Senior Director, Business Development

Reports to: Executive Director or COO

FLSA Status:  Full-time, exempt (Remote; US-based)

Department: Partnerships & Communications 

Pay Range: $142,800 - $163,200 

Supervisory Responsibilities: Management of ELSF staff and consultants

Travel Requirements: up to 50% travel

Position Summary

ELSF’s work is driven by our commitment to improve the supply of high-quality instructional materials for multilingual learners. We do that by delivering high-impact professional services to curriculum publishers, states and districts. Our services ensure curricular materials are more inclusive of multilingual best practices, and we work with states and districts to strengthen their adoption and implementation policies and initiatives. Critical to our success and growth are the relationships we have within the field - from curriculum publishers, states and districts to research and advocacy organizations. Similarly, our approach to sales and partnerships reflects the importance of strong relationships in the field. 

The Sr. Director, Business Development will be responsible for setting and executing a multi-year sales and partnership strategy to grow ELSF’s reach, meet revenue targets, and build a sustainable revenue pipeline. While the Sr. Director will work across ELSF’s service portfolios, there will be a heavier emphasis on the publisher side of our work in the initial years. Given the connection between communications, marketing and sales, this  role will also manage our communications and marketing efforts. Supported by a team of communications consultants, this role will help grow the organization’s brand and promote ELSF as a thought leader on instructional materials supportive of multilingual learners.  This role also has the charge of creating a positive, feedback-oriented, and productive team culture, along with providing coaching and professional learning to their team. 

Responsibilities and Tasks 

The Sr. Director, Business Development will execute on the following areas of work. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but outlines the major responsibilities of the role.

Sales Strategy & Execution (55%): Develop and execute ELSF’s sales strategy by working collaboratively across the organization to:

• Set a collaborative sales strategy that incorporates target audiences, market factors, and current services; set and achieve annual targets as part of the sales strategy.
• Identify and execute on strategic business development opportunities to get in front of new audiences and potential client partners.
• Provide leadership and guidance across the organization to ensure ELSF meets its revenue targets, celebrating wins and escalating risks, and offering business development coaching and support to the ELSF team. 
• Create and manage a pipeline of fee-for-service partnerships, pursuing leads and cultivating relationships with key decision-makers throughout the process, from lead generation to close.
• Manage potential client opportunities, sharing ELSF’s mission, service offerings, and value proposition in compelling ways; approach sales with a solutions mindset and identify ways our services can solve client challenges. 
• Build upon current sales operations to improve processes and infrastructure, recommending improvements, creating sales collateral, and building buy-in across the organization around shared revenue goals.
• Develop, track, and report on key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of ELSF’s business development strategies to support continuous improvement. 
• Strategically identify RFP opportunities and coordinate their submission across different teams in the organization, including leveraging strategic partnership to strengthen likelihood of success
• Leverage existing network to connect potential clients to ELSF services; build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders at curriculum publishers, states, and districts. 
• Attend and/or present at key conferences and events to build ELSF’s presence in the field, generate leads, and glean learnings to make strategic connections to further our work.
• Share learnings about the market and target audiences with the services team to improve service offerings and address client needs.

Strategic Communications and Marketing (25%): Manage ELSF’s communications and events staff and external communications consultants. This role will serve as a liaison between the sales team, the leadership team, and ELSF’s communications staff and consultants to provide guidance, strategy oversight, and management on communications, marketing, and thought leadership to increase ELSF’s reach and impact and build