Senior Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Scholarly is building the next generation of AI-powered software for higher education, focusing on faculty data management. They are seeking a Senior Sales Development Representative to drive top-of-funnel growth through strategic prospecting and pipeline development while collaborating with senior leaders in higher education.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct strategic research to identify and prioritize prospects within higher education institutions, including provosts, deans, associate deans, VP of Faculty Affairs, and IT leadership
• Execute multi-channel outbound campaigns – cold calls, personalized emails, LinkedIn outreach, and event-based touchpoints – to generate qualified pipeline
• Engage with prospects to understand their institutional needs, challenges, and goals related to faculty data management, workflows, and administrative efficiency
• Clearly communicate the value proposition of the Scholarly platform, with a deep understanding of key features, competitive differentiators, and customer pain points
• Qualify leads and schedule product demos and discovery meetings for Account Executives and company leadership
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all interactions and pipeline activity in HubSpot
• Build and continuously improve outbound sales playbooks – messaging templates, objection handling guides, targeting criteria, and outreach sequences
• Analyze outreach performance data to refine strategies, improve conversion rates, and identify new market opportunities
• Stay current on trends in higher education, EdTech, and AI to inform prospecting strategies and conversation positioning
• Collaborate closely with Account Executives, Marketing, and Product to align on messaging, ideal customer profiles, and campaign strategy
• Provide market feedback to the product and engineering teams based on prospect conversations to help shape future product developments
• Manage stakeholder communications with clarity, confidence, and a bias for action

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree required
• 2+ years of experience in sales development, business development, or a related sales role; bonus points for experience in the education technology or higher education sector
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding pipeline generation and meeting-setting targets
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport and engage with senior-level stakeholders
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; able to manage high-volume outreach without sacrificing quality
• Self-motivated and goal-oriented, with a passion for achieving targets and driving results in a fast-paced environment
• Proficiency with CRM software (HubSpot is our CRM) and sales engagement tools (e.g., ZoomInfo, Starbridge, LinkedIn Sales Navigator)
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; comfort communicating with executive-level contacts in higher education
• Comfort with technical concepts such as SaaS platforms, AI, and data integrations (not required to be technical, but must be fluent in discussing a software product)
• Passion for higher education, EdTech, or mission-driven software preferred