Senior Account Executive - Core

Why You'll Love This Role:

Newsela is looking for a Senior Account Executive based in California to support the growth of our California core curriculum product. This role involves up to 80% travel, as you will be meeting with district leaders across your region to drive adoption. Reporting to the Sales Manager leading this initiative, you will have direct access to seasoned leadership to mentor your career growth while you help scale a high-impact business unit from the ground up.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Build and maintain relationships with key district-level decision-makers to introduce Newsela’s suite of products, with a primary focus on our core curriculum.
• Utilize solution-based selling techniques, solution mapping, and bring your strong negotiation and closing skills to navigate the complexities of school board approvals and state-level requirements.
• Create and maintain a robust pipeline, developing tailored account plans to move prospects through the specialized K-12 sales cycle.
• Manage the entire lifecycle from lead generation and campaign design, pipeline creation and management, to final negotiations while also partnering closely with cross-functional teams.
• Meet in-person with numerous district and county leaders to present solutions and secure agreements that implement Newsela's curriculum district-wide
• Inform and adjust your sales strategy by monitoring California's K-12 demographics, state initiatives, shifts in funding, and the overall K-12 education landscape.
• With guidance from leadership and our Learning & Enablement team, you will contribute to shaping Newsela’s go-to-market approach for the core product.
• Engage regularly with our executive leadership team to discuss deal strategies, industry trends, and district-specific initiatives.
• Exercise independent judgment in evaluating customer needs, structuring solutions, and influencing revenue outcomes in a fast-growing national sales organization.

About You:

• 5+ years of experience as an Account Executive, or similar quota-carrying role, in the K-12 EdTech space with a proven track record in selling core curriculum products.
• 2+ years of experience directly selling K-12 core curriculum in an adoption process in the state of California.
• Must be currently located in California and remain there for the duration of this position.
• Experience selling K-12 core ELA/ELD curriculum highly preferred; Experience selling other K-12 core subjects may be considered.
• Experience bringing a new program to market and/or has built out an entire state adoption campaign from the ground up.
• Experience selling in the California K-12 territory with an understanding of its unique funding, state initiatives, demographics, and education landscape.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 80% of the time within the territory.
• Deep understanding of K-12 buying processes and organizational structures. Familiarity with MEDDIPCC or similar forecasting frameworks is a plus.
• Proven ability to work autonomously, build a K-12 book of business from scratch, and proactively prospect and network.
• Fluent in English (written and verbal) required; proficiency in Spanish is a strong plus.
• Legally authorized to work in the US.

All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check as part of our pre-employment process.

Why you’ll love working at Newsela:

• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contribution to premiums and to HSA accounts. Additional benefits such as pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, and more to help you stay healthy: mind, body, and soul.
• Work From Home: We are a fully remote company. We provide a monthly tech stipend to support your WFH needs!
• Supporting ALL Families: Inclusive benefits to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility support, adoption, and more!
• Financial Wellbeing: Invest in your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes a employer match to help you build long-term financial security.
• Time Off: Flexible PTO plus 10 company holidays plus winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st).
• Professional Development: Newsela offers an annual learning and development allowance to employees to attend external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and educational materials to foster professional growth within their current role and career aspirations at Newsela.
• Make A Difference: No matter your role or department, the work you do each day helps share the future of education and improves the lives of students and teachers.

About Newsela:

Newsela takes authentic, real world content from trusted sources and makes it instruction ready for K-12 classrooms. Each text is published at five reading levels, so content is accessible to every learner. Today, over 3.3 million teachers and 40 million students have registered with Newsela for content that's personalized to student interests, accessible to everyone, aligned to instructional standards, and attached to activities and reporting that hold teachers accountable for instruction and students accountable for their work. With over 15,000 texts on our platform and multiple new texts published every day across 20+ genres, Newsela enables educators to go deep on any subject they choose.

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Compensation Breakdown:

• Base salary: $85,000 - $105,000 (depending on experience)
• Variable (On-Target Commission): $50,000 - $60,000 (variable compensation based on strategic milestones & performance targets)
• On-Target Earnings: $135,000 - $165,000