Senior Scholarship Advisor (Remote - Option for Hybrid in MN)

Are you passionate about making a difference? Would you like to spend your working hours changing lives and leaving the world better than it was? Do you want to help eliminate barriers to higher education for students in need? Consider joining the amazing team at Scholarship America, where we're hard at work creating brighter futures for students-and building the plans that will help us grow to do even more.

The Senior Scholarship Advisor has two core responsibilities: sales and account management of scholarship programs. Senior Scholarship Advisors respond to incoming leads seeking scholarship management services and/or design and set-up of new scholarship programs. SSA manages the sale process - including scholarship design - from lead to deal closing. SSA also generates leads via referrals from existing Scholarship Sponsors, as well as formal referral and channel partners.

In addition to managing and executing a sales pipeline, a Senior Scholarship Advisor is responsible for working directly with assigned Key Sponsors as a trusted advisor and managing complex scholarship and/or education assistance programs and projects in a team setting. In this external-facing position, the Senior Scholarship Advisor serves as the primary contact and relationship manager for identified clients with overall responsibility for client retention and profitable growth, partnering and collaborating with other members within the organization to ensure the highest level of relationship management as well as to facilitate appropriate process or product improvements necessary to protect the user experience for our Key Sponsors and the students they represent.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Responds to incoming leads, creates proposals, and closes new deals, managing personal sales pipeline
• Proactively foster the partner relationship ensuring assigned Key Sponsors are kept up to date and aware of the program status, provide suggestions and guidance in order to maximize program impact.
• Manages the relationship with assigned Key Client(s), working as a trusted partner to manage the annual contract renewal process as well as retain and grow those relationships.
• Meets with clients, primarily by video/phone and as needed in person, to understand their goals, connect them to the SAI mission and propose solutions.
• Creates and edits documents for clients contracting renewal process and annual reviews, presentations, including proposals, conceptual agreements and Power Point presentations.
• May provide operational insight on new feature requests as a part of the organization's standard prioritization processes.
• Position may require approximately 10-20% travel.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Successful background with sales, strategic client relationships, customer service - managing positive customer engagement.
• Independent ability to drive opportunities throughout the sales cycle to reach purchase decision.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively, efficiently, and cooperatively with other people cross-functionally in on-site and virtual environments.
• Effective professional communication skills (verbal -phone, written-email, chat, letters, contracts, documentation); may include in-person contact for site visits.
• Strong time management & prioritization skills to effectively manage competing priorities.
• Strong attention to detail to ensure programs are administered according to contract parameters and timelines.
• Proficiency and experience with CRMs, MS Office Suite, including PowerPoint, Excel, familiarity with AI tools and Canva
• Bachelor's Degree in areas such as business, marketing, or education - or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years' experience working in a customer facing sales, client management, or scholarship administration operations role with direct client relationships.
• Confidence to lead undefined, diverse discussions with potentially high-level external audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively present key concepts and recommendations to customers in formal and informal settings.
• A passion for improving student outcomes and a commitment to serving students with financial need.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Knowledge of scholarship design, procedures, systems and best practices
• Experience managing high profile clients.
• Experience managing a MSA/BSA contract negotiation process.
• Previous account management experience.
• Industry association experience

Full Pay range: Exempt ($70,900 - $88,600 - $106,300)

This is the pay range for our staff in this position, from entry to fully independent and proficient in the role utilizing our propriety systems and processes. The candidate selected for this position will be offered a wage applicable to their background and skill set as aligned to our business. This will result in an initial offer between $70,900 - $90,000 annually for this position.

Application deadline: Sunday, March 2^nd (by 11:00 pm CT)

At Scholarship America, our team members are motivated by our core values: Student Impact, Teamwork, Inclusion and Curiosity. Our vision is to empower an America where those with the most need have the opportunity to thrive through equitable pathways to education and training, and we are seeking fantastic team members to make that happen.

We know the best person for the job could be anywhere, and that's why this position can work remotely within the continental United States or in a hybrid manner from either our office in Bloomington or Saint Peter, MN. Our employees enjoy a team-based, flexible work schedule, allowing them to flex around our core hours of Monday-Friday from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Central Time. Scholarship America is committed to our team's work/life balance, and our strong learning and development culture supports knowledge growth and professional development for all employees across foundational and job-specific skills.

Scholarship America offers employees a robust total rewards package, focused on supporting their health and well-being now and in the future. We offer comprehensive choices for insurance (medical, dental, vision, basic life), disability (short-term & long-term), flexible spending accounts (medical & dependent care), and a 403(b) retirement fund with a 3% company match.

In addition to schedule flexibility, we also provide paid time away from work (vacation, sick, personal, up to fifteen paid holidays annually), plus employee & dependent educational reimbursement programs which support our overall mission.

Details on our company mission, vision, values and goals can be found at www.scholarshipamerica.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer and believe in the power of a diverse workplace to better serve a broad range of student needs. All qualified candidates who meet the minimum requirements are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, parental or marital status.