Business Development Associate

What's the Job?

As our Business Development Associate, you'll be a growth engine for Collegewise's partnership initiatives. Your primary focus will be generating qualified partnership leads through high-volume outbound prospecting, then seeing them through the entire sales cycle —you'll be the first voice many potential partners hear when they're considering bringing Collegewise to their organization. You'll reach out to HR leaders, benefits managers, and school administrators to introduce them to our college counseling services, sparking conversations that could transform how hundreds or even thousands of families experience college admissions.

But this role isn't just about new business. You'll also dedicate time to nurturing and expanding our smaller existing partnerships. You'll maintain ongoing communication with these partners, serving as their primary point of contact for routine questions and relationship management. You'll monitor these partnerships for expansion opportunities, identify cross-sell and upsell signals during partner check-ins, and build trust through consistent follow-through and proactive communication. Some of our most successful partnerships started small, and your attention to these relationships will help them grow.

Here's what your days and weeks will look like:

(75% of your time)

• Pipeline Generation & Outbound Prospecting: You'll conduct 50+ daily touchpoints through calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages to identify and engage potential B2B partners across Fortune 500 companies, large employers, schools, and mission-aligned organizations. You'll maintain consistent activity of 250+ weekly outbound touches and respond to inbound leads within 2 hours during business hours. This is high-volume work that requires persistence, organization, and the ability to make every interaction feel personal and genuine.
• Lead Qualification & Meeting Management: You'll hold initial discovery meetings with potential partners, asking thoughtful questions to understand their needs and assess fit. You'll qualify prospects effectively and advance appropriate opportunities to the next phases—sales presentations, partner calls, or contract discussions. You'll schedule, confirm, and manage meetings with qualified partners, ensuring smooth communication and follow-up throughout the sales cycle. You’ll manage and drive the full sales cycle, including pitching, presenting, and contracting, while ensuring all client needs are met and the deal is successfully closed.

(25% of your time)

• Account Management & Partnership Growth: You'll keep a pulse on our smaller existing partnerships, checking in regularly to see how things are going and where we might do more together. You'll spot opportunities where a partner who started with one service might benefit from others we offer, or where we could serve more of their employees or students. You'll be the person these partners know they can count on—someone who follows through, stays in touch, and genuinely cares about helping them succeed.
• CRM & Data Management: You'll track all activity in HubSpot with daily updates on interactions, lead stages, next steps, and contact information. Your meticulous record-keeping will support team collaboration and pipeline reporting, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
• Strategic Support: You'll collaborate with the Partnerships team to develop proposals, pitch decks, and partnership materials tailored to each opportunity. You'll support special campaigns, enterprise RFPs, and team initiatives. And importantly, you'll contribute insights from your prospect and partner conversations to inform our partnerships strategy—your voice matters here.
• Relationship Building & Representation: Whether you're reaching out to a Fortune 500 benefits director or checking in with a partner from a small independent school, you'll build and nurture relationships through professional, empathetic communication. You'll represent Collegewise's mission and values in all partner interactions, positioning us as a trusted resource for families navigating college admissions.

This is a building role on a small, startup-style team where you'll help establish sales infrastructure, refine processes, and shape how we approach partnership development from the ground up. If you're someone who thrives when given the freedom to test, learn, and improve systems while maintaining the discipline to execute consistently, you'll love this role.

Who We're Looking For (You)

• You’re someone who’d rather be challenged by something important than phone it in for something mundane. You want to commit to a calling that matters to you, and you have high expectations of yourself, your job, and your employer. 
• You’re inspired—not drained—by high-volume outbound prospecting. Making 50+ calls and sending countless emails in a day doesn't intimidate you. You understand that every "no" is just one step closer to a "yes," and you bring genuine curiosity and warmth to every conversation.
• You're a relationship builder who wins people over easily and earns trust quickly. You have a knack for making people feel heard, understood, and genuinely cared for—not like another name on a call list. 
• You're organized, consistent, and detail-oriented. You never miss a follow-up, you keep your CRM pristine, and you always follow through. You understand that trust is built through hundreds of small moments of reliability.
• You're a self-starter who can balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, and you're also smart enough to ask for help when you need it. You're comfortable with ambiguity and get excited about the opportunity to help build processes and systems.
• You're collaborative and generous with your insights. You're not just gathering data—you're learning from every conversation, sharing what you discover with your team, and enabling wins for everyone.
• You have strong written and verbal communication skills. You can craft a compelling cold email, hold an engaging discovery call, deliver an engaging pitch, and represent our mission authentically in every interaction.
• You have previous experience in sales, business development, or account management—especially in education, benefits, HR, or B2B partnerships. You're familiar with CRM systems like HubSpot. You've successfully managed both new business generation and account growth simultaneously.
• Most importantly, you believe in the vision of Collegewise. You're excited about the prospect of helping us reach families who might never have known college counseling was even an option for them.

How You'll Know You're Crushing It

• Activity & Consistency: You maintain 200+ outbound touches per week, respond to inbound leads within 2 hours during business hours, and keep HubSpot updated daily with accurate contact information and interaction notes.
• Conversion & Pipeline Quality: You book 10-20 qualified meetings per month from outbound prospecting. You progress 30-40% of meetings to the next sales phase (presentations, partner calls, or contract discussions). You maintain strong show-up rates and advance opportunities through the pipeline with clear next steps.
• Account Growth: Your existing partners feel taken care of and see you as a trusted resource. You identify and communicate expansion opportunities, helping smaller partnerships grow into larger ones over time.
• Strategic Contribution: You support the team by creating or improving pitch decks, sales materials, and enablement resources. You contribute to special campaigns, enterprise RFPs, and cross-functional initiatives. You bring insights that improve team processes and help us all get better.

Compensation and Benefits

• Base Salary: $60,000–$75,000, depending on experience
• Performance Bonus: Eligible for an additional 10-15% of base salary in bonus based on activity and conversion performance
• Benefits: Full suite of benefits including vacation time, summer work hours, paid parental leave, and comprehensive health insurance
• Start Date: We're looking to fill this role as soon as possible, but we can be flexible to accommodate the right person.
• Location: Remote (can be based anywhere in the U.S.)

How to Apply

Instead of a traditional cover letter, please choose 3 of the following 5 questions to answer (150-250 words is a helpful guideline, but use as much or as little space as you need). We're most interested in learning about your approach to business development, relationship building, and how you work.

Application Questions (choose 3):

1. This role involves daily outbound prospecting where most calls and emails won't get responses. Tell us about a time when you had to stay motivated through repeated "no's" or silence. What kept you going, and what was the eventual outcome?
2. Describe a time when you built a meaningful professional relationship with someone who wasn't initially interested in what you had to offer. How did you approach opening and developing that conversation, and what made the difference in earning their engagement?
3. CRM hygiene and data accuracy are critical in this role. Tell us about your experience maintaining databases, tracking systems, or other tools that required consistent attention to detail. What habits or approaches have you developed to keep data clean and useful? (If you don't have direct CRM experience, describe another system or process you've maintained carefully.)
4. Imagine you're on a first call with an HR leader at a large company. They mention they "might be interested in college planning benefits for employees." What 3-4 questions would you ask to understand whether this is a strong partnership opportunity? Walk us through your thinking.
5. This role sits at the intersection of business development and education access. What draws you to business development work specifically, and why does doing it at Collegewise—a company helping families navigate college admissions—appeal to you?