Account Executive - Midwest

The Organization

What if K-12 education were designed to help all students develop lives of meaning and purpose? Wayfinder was founded at the Stanford d.school to answer this question. Our goal is to double our impact each year for the coming years. Our vision is to become the preeminent SEL curriculum company in the world — leading the global movement of purpose, meaning, and belonging-based education worldwide. 

What We Value

You’ll be joining a team of incredibly motivated and dedicated staff members committed to living our organization's values. We work collaboratively across teams, and we feel and act like a purpose-driven organization. To the best of our abilities, each person’s role aligns with their own sense of purpose, which feeds into Wayfinder’s larger sense of purpose.

Read this article about our workplace culture in Conscious Company.

We value access, equity, diversity, and belonging, and these values are represented in our product, our team, and our school partners.

Product: We develop our learning tools using human-centered design principles. We work with grade-level experts to ensure our curriculum is developmentally appropriate and engaging at all levels. Every Wayfinder lesson is supported by relevant research, prototyped in classrooms, and vetted by teachers over rounds of feedback and iteration. We use Universal Design for Learning principles to give every student an equal opportunity to succeed.

Team: Our team is composed of people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. We intentionally recruit, hire, and work with people of diverse identities + experiences. We focus on belonging: being connected, accepted, and valued by the people around us. 

School Partners: We intentionally target a wide array of educational partners, from traditional to non-traditional, that work with a range of students from different socioeconomic groups. We’ve taught our curriculum in high-need schools in the Bronx, independent schools in Silicon Valley, and after-school programs in San Antonio.

The Role

If you believe in getting a powerful product into the hands of students and educators everywhere, Wayfinder wants to talk to you. We are looking for a passionate Account Executive to join our team, to create partnerships with schools and drive sales of Wayfinder’s curriculum and training packages.

This AE role will be focused on expanding Wayfinder’s partnerships in the Midwest region of the US. As such, we are looking for a candidate who lives in that area.

This position will report to the VP, Sales.

We strongly encourage people from traditionally underrepresented populations in tech - such as women, People of Color, People with Disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people, etc - to apply!

Responsibilities

• Identify, secure, and expand new business that will impact Wayfinder’s reach
• Working with a business development team to identify and contact interested schools
• Have 4 to 6 meaningful conversations a day with prospective school partners + educators to help them understand the importance of purpose learning and Wayfinder and start the process of becoming a partner school
• Create authentic, meaningful and long-lasting relationships with a variety of stakeholders in the education field
• Serve as a problem-solver for potential schools and help them see how Wayfinder could help advance their mission
• Continuously follow up with schools who are interested in Wayfinder and help them overcome barriers to bringing purpose learning to their school
• Visit potential school partners at site visits
• Provide logistical and back end administrative support for new school partners. Including organizing on site trainings, processing invoicing information and guiding schools through the budgeting process
• Help lead a team of 2-4 other outreach folks that are part of your geographic “pod” including a marketing person, junior sales person, and onboarding specialist

Requirements

Requirements

At a high level, we are looking for a highly motivated, successful relationship-builder, who is a demonstrated self-starter with at least some background in K12 education. This person needs to have the drive to make sure our curriculum gets into the hands of more students and educators. Below we have listed out some things we are looking for; you do not necessarily need to check all these boxes to be eligible for this position. Here are some components we think that includes:

Essential Experience

• Minimum of 5 years in a Sales / Fundraising / Outreach Position: We need you to have a proven track record in hustling in a high-rejection environment. This could be on the for-profit or non-profit side. This is the most critical part of this job. This could be products, services, political campaigning, or admissions recruitment. Bottomline: you need to feel comfortable hustling, selling, and doing outreach in a high-rejection environment.
• Self-Motivated: This is a highly self-motivated role + you need to be a self-starter
• Organized: You are going to be talking to hundreds of people from dozens of organizations. You need to be able to organize and manage all this.
• Good Relationship Builder: Your main role will be building relationships with new prospective schools and educators. You need to be able to make connections and build relationships quickly.
• Familiarity with K-12 Education: You do not necessarily have to have been a classroom teacher, but familiarity with the K12 system, particularly the high school system is a must. A lot of talking to potential clients is helping them figure out where Wayfinder will fit into their school.
• Purpose-Alignment: This job needs to fit into how you would define your own sense of purpose. It needs to align with your own personal story and values.
• Be Persuasive: Understand the value and importance of the purpose learning movement and why it is important for prospective customers

Preferred Experience

• Background working on political campaigns as an organizer
• Athletic or Civic Leadership Roles
• Leading an after-school program for HS students
• Worked as an educator in a high school classroom for at least two years
• Worked in school administration
• Worked in a traditional sales/outreach role and moved up the ranks
• Had experience working for a start-up
• Background with Salesforce

Benefits

Compensation

Compensation for this role is comprised of a base salary and commission. 

The base salary has a range of $80K-$100K. With a total OTE range of: $130K - $175K. 

Compensation is dependent on location & experience.

Benefits

While we offer a competitive package that is based on location and experience, we also offer the following benefits:

• + Stock Options: Ownership in a fast-growing venture-backed company.
• + 401k: We care about your ability to save for your future.
• + Family Focus: Parental leave and flexibility for families.
• + Time Off: Flexible vacation policy to encourage people to get out and see the world.
• + Healthcare: Medical, dental, and vision policies.
• + Goodies: Whatever hardware and software you need to get the job done.
• + Team Fun: Regularly scheduled events, annual retreat, and celebrations.
• + Learning: Learning & development opportunities to grow your skills and career.
• + Great team: Working with fun, hard-working, kind people committed to making a difference!
• + Flexible culture: We are results-focused. We don’t work at the office every day.
• + And much more! Lots of other perks make this company an incredible place to work.

Location

This role is remote, however, this AE role will be focused on expanding Wayfinder’s partnerships in the Midwest region of the US. As such, we are looking for candidates who live in that region. We are not offering relocation at this time. Must be eligible to work in the US. Will require some travel periodically to meet with key partners and attend company conferences.

Next Steps, If Interested

If you are interested, please fill out the job application here.

Role Disclaimers

EEO Statement 

At Wayfinder, we don’t just accept differences — we celebrate them, we support them, and we thrive on them for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. Wayfinder is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

Pay Transparency 

Wayfinder compensation is based on various factors including but not limited to job location, a candidate's education, training, experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value analysis including seniority and merit systems, as well as internal pay alignment. Annual salary is just one component of Wayfinder’s total compensation package. Additionally, Wayfinder provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, a monthly stipend, office buildout stipend, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and paid time off. Compensation ranges may differ based on contract value but will be commensurate with job duties and relevant work experience. An applicant's salary history will not be used in determining compensation.

Reasonable Accommodations

Wayfinder is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation, contact the People Operations team at peopleoperations@withwayfinder.com. 

Additional Notice

Please note that this job description is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible responsibilities, tasks, and duties.