Head of Business Development & Client Success (USA based) at D2L Full Time

PLEASE NOTE: D2L announced a planned spin-out of the D2L Wave product into a standalone independent company. This role will be a part of the new entity known as SkillsWave, and post-close will not be affiliated with D2L.

SkillsWave is a dynamic upskilling and education-as-a-benefit company dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations to thrive in the rapidly evolving landscape of work. Our innovative approach combines cutting-edge technology with personalized learning experiences to equip employees with the skills they need to succeed in their careers. To do this, we need to give talented, enthusiastic, and passionate people opportunities to create, develop, and collaborate on projects that revolutionize the learning environment.

Job Summary:

The Head of Business Development and Client Success for SkillsWave is responsible for two main areas: (1) growing new corporate clients through leading a team of sales executives, and (2) leading implementation adoption for new and current clients. Leading the sales team, this individual will establish and implement plans to exceed pipeline generation goals, closing enterprise deals in the learning upskilling space. The Implementation and Adoption team is then responsible for supporting client implementations of our education-as-a-benefit platform, working collaboratively across the department with Sales, Marketing, Educational Partners, and Product to ensure positive engagement with the clients.

This leader will manage a team of Account Executives and Business Development Representatives through identifying and establishing key relationships with high level decision makers, initiating the discovery process and maintaining a pipeline of qualified, prospective customers that ultimately leads to new business growth. This is a unique opportunity to grow clients and lead a team to high performance by refining processes, and driving the team to a sophisticated, consultative approach leading to effective outcomes.

This leader is also knowledgeable about the field of education-as-a-benefit and corporate training, and maintains a high level of currency in the field.  The Head of Business Development and Client Success creates clear and simple processes for managing relationships and will oversee and coach the team developing and executing customer experience programs, process improvements, reporting and strategy implementation.

How Will I Make an Impact? 

• Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Ed Partnerships to align messaging with activities, and ensuring cross-functional transparency to drive growth.
• Supervise staff where needed and provide constructive feedback to support continual growth and development.
• Develop strong relationships with new and existing clients to ensure high adoption of the Wave platform and the accompanying training and education.
• Responsible for continually increasing the usage of the Wave platform with existing clients and new clients.
• Responsible for creating client account plans for continual adoption and usage of the education-as-a-benefit platform
• Interface with D2L Wave and Corporate Advisory groups to foster continual engagement with key partners in the field of corporate learning.
• Foster a culture of customer empathy, partnership, and continuous value creation
• Expand revenue in accounts through cross-sell and up-sell in partnership with sales
• Advance initiatives to build long term customer advocacy
• Manage a team of D2Lers and champion a high-performing culture by connecting your team’s day-to-day accountabilities to D2L’s mission by setting clear objectives and performance expectations with your team members.
• Responsible for supporting vision, planning, and defining team objectives, and leading execution of objectives
• Work with your peers and leaders to drive productivity, efficiency, and hold the team accountable for high-quality outcomes
• Play a key role in interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new team members. Provide expertise and coaching/mentorship to the team members and developing high-performing teams.
• Produce and actively participate in knowledge sharing as well as professional development initiatives
• Develop sound risk management and mitigation framework and reporting that highlights strong leading indicators and predictive methodology to prevent churn and increase net revenue retention
• Recruit, develop and coach team members to be domain-level experts in consultative sales, with intermediate to advanced knowledge of the field of learning and development upskilling where those  roles consist of prospecting, opportunity identification and pipeline generation
• Develop Business Development Representatives (BDRs) into candidates for future Account Executive (AE) and Client Sales Executive (CSE) roles
• Create and implement strategies to increase lead conversion rates
• Maintain accurate and timely forecast data and be able to identify opportunities for continuous improvement
• Move fast and close the loop on leads from multiple sources, including the SVP and the CEO
• Expertise in the competitive landscape & customer needs across the corporate and learning and development markets D2L for Business serves so your organization can effectively position D2L’s value proposition to prospective clients
• Provide support in the partnership, planning and execution of marketing events
• Exceed monthly, quarterly, annual activity and pipeline targets, across all markets
• Define, monitor, and deliver on performance goals
• Implement and improve sales processes focused on messaging, data, and continual improvement
• Work closely with the Integrated Marketing teams on joint initiatives such as campaigns, account based marketing and social media strategies to increase awareness
• Understand and optimize the tech stack and advocate for the effective use of tools and technology that are essential to the BDR team’s ability to exceed targets and scale efficiently
• Recruit, develop and coach team members to be domain-level experts in consultative sales, with intermediate to advanced knowledge of the field of learning and development upskilling where those  roles consist of prospecting, opportunity identification and pipeline generation
• Develop Business Development Representatives (BDRs) into candidates for future Account Executive (AE) and Client Sales Executive (CSE) roles
• Create and implement strategies to increase lead conversion rates
• Maintain accurate and timely forecast data and be able to identify opportunities for continuous improvement
• Move fast and close the loop on leads from multiple sources, including the SVP and the CEO
• Expertise in the competitive landscape & customer needs across the corporate and learning and development markets D2L for Business serves so your organization can effectively position D2L’s value proposition to prospective clients
• Provide support in the partnership, planning and execution of marketing events
• Exceed monthly, quarterly, annual activity and pipeline targets, across all markets
• Define, monitor, and deliver on performance goals
• Implement and improve sales processes focused on messaging, data, and continual improvement
• Work closely with the Integrated Marketing teams on joint initiatives such as campaigns, account based marketing and social media strategies to increase awareness
• Understand and optimize the tech stack and advocate for the effective use of tools and technology that are essential to the BDR team’s ability to exceed targets and scale efficiently

