Account Manager II

Are you looking for more than just a job and want to make difference? If so, then join the National Student Clearinghouse talent community and discover your impact today!

We are a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and the leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services. Serving the education, workforce and learner communities has been at the heart of our mission for over 30 years. Our work — performed in a trusted, secure, and private environment — provides numerous time- and cost-saving benefits to students, schools, administrators, and requestors. Education leaders rely on the Clearinghouse’s unique national student data resources to better understand student pathways and outcomes in order to help students succeed, and our research better informs practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways and enables informed decision making.

About the Role:

The Specialist II, Account Management (Account Manager II) is primarily responsible for the overall customer success of a defined set of customers within a specific geographic territory. The Account manager will promote the use of Clearinghouse offerings to public and private higher-ed institutions, educational organizations with a need to access the company’s data, state education organizations charged with oversight of public education, and outreach organizations committed to ensuring student success. These organizations include governmental and other entities with a legitimate reason to use Clearinghouse services and data to monitor student progress or to examine trends that impact public policy. You will support the regional approach to sustain and grow the Clearinghouse’s services to educational organizations and lead efforts within your territory to retain and grow business. In this role, you will manage the overall relationship with the Clearinghouse’s customer base within a specific geographical region and work directly with the Regional Relationship Manager to the same region. You will also support the field efforts related to business development and renewals with existing higher-ed customers in your assigned region.

You will be the ideal candidate if you have a robust understanding of the higher-ed industry and how verified data informs educational policy and program analysis. Traveling nationally (up to 25% of the time) is not a concern and you enjoy meeting current and prospective customers virtually and face-to-face.

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required.

How You Contribute:

• Demonstrate NSC’s competencies, which align with our corporate values. Manager will provide more detail to candidates as needed.
  • Core Competencies include: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.

Customer Focus:

• Responsible for the overall account management and customer success of existing higher-education clients within your territory.
• Conduct regular account reviews and training with higher-ed institutions, systems and organizations to ensure clients are satisfied with their service and ensure they are maintaining all necessary information to get the most out of their accounts
• Use a structured approach to understand client motivation, buying criteria, selection processes and solution preferences.
• Use a disciplined approach to prepare, set meeting objectives, dialog, position, handle objections, close and follow-up to calls.
• Demonstrate proficiency in relating, questioning, listening, positioning, and checking to determine client needs and concerns.
• Serve as a strategic partner to build, grow, and maintain profitable and long-lasting relationships with key accounts.
• Participate in major national and regional industry association and themed conferences.

Optimizes Work Processes:

• Build and execute a cadence of client value account reviews.
• Use opportunity management practices to prospect, qualify, propose, negotiate, contract, and provide ongoing support to clients.
• Recognize how new processes can help make the support of higher-ed clients more successful and willingly provides input.
• Accurately record activities within Salesforce and other Clearinghouse systems.

Collaborates:

• Regularly partner with others across the organization (e.g. product teams, implementation, legal, finance) to ensure shared objectives are met in growing/retaining a client.
• Identifies and negotiates client requested changes and works with Legal to modify standard terms, as appropriate.
• Bring an outward mindset towards including others in solutioning while maintaining one’s own personal interests – demonstrates balance of self-awareness and self determination to create better results.
• Demonstrate problem solving skills including brainstorming options, evaluation of alternatives, enlarging the potential benefits, building reciprocity, and employing objective standards.

Communicates Effectively:

• Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders within your clients to improve client satisfaction.
• Bring energy, curiosity, and conviction to conversations; Effective in a wide range of settings, from one on one meetings to presentations.
• Build rapport by relating to others, acknowledging, and empathizing; listen to understand the business issues, and for emotional content.
• Use persuasive techniques to overcome objections and demonstrate how perceptions are shared.

Be Open and Authentic:

• Demonstrate openness to new perspectives and ideas.
• Build trust with internal and external stakeholders by demonstrating consistency between words and actions.
• Seeks to understand others’ interests and needs through thoughtful questioning and listening.
• Face difficult issues and tackles them with optimism and confidence; confident delivering all messages to internal and external stakeholders.
• Understand which issues to tackle and demonstrates a willingness to develop tactics to address concerns.

Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

What You Bring to the Table:

• Bachelor’s degree, or a combination of education and experience, including military service will also be considered.
• 3-5 years of experience with managing or supporting strategic client accounts and/or supporting a business development/sales team.
• Previous work experience in higher education and/or secondary education.
• Experience using a Client Relationship Management (CRM) tool, such as Salesforce.
• Highly customer centric, resilient, personable, productive, and professional.
• Demonstrated ability to:
  • Effectively build relationships at all levels of the organization.
  • Work independently, on a team, and perform in a leadership role.
  • Multi-task and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
  • Proactively resolve client problems and/or inquiries in an effective and efficient manner.
• Detail oriented, self-motivated, and strong time management skills.
• Excellent problem solving and research skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the demonstrated ability to communicate with all levels of the organization and make effective presentations.
• Proficiency working with Microsoft Office Suite and with other collaboration tools.
• Demonstrates the Clearinghouse’s core competencies: customer focus, optimizes work processes, communicates effectively, collaborates, and is open and authentic.
• Must live within a commutable distance to Herndon, VA or in one of the Clearinghouse's approved States for hiring purposes. Refer to our HR Policies Page, located on our Careers site at https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers/human-resource-policies/, for more details.
• Must be at least 18 years old.

Additional Desired Requirements:

• Knowledge of Clearinghouse services.

Physical Demands:

• Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day.
• Use of a copy machine and telephone.
• Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day. When at HQ, required to work in close proximity to others in an open office environment
• Occasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach.
• Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Must be able to hear, speak, read, and concentrate.
• Must be flexible to travel via car, train, and plane occasionally, when needed (<25%).

Benefits and Related Information

The National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account, are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays and up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period. Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 11 paid holidays per year.

Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health and wellness benefits. To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance!

Additionally, we reasonably believe that the salary range for this position is between $61,800 and $81,100.

Internal Candidates: If you feel that you qualify and meet the requirements of the job, we highly encourage you to apply and focus on preparing for the application process. Once the final candidates are selected, they can anticipate a review of the compensation prior to any offer made.

The requisition will be open for a minimum of three days, and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment.

Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)