Director, District Partnerships (K-12 Sales)

Job Details: Job Location: Flexible Location (Anywhere in the contiguous US) - , , Position Type: Full Time, Salary Range: Undisclosed, Travel Percentage: Up to 50% , About Us
At the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), we are a vibrant, nonprofit organization committed to transforming education. We believe that every student deserves access to high-quality math and science education. Since our founding in 2007, we’ve empowered over 2.9 million students and 72,000 teachers across 1,800 high schools in 43 states. Our staff are the heartbeat of our mission, driving impactful programs that foster success in the 21st-century global economy.

NMSI is a remote-first organization, allowing staff members to work primarily from their home office. Staff must have a dedicated, distraction-free workspace with reliable high-speed internet. We value autonomy, flexibility, and effective communication across time zones, and support a culture of collaboration through virtual tools and regular check-ins.

What You’ll Do All Day
As a Director, District Partnerships (K-12 Sales), you’ll lead the vision, strategy, and execution for a defined portfolio within NMSI’s broader fee-for-service district partnership team. In partnership with the Senior Director, District Partnerships, you’ll be responsible for revenue growth, portfolio performance, pipeline advancement, proposal development, RFP response, contracting support, and cross-functional collaboration for your assigned portfolio. This role is focused on building and expanding high-value K-12 school district partnerships and state department of education relationships that advance NMSI’s mission and organizational sustainability.

As a member of the management team, you’ll serve as an organizational leader without direct supervisory responsibilities. You’ll translate portfolio strategy into execution, make independent day-to-day decisions, manage complex partnership opportunities with minimal support, and help strengthen shared practices across the district partnerships function. Your role will involve fostering trust, equity, collaboration, and accountability with internal partners and external stakeholders, ensuring that portfolio priorities are clearly understood and effectively advanced.

Your day-to-day activities will include:

Portfolio Strategy, Partnership Development, & Sales Execution

Create and manage portfolio strategy: Develop the vision, strategy, priorities, success metrics, market focus, prospecting approach, and continuous improvement practices for an assigned portfolio within the broader fee-for-service district partnership team.
Manage and grow high-value fee-for-service opportunities: Lead cultivation, solicitation, negotiation, and stewardship for assigned K-12 district partners and prospects, and for relevant state department of education accounts, ensuring disciplined relationship management and consistent pipeline advancement.
Lead proposal development, RFP response, and contracting support: Including solution design, narrative strategy, pricing and budget alignment, scope development, compliance requirements, and timely cross-functional inputs that support clear, compelling, and actionable partnership proposals.
Maintain pipeline management and Salesforce rigor: Own relationship plans, activity tracking, opportunity staging, forecasting inputs, and data quality for your assigned portfolio, contributing reliable information to team-wide planning and revenue forecasting.
Build trusted partnerships with senior leaders and cross-functional teams: Brief, prepare, and partner with executives and subject matter experts for high-stakes district and state education agency engagements; join them in external meetings; drive coordinated follow-up; and ensure a polished, strategic presence in all partnership touchpoints.

Organizational Leadership, Collaboration, & Accountability

Clarify priorities and decision ownership: Establish clear portfolio priorities, responsibilities, success measures, and decision points in partnership with cross-functional collaborators.
Lead through influence: Coordinate work across teams, facilitate alignment, and drive follow-through without direct supervisory authority, ensuring internal partners understand timelines, roles, and shared commitments.
Contribute to team-wide practices: Identify insights from your assigned portfolio, recommend improvements to sales processes and partnership approaches, and support consistent standards for relationship management, proposal quality, and data discipline.
Communicate early, directly, and constructively: Raise challenges and opportunities proactively, engage cross-functional partners before misalignment or rework occurs, and provide clear updates that support timely decision-making.
Model accountability and shared ownership: Close loops consistently, deliver against portfolio commitments, and reinforce standards for execution, collaboration, and professional behavior across partnership work.
Other duties as assigned

The Director, District Partnerships will report to the Senior Director, District Partnerships and is a full-time, regular position offering the flexibility to work from anywhere within the contiguous United States. Travel up to 50% may be required for in-person district and state education agency meetings, conferences, convenings, and organizational events.

 
Qualifications:  

What We’re Looking For
We seek an individual who is:

Experienced: At least five years of progressive responsibility in K-12 district partnerships, education sales, business development, or a related revenue-generating role, including experience securing and managing significant fee-for-service partnerships with school districts and/or state education agencies.
An Organizational Leader: Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, coordinate cross-functional work, clarify expectations, make sound decisions, and build trust, ownership, feedback, and results without direct supervisory responsibility.
A Skilled Proposal and RFP Leader: Expertise in developing clear, compelling proposals and RFP responses; synthesizing complex program, financial, and implementation information; aligning solutions to district needs; and coordinating cross-functional inputs for timely, high-quality submissions.
An Exceptional Communicator: Clarity and precision in written and verbal communication with the ability to tailor messaging for diverse audiences, including district leaders, executives, program staff, and external partners.
Tech-Savvy: Proficiency in Salesforce and other business development tools, with the ability to maintain disciplined pipeline management, forecasting, and data accuracy.
A Strategic Thinker: Ability to anticipate challenges and opportunities, navigate complex district, state education agency, and market dynamics with clarity and foresight, and translate portfolio strategy into measurable revenue growth.
Results-Driven: A focus on prioritizing tasks, solving problems, advancing opportunities, closing loops, and delivering measurable results that support organizational priorities.
A Nimble Learner: Adaptable and curious, able to quickly learn new concepts, apply feedback, and approach challenges with creativity and resilience.
Team-Oriented: Skilled at building strong partnerships and fostering an inclusive, collaborative environment that values diverse perspectives, direct communication, cross-functional accountability, and collective success.
Physical Requirements: Remote employees working from a home office must be able to sit or stand for extended periods, use a computer and other standard office equipment, and have the capability to perform the required tasks and participate in virtual meetings, as well as occasionally in-person meetings. Employees must be able to travel overnight away from their home office environment as needed. Reasonable accommodation can be arranged if necessary.

What Do We Offer?
The starting salary range for this position is $134,640 to $154,836 commensurate with experience. We take pay equity seriously and strive to ensure fair compensation for all team members. Our comprehensive benefits package includes:

Medical, dental, and vision coverage (85% paid for employees and a significant portion for dependents)
401(k) with up to 6% employer match, fully vested on day one
Potential annual salary increases and bonuses based on organizational performance
Referral bonuses
A remote-first work environment
Monthly telecommunications stipend
25+ paid holidays, including a one-week summer break and two-week winter break
Generous Paid Time Off, starting at 14 days per year that begins accruing with your first paycheck
A paid personal day that is immediately available on your start date
Access to LinkedIn Learning for continuous professional development
Annual gift card for birthdays and work anniversaries, plus additional perks for significant milestone anniversaries, including paid sabbaticals and cash bonuses
Nine weeks of fully paid parental leave, applicable regardless of gender identity, and includes births by surrogate, adoption, or foster placement of a child

Additional Information
Candidates must pass county, state, and federal-level criminal background checks as a condition of employment. Positions with fiduciary responsibilities may require additional checks.

This job description is not exhaustive; additional functions and requirements may be assigned as necessary.

Equal Opportunity Employer
NMSI provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status. We comply with all applicable laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.