The Role
The Account Executive is responsible for driving growth in Higher Education through new client acquisition, engaging decision-makers, and managing the entire sales cycle.
Summary Generated by Built In
Title: Account Executive
Location: Hybrid or Remote
Reporting Structure: SVP of Sales
We are seeking seasoned Account Executives with proven success in SaaS solution selling, ideally within Higher Education and Health Sciences programs such as Nursing, Pharmacy, Physician Assistant, and Occupational Therapy. The right candidate brings both industry expertise and strong institutional relationships, with the ability to independently manage the full sales cycle—from discovery and product demos to negotiations and closing. This role requires engaging decision-makers at all levels, including CIOs, deans, program directors, and clinical coordinators, while positioning CORE’s technology suite as a mission-critical solution for experiential learning, clinical education, curricular mapping, and accreditation management. Successful candidates will combine a strategic, consultative sales approach with the credibility to act as their own solution expert, driving growth and expanding the reach of CORE Higher Education Group/PeopleGrove’s portfolio across Higher Education.
Roles & Responsibilities
- Experienced Account Executives with a proven record of developing, steering, and closing new Higher Education clients and programs (Health Sciences strongly preferred).
- Strong network and ability to engage senior decision-makers including CIOs, deans, program directors, and clinical coordinators.
- Expertise in experiential learning, clinical education management, curricular mapping, assessment, and accreditation.
- Skilled at delivering compelling demos of complex, configurable SaaS solutions while acting as the solution expert.
- Strategic, self-directed sales professionals who can manage a national territory with autonomy.
- Proven ability to build proposals that align institutional needs with CORE’s solutions and deliver measurable value.
- Track record of shaping opportunities into non-competitive wins and expanding business through cross-selling.
- Collaborative mindset, working with product and services teams to support the full PeopleGrove+CORE portfolio.
What You Will Do
- Drive growth by identifying, developing, and closing new Higher Education clients and programs to expand the PeopleGrove+CORE customer base.
- Deliver compelling demos of complex SaaS solutions and act as the solution expert throughout the sales process.
- Leverage industry expertise to identify opportunities, build credibility, and align institutional needs with CORE’s solutions.
- Cultivate trust with senior decision-makers (CIOs, deans, program directors, clinical coordinators) and build proposals that drive adoption.
- Cross-sell the full PeopleGrove/CORE portfolio to maximize client value.
- Manage your territory with autonomy, maintaining national office hours and applying expertise in experiential learning, clinical education, curricular mapping, assessment, and accreditation as key differentiators.
Business & Pipeline Development
- Use addressable market analysis and your own network to identify and create well-qualified sales leads through outbound calling, emails, LinkedIn messages, and more.
- Execute targeted outbound campaigns to uncover prospects' needs and determine platform fit.
- Regularly research and build lists of key accounts and contacts to prospect.
- Conduct discovery calls, develop well-qualified opportunities, and advance them through the sales cycle.
- Achieve performance metrics while maintaining quality.
- Ensure all opportunities are accurately reflected and forecasted in Salesforce.
Growth
- Represent the PeopleGrove+CORE portfolio and develop opportunities from the early stages of the selling cycle through proposal and close.
- Lead the sales process, including demos, presentations, and competitive win strategies.
- Partner with marketing to execute local events such as tradeshows, lunch-and-learns, and prospecting activities.
- Identify repeatable business opportunities and potential renewals.
- Take ownership of monthly, quarterly, and annual bookings targets.
- Manage and achieve quarterly and annual pipeline activity and revenue growth goals.
Industry / Domain
- Work with the SVP of Sales to develop strong alliances in the higher education and health sciences sectors.
- Attend selected industry and digital business forums to promote PeopleGrove+CORE solutions.
- Understand Federal, State, and Local procurement regulations to proactively manage contracting processes.
- Maintain compelling client reference materials for use in pursuits.
Skills
- 3–5 years of experience selling to and supporting Higher Education in SaaS B2B.
- Sales certifications and/or 4+ years of experience with methodologies such as SPIN, Sandler, Value Selling, MEDDIC.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills including proficiency in Microsoft presentation tools.
- Proven SaaS B2B sales experience in Higher Education (health sciences preferred) with ability to demo complex, configurable solutions.
- Industry expertise and a track record of shaping opportunities into non-competitive wins.
- Strong executive presence, strategic thinking, adaptability, and problem-solving skills.
About us
As the trusted leader in student and alumni lifecycle engagement, clinical and non-clinical experiential education and career readiness, PeopleGrove+CORE Higher Education Group helps colleges and universities drive real outcomes. With a combined focus on meaningful engagement and simplifying the complexities of clinical and non-clinical experiential learning, the company partners with institutions to prepare students for career success and beyond. Leveraging over 16 years of industry leadership and a dedicated team of over 100 professionals, PeopleGrove+CORE offers innovative software solutions to scale and optimize a wide range of programs. This includes mentorship, career readiness, competency tracking, and seamless student placement and progress monitoring in clinical settings.
The platform is designed to meet the demands of programs of all sizes, from those with ten students to tens of thousands. At the center of our mission is the belief that career success is built on meaningful experiences and human connection. By pairing AI-powered tools with high-touch engagement, they empower institutions to personalize, streamline, and scale their efforts. This creates lasting value for students, alumni, and the communities they serve by anchoring the student journey in the power of experience, connection, and support.
Top Skills
SaaS
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The Company
What We Do
As higher education’s first Career Access Platform™, PeopleGrove is a smart career network that recommends Mentorship, Networking, Career Exploration, and the Job Connections that together effectively build the social capital learners need to succeed.
Unlike other student success tools and alumni engagement software, PeopleGrove is lifelong career support that’s smart, personal, and helpful even to those without a network, experience, or clear starting point.
Established in 2015, PeopleGrove set out to build the most helpful network ever created because we believe career fulfillment is a right every single person should have. To date, we've helped millions of learners on their career journeys:
- 1+ million connections
- 96% retention rate
- 20+ million users
- 60% of US News Top 100 Universities
- 5/5 average rating from user interactions
- 450+ customers served
PeopleGrove is proudly part of The Riverside Company portfolio of companies. With their partnership, we are a transformational organization that prides itself on building an environment where curiosity is rewarded and the unknown is embraced.
Places to go. People to be.
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