Director of Business Development - Education K-12 and Higher Education

K-12 and Higher Education

Travel: National travel required
Type: Remote

Praesidium is a leader in sexual abuse prevention, helping organizations strengthen their prevention practices and protect those in their care. Through consulting, training, risk assessments, background screening, and accreditation, we work with organizations to build safer environments and stronger systems of accountability.

As part of our continued growth, we are expanding our commitment to the education market and seeking an experienced business development leader to help accelerate that growth.

Praesidium is seeking a highly experienced, results-driven Director of Business Development – Education to drive new business growth across K–12 school systems and higher education institutions throughout the United States.

Reporting to the SVP of Growth, this is a senior-level, individual-contributor position for a professional who knows how to engage executive decision-makers, navigate complex educational organizations, and turn strategic relationships into meaningful business opportunities.

Praesidium has an established presence within education, including relationships with school districts, universities, educational associations, and risk management organizations. However, substantial opportunities remain to expand into new institutions, educational systems, and underserved markets.

The Director will be responsible for developing those opportunities through proactive prospecting, executive engagement, strategic relationship development, and disciplined sales execution.

This is fundamentally a new business development role. Success will be measured by the ability to independently generate qualified opportunities, build a sustainable pipeline, and deliver new client revenue.

We are seeking someone who understands the unique dynamics of public K–12 systems or higher education institutions, has credibility with senior leadership, and can operate independently in a sophisticated, consultative sales environment.

• Develop and execute a comprehensive new business development strategy across K–12 and higher education, maintaining a balanced focus on both markets.
• Identify, research, prioritize, and pursue prospective institutions where Praesidium does not currently have an established client relationship.
• Proactively generate business opportunities through executive outreach, strategic networking, targeted prospecting, referrals, and industry engagement.
• Build a sustainable pipeline of self-generated opportunities rather than relying primarily on inbound leads.
• Identify opportunities for district-wide, university-wide, multi-campus, and system-level engagements.
• Establish measurable market development objectives and consistently deliver against new business pipeline and revenue expectations.

• Build relationships with superintendents, district executives, university presidents, chancellors, vice presidents, institutional risk leaders, legal counsel, and other key decision-makers.
• Initiate strategic conversations about organizational risk, student safety, abuse prevention, institutional accountability, and long-term prevention strategies.
• Understand institutional priorities, governance structures, budget cycles, and the political and operational complexities influencing purchasing decisions.
• Navigate complex, multi-stakeholder sales processes and develop relationships with both executive sponsors and operational decision-makers.
• Translate organizational challenges into opportunities for meaningful, long-term engagements with Praesidium.

• Identify education associations, purchasing cooperatives, insurance pools, risk management groups, and other organizations that can create access to prospective clients.
• Build strategic relationships that generate qualified introductions, new institutional opportunities, and broader market visibility.
• Leverage existing Praesidium relationships to identify new prospective organizations without assuming responsibility for ongoing account management.
• Identify emerging market needs, changes in education risk management, and institutional developments that may influence demand for Praesidium's services.
• Collaborate with Praesidium's Partnerships team on opportunities involving formal channel agreements or strategic partnerships.
• Represent Praesidium at relevant industry conferences and events with clear prospecting, relationship development, and revenue objectives.

• Own new business opportunities from initial prospecting and qualification through contracting and client handoff.
• Lead initial qualification and commercial discovery, collaborating with Praesidium consultants for technical discovery and solution development.
• Identify decision-makers, budget authority, institutional priorities, purchasing processes, and anticipated timelines.
• Coordinate internal resources to develop competitive proposals and strategic solutions.
• Maintain responsibility for opportunity momentum, stakeholder engagement, follow-up, commercial negotiations, and closing.
• Ensure a coordinated transition to Client Success and delivery teams after contract execution.

• Maintain an organized, prioritized target-account strategy for both K–12 and higher education.
• Consistently meet expectations for new executive-level conversations, qualified opportunities, pipeline development, and revenue generation.
• Maintain accurate and timely CRM records, including stakeholder relationships, qualification information, next steps, opportunity values, and forecasts.
• Proactively manage opportunities through the sales pipeline, identifying and addressing stalled opportunities.
• Provide regular reporting on market development progress, prospecting effectiveness, opportunity conversion, pipeline health, and revenue performance.
• Demonstrate measurable return on business development investments, including conference participation and strategic relationship development.

• 5–7 years of progressive experience in business development, consultative sales, strategic relationship development, or a related role, with demonstrated success generating new business.
• Experience working within or selling to K–12 public school systems, higher education institutions, or both, with a strong understanding of how these organizations operate and make decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to engage executive-level decision-makers, including superintendents, district leadership, university administrators, risk management executives, or other senior institutional leaders.
• Proven track record of independently identifying prospects, developing relationships, generating qualified opportunities, and converting those opportunities into new business.
• Understanding of educational governance, institutional decision-making, budget cycles, procurement processes, and the complexities of selling within public or nonprofit institutions.
• Experience navigating consultative sales processes involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and extended decision-making timelines.
• Strong executive presence, business acumen, and communication skills, with the ability to lead strategic conversations and build credibility with senior leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop and execute a prospecting strategy, manage a sales pipeline, and achieve measurable business development objectives.
• Strong organizational skills, self-motivation, and accountability, with the ability to manage multiple opportunities and maintain consistent follow-through.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with consultants, subject matter experts, and internal teams to develop solutions and advance business opportunities.
• Willingness to travel nationally for prospective client meetings, conferences, and strategic relationship development.

• Established professional relationships within K–12 or higher education, including connections with district executives, university leadership, education associations, or institutional risk management professionals.
• Experience selling professional services, consulting, training, risk management, insurance-related solutions, or other complex solutions to educational institutions.
• Familiarity with student safety, sexual abuse prevention, organizational risk management, compliance, or institutional safeguarding practices.
• Experience developing district-wide, university-wide, multi-campus, or system-level business opportunities.
• Familiarity with education service agencies, university systems, state and national education associations, insurance pools, purchasing cooperatives, or other organizations that influence institutional purchasing decisions.
• Experience identifying and developing strategic referral relationships, channel opportunities, or association-driven business development initiatives.
• Demonstrated success expanding into new territories, developing underpenetrated markets, or building a new business pipeline from the ground up.
• Experience working with CRM platforms such as HubSpot to manage prospecting activities, opportunity progression, pipeline reporting, and sales forecasting.
• Experience working across both K–12 and higher education markets.
• Bachelor's degree in business, education, marketing, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Paid time off and holidays
• 401(k) with company match
• Professional development opportunities