropriate, partner participation in informing product strategies, design, timelines and development as requested by the Director and the Marketing and Product Development teams
• Complete timely reports and updates within NWEA's established processes and CRM tools
• Provide consultative services to partners enabling them to achieve academic achievement and growth goals
• Travel as required (up to 50% on average)

Traits for Success...

• Experience in targeting, developing and successfully enhancing partner relationships
• Proven track record of meeting and exceeding goals aligned with strategic sales forecasts
• Skilled in analyzing and translating complex partner requirements into NWEA's business processes with capacity to seek counsel and work effectively cross-functionally resulting in sound business and relationship decisions
• Assist in defining and evaluating deliverables, parameters and language for partnership and vendor agreements and contracts
• Monitor and ensure organizational compliance with federal, state, district, and building-level performance reporting requirements
• Ability to gain acceptance of products and recommendations using constructive planning, presentation and persuasive skills in multiple relationships
• Strong leadership and interpersonal relationship skills for engagement at every level of the organization
• Ability to set clear goals and priorities and to translate concepts into actionable objectives
• Consistently professional , diplomatic, strategic, tactful and respectful
• Self-motivated to establish personal rapport, build strong partnerships and genuine passion about NWEA's mission and strategic goals
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills
• Skilled in strategic and consultative selling practices

Education and experience...

• Minimum Bachelor's degree required
• Minimum 3 years' of consultative/relationship K-12 educational assessment sales
• Must have deep understanding of K-12 summative assessment with the ability to pursue strategic conversations with state level decision makers in the K-12 educational assessment market
• Experience managing multiple partners with long sales cycles and a complex product or service offering; state or government agency account management experience required
• Solid experience using opportunity management software (CRM) such as Salesforce
• Experience with NWEA products and services preferred
• Experience in Miller-Heiman strategic and consultative sales approaches preferred

About us...
NWEA® is a research-based, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency-and provide insights to help tailor instruction. For 40 years, NWEA has developed innovative pre-K-12 assessments, including our flagship interim assessment, MAP® Growth™; our progress monitoring and skills mastery tool, MAP® Skills™; and our reading fluency and comprehension assessment, MAP® Reading Fluency™. Educators trust our professional learning offerings to accelerate student learning and our research to support assessment validity and data interpretation. Our tools are trusted by educators in more than 9,500 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries.

What we can offer you...

At NWEA we not only offer a competitive base salary, we offer a 15% contribution of eligible employees' base salary to a defined contribution 403(b) retirement savings plan; career development opportunities; an awesome work culture and environment; we also offer industry leading benefits and perks that are focused on supporting our employees' holistic wellbeing. To learn more about what we can offer more, click here.

NWEA endeavors to make www.nwea.org accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please call us at (503) 624-1951 or e-mail us at onlineaccommodations@nwea.org and let us know the nature of your request, your location and your contact information. This is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.
NWEA is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. For our EEO Policy Statement, please click here. If you'd like more information on your EEO rights under the law, please visit the EEOC website.

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