edX is looking for a Director of Business Development as our product and brand continue to gain recognition. For this role, we are looking for a Director level candidate to locate, develop, define, negotiate and close business relationships for edX (your clientele will include a mix of universities and corporations). This is fast-paced role with an educational start-up that is literally transforming the way we learn. If you are ready to use your proven business development skills, this is the role you’ve been waiting for. This is an on-the-ground role with the first several months dedicated to outbound sales and business development. You'll be tasked with all aspects of the sales cycle (including developing best practices that will allow this small group to scale). The future of this role will include the build-out and development of the future sales team.

edX is an open-source learning destination offering online courses from more than 90 member institutions, composed of both leading global universities and colleges and a diverse group of prominent organizations from around the world. Founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and based in Cambridge, MA, edX is focused on transforming online and on-campus learning through groundbreaking methodologies, game-like experiences and cutting-edge research on an open-source platform.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:​

• Develop and sell to large global customer targets who would be interested in driving their significant employee or membership bases to participate in bulk, to edX courses (paid and free) to grow our revenue and learner base.


• Take responsibility for leading new  opportunities provided to you  , and lead the development of agreements  in conjunction with edX Legal, that meet our criteria.   


• Develop Channel Partners who can move volume to their installed customer base. Experience developing channels and VARs that delivered measurable results is desirable.


• Use your implementation and communication skills to launch the signed agreements internally with edX stakeholders to ensure a successful on-boarding for new agreements.


• Professional Education courses that edX should pursue from its partners.


• Actively contact prospects, both new and assigned to build a pipeline of new business opportunities


• Manage affiliate and channel partners for maximum impact by building relationships, assisting them in promotion of key designated courses, and development and implementation of various incentive programs.


• Deliver $1.5M+ per year in closed, acceptable new business .


• Promote edX, speak, and attend key industry shows to build the brand and develop new prospects


• Coordinate and conduct executive briefings and other non-traditional public relations programs to build prospect and client relationships and develop new business with industry, gov, foundations, and NGO internationally.


• Build and securing relationships with online educational content distributors.


• Profile and maintain a pipeline report and weekly updated information on prospects in Salesforce.


• Monitor competitor’s product and service portfolios and selling strategies. Use this intelligence to help edX develop competitive selling strategies.


• Develop reports on activities, trends and results.

Qualification and Skills: 

REQUIRED:

• At least 5 years of experience in business development, developing new client relationships, partnerships, channels and closing contracts.  Track record of annual sales over $1M+ is ideal.


• Self-starter who can bring high energy and strong activity, with a bias to action, to this position. 


• Excellent negotiating and deal structure skills, attention to detail, ability to write and design terms and term-sheets, consensus building; excellent communication skills ,both customer facing and internal, to promote and ‘sell’ the deal on its merits.


• Demonstrated success in a Business Development role where you had to identify, negotiate, and contract with partners and clients.prospects, clients, and channel partners


• Experience working with and presenting to senior level executives in business, government, technology, and education. International experience preferable.


• Knowledge of the education/higher edu/training and learning industry, in general, and content-related learning solutions, in particular.   


• Ability to develop and propose unique solutions to clients and prospects, that take advantage of current edX capabilities.


• Ability to work independently to reach financial goals, and excellent time management skills.


• We are building a mission driven ‘business’. Must be willing to put in the time to reach goals and objectives, understand the platform and the ever changing competitive landscape, and understands the ‘start up ‘ and entrepreneurial mentality     . 


• Passionate about changing the world through access to education and the world’s top courses, from the best  universities and institutions globally.


• Able and willing to travel nationally and internationally as requested  

PREFERED: 

• The ideal candidate will have connections, a network of active contacts and experience in developing business partnerships for the sale of content or related services to corporations, preferably Professional Education courses or other courseware or subscription based materials including:


• Direct selling and quantifiable deal experience with prospects, partners, and third party promotion channels, particularly in the content/platform/media space.


• Biz Dev related to the MOOC and online learning space with a track record of success


• Experience with content aggregators, portal sales, and value-add sales channels.


• Experience selling content to corporates


• You will have experience building a channel sales organization with partners that delivered measurable results over concise timeframes that you can reference. 

International experience a plus.

edX is an MIT Start-up company that offers a highly competitive benefits plan, a pension program, free lunches , great fun as a company of dedicated like-minded professionals,  and access to some of the smartest people on the planet!  Are you ready to be a part of re-inventing education?!

Applicants must be able to work out of our Cambridge, MA office.   Sorry, Visa sponsorship is not available.