Rize Education Overview

• Mission: fundamentally transform higher education and provide every student with an enjoyable and riskless pathway to a fulfilling career

• Initial Problem: colleges desperately need to increase enrollment & improve outcomes, but can’t afford the upfront investment & costs for new degree programs

• Solution: high-quality, flexible degree programs that dramatically reduce cost and risk. By allowing colleges to add new online courses taught by other institutions, Rize provides non-profit, accredited colleges & universities with the fastest and most affordable way to add skills-based majors & minors for college credit

• Funding: raised Series B in 2024 from Thrive, Founders Fund, Flume, Strada, and other investors to pursue significant growth and product improvements. Projected to be profitable by Fall 2026 with no need for additional funding

• Team: 55+ person team that includes college athletes, educators, Jeopardy! participants, Ivy Leaguers, and hustlers who paid their own way through community college, all with the shared goal of improving education for current and future generations
  

The Role

Rize powers 600+ academic programs for over 115 colleges seeking innovative ways to grow enrollment and improve student outcomes. We have built an incredible team, all working toward our primary goal: creating an educational product that will transform the college experience by increasing student ROI. We’re looking for a driven, thoughtful, and mission-aligned individual who will be excited and motivated by the high standard of excellence we seek to maintain.

The higher education industry is undergoing profound transformation. College leaders are under immense pressure from their board and the marketplace to do more with less: control costs while growing net tuition revenue, preserve tradition while modernizing academic offerings, maintain independence while finding new ways to collaborate. Rize uniquely allows college leaders to do it all. 

As a Business Development Lead, you will drive Rize’s future growth by working closely with the Growth Marketing and Account Executive (AE) teams to collaboratively generate and qualify leads that build Rize’s sales pipeline. You will serve as the initial contact for potential clients and be tasked with architecting and executing multi-threaded engagement strategies to penetrate new accounts. Your mission is to cultivate a robust pipeline by articulating Rize’s value proposition, initiating complex sales cycles, and laying the foundation to help our partners drive enrollment and modernize their academic portfolios. 

We are looking for an individual who is energized to learn and develop a career in B2B sales You are inquisitive, employ a growth mindset, and are motivated to establish connections with institutional leaders through tailored and innovative communication. You are resourceful, persistent, detail-oriented, thrive in fast-paced environments, and hungry to help your team win. 

You will report to the Head of New Business (10th Rize employee) and support a team of three Account Executives alongside another Business Development teammate.  

Responsibilities

• Generate pipeline for the Account Executive team through thoughtful, persistent outreach and create customized messaging to drive qualified opportunities.

• Leverage a multi-channel outbound prospecting approach (outbound calling, email, LinkedIn, Outreach, etc.), developing and refining team sequences, templates, and messaging to build a repeatable, scalable process. 

• Identify and Research prospective accounts that align with Rize’s mission and ideal customer profile. 

• Develop territory plans with the AE team based on account tier scoring to prioritize the highest-value prospects.

• Maintain sharp CRM hygiene by proactively updating activity metrics and account-level information.

• Clearly articulate the Rize Value proposition and ways that Rize can deliver value to its partner campuses.
  

Primary KPIs

You will be evaluated on metrics that reflect both performance and process, including:

• Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) Generation

• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) to SQL conversion rate

• Outbound Activity Volume 
  

Qualifications

• 0 - 2 years of Sales, Sales Development, or Marketing Experience is preferred but not required. We are open to individuals excited to start a career in sales.

• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills, with a focus on persuasive messaging and the ability to tailor your communication style to different audiences.

• Passion, commitment, and a deep belief in the Rize mission.

• High standard of personal accountability and relentless pursuit of goals.

• Low ego and humble individual who is willing to work with and learn from others.

• Preferred: Familiarity with sales tools such as Salesforce, Outreach, Gong, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to network with prospects and manage your book of business

• This position can be in person (office in Flatiron, NYC) or remote
  

Compensation

Compensation will vary with experience, but a rough range will be:

• On Target Earnings: $80,000 - $115,000

  • Roughly an 80/20 split between base salary and commission. Commission percentage increases at higher end of the range

  • Commission compensation is uncapped

• Equity: 500 - 1,000 shares
  

Press and Publications

The Higher Education Model is Broken. Together We Can Fix It.

Expert View: Sharing courses could help small private colleges survive

What To Do About The High Costs Of Higher Education: One Model Of School Collaboration