Solution Engineer

About Niche

Niche is the leader in school search. Our mission is to make researching and enrolling in schools easy, transparent, and free. With in-depth profiles on every school and college in America, 140 million reviews and ratings, and powerful search tools, we help millions of people find the right school for them. We also help thousands of schools recruit more best-fit students, by highlighting what makes them great and making it easier to visit and apply.

Niche is all about finding where you belong, and that mission inspires how we operate every day. We want Niche to be a place where people truly enjoy working and can thrive professionally.

About The Role

The Onboarding & Solutions Engineer is a Niche product and industry expert responsible for managing customer onboarding and optimization of some of Niche’s most impactful products (Engage, Direct Admissions, and Yield). Unlike traditional Account Managers, Solutions Engineers do not own a book of business. Instead, they operate on a case-assignment model, executing high-impact "sprints" to get customers live or optimized, and acting as a technical escalation point for deep-dive product inquiries. They serve as our expert voice on the industry, our products, and how customers can best succeed on the Niche platform. 

Solution Engineers are measured on achievement of time-to-value (TTV) for relevant products, and ensure customers are set up to realize ROI, allowing Account Managers to focus on day to day relationship and commercial growth.

What You Will Do

• Manage customer onboarding for new DA/Yield/Engage customers via the handoff from the net new or AM sales teams
• Collaborate with IS and DIS team members to ensure tech setup is successfully completed in keeping with customer requirements. Act as the overall owner and customer representative for the end to end onboarding and implementation process
• Collaborate with Account Managers to eliminate any roadblocks to successful implementation/onboarding from the partner side 
• Conduct ongoing customer trainings
• Provide product demonstrations
• Support customers to solve problems for specific and individualized use cases
• Own annual setup cases as customers revise their DA/Yield/Engage use cases
• Maintain a strong understanding of the platform and product suite, including new features and how they impact customer experience
• Serve as a voice of the customer to drive product improvement
• Meet time to value targets

During the First Month:

• Learn work intake system and handoff process from AM/AE
• Partner with manager to review/refresh on standard onboarding process for DA, Yield Engage
• Get to know DIS/IS counterparts for implementation support
• Provide clear notes to relevant AMs for cases you’re assigned to

Within 3 Months:

• Become proficient in the onboarding process across all relevant products
• Understand with full clarity all steps of setting up new customers - both tasks completed by you, and those owned by supporting teams (DIS). 
• Show ability to demo products and solutions as needed for webinars, events, etc.

Within 6 Months:

• Actively make suggestions for improvements in our processes, customer communications, or the product itself
• Leverage a clear knowledge of customer roles to efficiently navigate partner organizations to eliminate roadblocks. 
• Adhere to onboarding target timelines with a 90%+ success rate

What We Are Looking For

• Bachelors degree required 
• 3 years of experience in a customer success, onboarding, or implementation role
• Excellent and evergreen understanding of the Niche products and their value proposition
• A strong understanding of Salesforce, Zendesk
• Preferred experience in the Higher Education industry, with K12 experience being beneficial as well
• Proven ability to leverage data and thoughtful questions to problem solve collaboratively with customers
• Exemplifies Niche’s core values: We do right by each other, We play to win. Not to not lose., We make no excuses., We embrace a growth mindset.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong analytical abilities to synthesize complicated problems and trends in an effort to move stakeholder decisions
• Customer-centric approach with a focus on building trust and rapport
• Ability to self-manage towards deadlines, and drive momentum on customer behalf
• Data-driven literacy to analyze customer retention and identify trends

Compensation 

Our national target base salary range is $89,120 - $111,400 plus participation in our Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program. Base compensation will be commensurate with experience and skills.

At Niche, our Total Rewards Philosophy is centered around creating a workplace environment that attracts, motivates, and retains top talent by providing a comprehensive and competitive rewards package.  This philosophy is built on the principles of performance-based compensation, best-in-class benefits and work-life balance, and employee well-being.

Interview Process

Candidate experience is a top priority for our talent and hiring teams.  We believe in providing a transparent, authentic and comprehensive interview process where you have the opportunity to learn about us while we get to know you and your experience.  The interview process is outlined here:

• Phone Screen with Talent Acquisition Partner - 30 Minutes

• Video Interview with Hiring Manager - 30 Minutes

• Team Interview - 30 Minutes

• Leadership Interview - 30 Minutes

Why Niche?

• We are a fully flexible workforce empowering our employees to choose to work remotely, in our Pittsburgh office or whatever combination suits you
• Full time, salaried position with competitive compensation in a fast-growing company
• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental and supplemental coverage
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• Stipend that allows you to build your work from home office in a style and function that suits your personal preferences
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid) in addition to short term disability for birthing parents
• Meaningful 401(k) with employer match
• Your ideas and work will make an immediate impact on our company and millions of users
• You will join a team that cares about you, our mission, our work - and celebrates our wins together!

Niche will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future for this opening.  

We are currently hiring in states where we currently have employees: AZ, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, DC, WV.

Candidates only.  No recruiters or agencies, please. Sorry, we do not offer relocation assistance.

Niche is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. Therefore, we provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry,  marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, sex, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

All interviews are being held remotely. If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.