Chief Sales Officer

The Chief Sales Officer (CSO) owns Thinking Nation's full revenue engine — leading the district sales cycle from prospecting through close, building and coaching a results-driven team, and maintaining HubSpot pipeline reporting and live revenue forecasts. This role brings fluency in district funding mechanisms to align our value proposition to available budget, and represents Thinking Nation at conferences and partner meetings. Beyond sales, the CSO drives marketing strategy to expand awareness and adoption, managing a part-time Marketing Specialist on execution while monitoring engagement signals to activate targeted outreach. Cross-functionally, this role partners with Marketing on CAC optimization, an Engagement Specialist on NRR, Curriculum and Platform on translating new offerings into sales narratives, and Operations on procurement/onboarding handoff.

Builder role with real authority. You set the strategy and execute it — with direct partnership to executive leadership.

Key Responsibilities

District Partnerships

• Lead the full district pipeline sales cycle from prospecting through closing; navigating procurement, board approvals, and multi-stakeholder decisions.
• Build and coach a sales team with clear KPIs and a culture of accountability.
• Fluency in district funding (Title I, Title IV, state funds) to match value to available budget.
• Represent Thinking Nation at education conferences and district meetings.

Revenue Operations & Strategy

• Own HubSpot pipeline stages, deal tracking, analytics, and reporting.
• Maintain live revenue forecasts and dashboards for leadership visibility.
• Track unit economics — ARR, NRR, CAC, renewal rates — and flag risks proactively.

Marketing Operations & Strategy

• Strategize marketing campaigns to drive awareness and adoption; manage a part-time Marketing Specialist to implement.
• Monitor potential partner engagement signals to identify adoption indicators and trigger targeted outreach.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Marketing: Implement marketing strategies and optimize CAC.
• Engagement: Collaborate with the Engagement Specialist to ensure positive NRR.
• Curriculum & Platform: Translate new offerings into district sales narratives.
• Operations: Coordinate procurement and handoff to onboarding.

What Success Looks Like

First 30 Days

Deep familiarity with district partnership history, current pipeline, and HubSpot CRM. Audit of sales cycle gaps and highest-priority target districts.

First 90 Days

Working district outreach playbook with active prospects at multiple pipeline stages. HubSpot dashboards live and tracking pipeline velocity, engagement signals, and district adoption progress.

Year One

Measurable growth in district partnerships. Documented, repeatable sales process covering prospecting, RFP response, procurement navigation, and renewal. High-performing sales team with shared mission-driven culture.

What We're Looking For

Required qualifications — in priority order:

• Education sales leadership: 3–5 years in institutional sales or revenue leadership with demonstrated success closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals in K–12 education or EdTech.
• K–12 district sales experience: 5–8 years of direct experience selling to school districts, including procurement processes, RFP response, board approval timelines, and vendor compliance requirements.
• HubSpot CRM expertise: Hands-on ownership of HubSpot — deal tracking, contact management, pipeline stages, behavioral email automation, and reporting dashboards.
• Data-driven decision-making: Demonstrated track record using pipeline data, engagement signals, and unit economics to adjust strategy and drive outcomes.
• Sales team leadership: Experience building and managing a team — setting KPIs, instilling pipeline discipline, coaching, and maintaining performance accountability.
• District funding fluency: Working knowledge of Title I, Title II, Title IV, and state formula funds — and how to position curriculum solutions within available budget sources.
• Executive presence: Credible and compelling with district administrators, curriculum directors, school board members, and state education leaders.
• Availability to work PST hours and travel approximately 1–5 times per quarter.

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience scaling a mission-driven startup in the education space.
• Knowledge of state-level curriculum adoption processes and state education agency relationships.
• Familiarity with the social studies, civics, or history education landscape.

Who Thrives at Thinking Nation

The people who succeed here are builders — leaders who own their outcomes, operate with a high degree of autonomy, and are energized by the complexity of institutional change. You will lead a team, but you will also roll up your sleeves. You will set the strategy, and you will execute it. If you are motivated by impact as much as revenue and believe better civic education changes students' lives — this role is for you.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: specific range determined by candidate experience
• Performance compensation
• Health, dental, and vision coverage
• 4% matching 403b retirement contributions

Notice of Automated Hiring Tools

Thinking Nation may use artificial intelligence (“AI”) and automated decision systems (“ADS”) to assist with application screening, candidate evaluation, assessments, and scheduling during the hiring process.

These tools support — but do not replace — human decision-making, and no employment decision is made solely by automated means.

Thinking Nation complies with applicable laws, including the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and prohibits unlawful discrimination in employment practices.

Applicants needing a reasonable accommodation or alternative process may contact nicollette.jimenez@thinkingnation.org.

Thinking Nation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

All employment decisions are made based on qualifications, merit, and organizational needs. We are committed to compliance with all applicable federal and state fair employment practices laws, including those enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).