What you’ll bring to the role: 

• Ability to effectively communicate to stakeholders at all levels of the organization – with excellent written, oral, and presentation skills
• Model high energy level, demonstrated drive to succeed, with a sense of urgency in a fast paced and rapidly growing organization
• Experience in the field of corporate learning and development in the US.
• Ability to formulate and communicate a clear, long term business development strategy aligned with the organization’s overall goals and market dynamics.
• Strong interpersonal skills to establish and maintain relationships with key industry players, potential clients, and strategic partners.
• Understanding of financial models, cost structures, and revenue streams to assess the financial viability of potential opportunities and partnerships.
• Ability to lead and inspire a high-performing business development team, fostering a collaborative and results-driven culture.
• Experience within a growth-oriented SaaS companies is ideal
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Thorough understanding of business management, forecasting strategy and techniques
• Experience working in education technology or knowledge of business drivers for Higher Education organizations is a plus

Suggested Qualifications/Experience:

• Experience managing clients and/or partnerships for revenue generation in corporate learning and development (preferred), or in higher education or training
• Experience leading teams
• Experience with interpreting data and analytics
• Experience implementing either educational technology initiatives, online learning programs, or partnership programs
• Experience creating and presenting plans for client success, and delivering on those plans
• Experience managing clients within the field of education – external and internal – and of varying sizes

Business Development & Sales:

• 10+ years of Business Development or equivalent experience with 5+ years of progressive leadership roles in enterprise-level sales in the corporate learning space
• Direct evidence of closing large enterprise-wide deals in short timeframes
• Salesforce experience a must, Outreach or equivalent platform experience a plus
• Experience running BDR teams
• Knowledge of competition in the space of upskilling, learning platforms (LMS/LXP & skills platforms), for example:  Degreed, Docebo, Guild, InStride, EdAssist, 360Learning or similar, along with strategies of competitors
• Some SaaS experience required

D2L is committed to a fair and inclusive work environment. We are an equal opportunity employer that hires and attracts talent regardless of age, race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, sex, status as a protected veteran or any other legally protected grounds and will not discriminate on these bases. We draw on diversity of thought and experience to reflect the rich array of cultures representing our broad customer base and we seek talent with diversity of life experiences and perspectives from around the world. If you have special accessibility requirements that need to be considered during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing us at careers@d2l.com and a member of our HR team will get back to you. Information received relating to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially. D2L maintains a drug-free workplace.