Vice President of Sales

Packback’s mission is to empower every student to be fearlessly curious and find their unique voice.

These few words shape everything we do at Packback from the smallest decision to the largest. Over the last decade since our company’s founding, our team has seen first-hand the power of giving students intentionally designed spaces in their learning experience to be autonomous and curious. We have also seen the incredible benefits of using AI technology to shorten feedback loops and help students revise their work before they submit.

Packback is a pedagogy partner that uses technology as a “means to an end” to shorten feedback loops for students and instructors, improve writing and critical thinking skills, and cultivate student-centered, trust-based educational learning environments.

Packback partners with 600+ higher education and K-12 institutions and is backed by growth equity firm PSG, with a platform proven to improve student writing confidence and cut instructor grading time by 30%.

About the role

We're looking for a VP of Sales to lead and scale Packback's sales organization as we grow our presence across higher education. This role combines executive-level strategy with hands-on leadership of the team responsible for new enterprise business — setting the overall direction for how Packback sells, structures, staffs, and compensates its sales function, while staying close enough to the field to coach Account Executives through institutional partnerships and faculty-driven adoption.

You'll partner directly with the CEO and cross-functionally with Marketing, Customer Success, Product, and Revenue Operations to set sales strategy, build the infrastructure to execute it, and expand our impact on campuses across the country. This role reports to the Chief Executive Officer.

This is an opportunity for a senior sales leader who wants ownership over how a sales org is built, not just how it's run. You'll be accountable for revenue results, but you'll also shape org design, compensation strategy, and the long-term GTM architecture that determines how Packback scales.

Who is the ideal candidate?

You have experience leading enterprise sales organizations in EdTech, higher education, or another mission-driven B2B SaaS environment at the VP level or equivalent, and you've owned a sales org's structure and economics, not just its quota

You enjoy balancing strategy with execution — designing GTM motions and comp plans one day, joining a customer call or coaching a rep through a tough deal the next

You're comfortable operating as an executive partner to the CEO, translating market and pipeline data into strategy the leadership team and board can act on You're motivated by building something meaningful and are excited by the opportunity to help colleges and universities improve student learning outcomes

What you'll do

• Revenue Strategy & GTM Execution: Own the overarching sales strategy for the enterprise and B2C higher-ed business. Design and evolve go-to-market motions, organizational structure, staffing plans, and incentive structures in partnership with Finance and People to drive scalable growth.
• Team Leadership & Talent Development: Lead, coach, and develop a team of Account Executives and front-line managers. Drive a high-performance culture through structured coaching on complex, multi-stakeholder deals—from discovery through close—and proactively recruit and onboard top sales talent. You’ll directly manage both front line managers as well as some enterprise sales representatives.
• Sales Operations & Pipeline Management: Enforce forecast rigor and pipeline hygiene at the organizational level. Implement reliable processes, playbooks, and KPI tracking to ensure accurate forecasting and provide board-ready performance insights to the executive team.
• Cross-Functional Alignment & Market Strategy: Drive deep alignment with Marketing, Product, Customer Success, and Revenue Operations to optimize the end-to-end customer journey. Act as a market advocate, gathering insights from campus leaders and faculty to inform product direction and refine market narratives.

Requirements

• 10+ years sales experience, including 3+ years leading multilayered teams (manager‑ and/or director‑level reports) in B2B SaaS or EdTech businesses
• Demonstrated success selling complex solutions to higher education institutions or similarly complex organizations
• Experience managing enterprise sales cycles while supporting higher-volume opportunities or multiple sales motions
• Demonstrated success leading teams in account-based selling - navigate multi-stakeholder buying groups within each account, uncovering new sales opportunities and growing user adoption across the institution
• Track record designing or redesigning quota, territory, or comp plans that improved attainment or efficiency
• Strong coaching skills with a track record of improving individual and team performance
• Experience with sales forecasting, pipeline management, and performance metrics
• Expert negotiator - experience navigating and negotiating MSAs, data‑privacy addenda, and multi‑year pricing frameworks
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence both internal stakeholders and executive-level customers
• Familiarity with modern sales tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Gong, Salesloft, or similar platforms
• Experience with consultative sales methodologies such as Challenger, MEDDIC, or similar frameworks is a plus
• A genuine interest in education and a desire to help institutions improve outcomes for students
• Ability to travel up to 25-35 % for (domestic U.S.) for campus visits, conferences, and executive sponsor meetings
• Additional Information: Sponsorship: Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S without the need for sponsorship. Packback does not offer visa sponsorship for this role.
• Location: Currently we are only able to hire from these states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MI, NJ, NC, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, WI