Lead Specialist, Sales

Lead Specialist, Solution Sales - Test Prep, India 

At Pearson, our mission is to help people realise the life they imagine through learning. As Lead Specialist, Solution Sales - Test Prep, India, you will drive growth for Pearson’s Test Prep portfolio by winning and expanding partnerships with coaching centres, schools, and other education providers across India. This role combines strong traditional field sales execution with a consultative, solution-selling approach focused on digital learning products, outcomes, and long-term customer value. This role will report into the Lead, Strategic Sales on an interim basis. Longer-term this role will be closely aligned with the India sales organization. 

You will own a defined territory or customer segment and lead the full sales cycle from prospecting and discovery through proposal development, negotiation, closure, and renewal. 

You will identify customer needs, understand teaching and business challenges, and position Pearson’s digital and blended Test Prep solutions in ways that improve learner outcomes, strengthen institutional performance, and support scalable growth. 

Success in this role requires strong pipeline creation, disciplined account management, high-quality discovery, confident product demonstration, and close collaboration with internal teams across product, marketing, customer success, finance, and operations. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Own revenue growth for Pearson’s Test Prep portfolio across assigned geographies, customer segments, or named accounts in India, delivering against new business, renewal, and expansion targets. 

• Build and manage a healthy pipeline through prospecting, referrals, events, channel activity, and self generated outreach across coaching centres, schools, school groups, and other relevant education partners. 

• Use a consultative, solution-selling approach to understand customer priorities, teaching models, learner needs, operational constraints, and commercial drivers, then translate those insights into tailored proposals. 

• Sell digital-first and blended solutions, including platform-based products, assessments, content, services, and implementation approaches that address customer needs and improve learner outcomes. 

• Lead high-quality discovery conversations with owners, directors, centre heads, principals, academic leaders, and procurement or administrative stakeholders to identify decision criteria and buying processes. 

• Conduct compelling product demonstrations and solution presentations that clearly articulate value, differentiation, implementation requirements, and return on investment. 

• Create account and territory plans for priority customers, identifying whitespace opportunities, multi stakeholder engagement plans, competitive risks, and growth actions. 

• Manage the full sales cycle from lead qualification through proposal, negotiation, closure, onboarding handoff, and post-sale follow-through. 

• Develop strong relationships with key decision-makers and influencers, positioning Pearson as a trusted partner rather than a transactional vendor. 

• Partner closely with marketing, product, customer success, finance, and operations teams to shape customer solutions, support launches, and ensure smooth delivery and adoption. 

• Track activity, pipeline health, forecast accuracy, and account progress consistently in CRM and other business systems. 

• Stay close to the Test Prep market in India, including competitor moves, customer buying behaviour, digital adoption trends, and changes in the coaching and school landscape. 

• Support collections, commercial hygiene, and contract compliance in partnership with relevant internal stakeholders. 

• Represent Pearson in customer meetings, local events, partner forums, and other market-facing opportunities to strengthen brand presence and commercial momentum. 

• Share market feedback and recurring customer needs to help inform product enhancements, sales plays, and go-to-market improvements. 

What You Bring 

• Proven sales experience in education, edtech, digital learning, test preparation, SaaS, or other solution oriented B2B or B2B2C environments. 

• Strong track record of meeting or exceeding revenue targets through a combination of new business acquisition, account growth, and customer retention. 

• Experience selling into coaching centres, schools, higher education institutions, or other education focused organisations in India is strongly preferred. 

• Demonstrated solution-selling capability, with the ability to diagnose customer needs, manage multiple stakeholders, and align product value to educational and commercial outcomes. 

• Confidence presenting digital products and leading customer conversations that move from needs discovery through business case and close. 

• Strong commercial acumen, negotiation skills, and the ability to manage pricing, proposals, and contracting discussions effectively. 

• Ability to work across a matrixed organisation and collaborate productively with cross-functional teams. 

• Strong planning, organisation, and follow-through, with attention to detail across the full sales and post-sale process. 

• Proficiency with CRM systems, Microsoft Office, and other core sales productivity tools. 

• Good understanding of the India education landscape, especially the Test Prep and coaching ecosystem, digital adoption trends, and customer expectations. 

• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills in English; additional regional language capability would be an advantage. 

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent commercial qualification is an advantage. 

What success looks like 

• Builds a high-quality pipeline of new opportunities across coaching centres and schools, with disciplined conversion through each stage of the funnel. 

• Consistently delivers against revenue, renewal, and expansion goals while maintaining strong forecast accuracy and CRM hygiene. 

• Wins new customers by clearly linking Pearson’s digital Test Prep solutions to customer needs, learner outcomes, and commercial value. 

• Grows existing accounts through effective relationship management, upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and strong post-sale coordination. 

• Earns trust with customers and internal stakeholders through responsiveness, commercial discipline, and strong execution. 

• Provides actionable market insight that helps improve messaging, product-market fit, and sales effectiveness in the India Test Prep segment.

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