Fast Facts

Cengage Group is seeking a Sales Leader for their Field team in Central USA to drive sales performance and lead a team across multiple districts, focusing on growth and talent development.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include leading a sales team, providing strategic direction, managing sales pipelines, and collaborating with regional leaders and Customer Success teams to achieve sales goals and market share growth.

Skills: Candidates must have at least 8 years of experience in sales or management, strong leadership skills, excellent communication abilities, and proficiency in CRM software, especially Salesforce.

Qualifications: Preferred qualifications include a BA or BS degree, sales experience in academic publishing or higher education, and experience with digital product training in educational settings.

Location: This position is remote, based in the Central USA, with occasional travel required (30-40%).

Compensation: $117100 - $152200 / Annually

We believe in the power and joy of learning

At Cengage Group, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Our culture values inclusion, engagement, and discovery

Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-belonging/.

What you'll do here:

As the Sales Leader, you will lead a high-energy, goal-oriented team of professionals who believe in the power and joy of learning. This leadership position drives the sales performance of multiple field sales districts in assigned geographic area with a team consisting of District Managers, Sales Growth Specialists, and Account Executives across 4+ districts and ~$100M in sales. This position drives sales performance by providing strategic direction and support to field sales teams, holding their teams accountable for sales growth and goal achievement. At the direction of the VP – Head of Adoption Sales, builds and develops high performing sales regions capable of exceeding sales revenue targets with a strong focus on talent development, share growth, and digital sales, usage and retention. The Sales Leader executes programs designed by the VP – Head of Adoption Sales in recruiting and hiring, talent development, and accurate pipeline management and forecasting.

• Provides leadership to assigned personnel, carrying Company and Go to Market priorities defined by the Vice President through to execution, and holds their sales districts accountable for achieving sales goals
• Coordinates with and supports regional leadership teams as required to secure high-value, departmental or institutional sales
• Actively tracks and handles opportunity pipeline for assigned area and ensures District Managers and Account Executives are using the CRM as part of daily workflow for pipeline, planning, and forecasting
• Provides clear pipeline visibility and forecast to VP Head of Adoption Sales and Go-to-Market leadership through effective and efficient usage of CRM and business review tools
• Proactively reports key activities and progress towards goals
• Works collaboratively with Sales Growth Specialists to help them implement strategies for increasing Cengage market share by targeting high value adoptions in defined discipline segments
• Ensures District Leadership works collaboratively with Customer Success team to implement programs that ensures support, drives base growth, and ensures renewal of large digital adoptions
• Carries out programs in partnership with Sales Programs & Talent Development to acquire strong talent, coach up current members of the team, and build a culture of learning and improvement
• Recruits, develops, and retains sales talent at all levels of the organization
• Works with regional bookstore partners to drive sell-through of print products- take off
• Oversees budgets for assigned Districts and ensure that reporting requirements are met
• Leads a successful team providing focus around individual and team goals and objectives that align with and drive achievement of Company results
• Provides meaningful and effective coaching through ongoing performance feedback while supporting continuous employee discovery, growth and development

Skills you will need here:

(Required)

• Minimum 8 years of dynamic experience in Sales, Marketing, or Management with at least 4 of those years in a Leadership role in education, publishing, or related information delivery industry
• Experience leading a sales team with a consistent track record in sales, sales management, and leadership
• Experience mentoring and developing others
• Strong business understanding and excellent team-building skills
• Superior time management skills to handle multiple tasks and shifting priorities
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills with high energy (people want to be around you), and strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish relationships with partners, including staff and customers
• Proactive approaches to problem-solving with strong decision-making capability and ability to work in a group and reach decisions by consensus
• Forward looking thinker who actively seeks opportunities and proposes solutions, and demonstrated ability to anticipate needs and situations
• Desire for continuous learning and improvement
• Demonstrated ability and quantifiable success in leading corporate initiatives before they are fully developed
• Highly resourceful team-player, with the ability to be effective independently
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion
• Deadline driven in a fast-paced environment
• Passionate learner who seeks feedback and consistently expands skills
• Superior organization skills and strong attention to detail and diligent follow up
• Flexible and adaptable to change
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint), Adobe Acrobat, and social media web platforms
• Proficient in CRM system workflows and data, particularly in pipeline management and forecasting (Salesforce preferred)
• Ability to travel 30-40% overnight by both auto and air
• Located within the assigned sales region

Preferred:

• BA or BS degree
• Sales experience in academic publishing, services, or other higher education sales
• Digital product training experience in educational settings; direct digital training experience in a higher education setting highly desired

Cengage Group's Higher Education business, Cengage, supports learning and student success by providing materials and digital solutions to faculty and students enrolled in two-year, four-year and vocational programs. We currently serve more than 10 million of the 18 million students in US higher ed. Setting a new standard of service for our customers, we deliver quality, easy-to-use course materials from textbooks and eBooks to courseware such as MindTap and WebAssign. In the US, we offer Cengage Unlimited and Cengage Unlimited for Institutions. We help instructors be better teachers, we help institutions solve problems and we empower students to leverage the power and joy of learning to transform lives.

Cengage Group is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, veteran status, and any other classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at [email protected] or at +1 (617) 289-7917.

About Cengage Group

Cengage Group, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.

The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.

$117,100.00 - $152,200.00 USD