Head of Scholastic & B2B Sales

About Us

Chess.com is one of the largest gaming sites in the world and the #1 platform for playing, learning, and enjoying chess.

We are a team of 700+ fully remote people in 60+ countries working hard to serve the global chess community. We are here to support 140M+ chess players worldwide with the best possible product, content, and tools to serve the community!

We are a tech company. A gaming company. A content company. And we do it all with passion and commitment to the game. Above all we prize our mission-driven, flat, life-celebrating, no-corporate culture, and we look forward to meeting you and learning more about what you can bring to the team.

Chess.com’s kids division - ChessKid is the #1 platform for kids to play and learn chess. Our mission is to grow the game for kids and support their life-long learning journey. Our ChessKid community serves over 9M kids worldwide across 20,000 schools.

About You

You are an experienced EdTech or scholastic sales leader who believes in the joy of chess and the mission of ChessKid. You’ll lead and drive our business expansion efforts in schools, school districts, and business-to-business (B2B) sectors. You’re right at home formulating and executing strategic initiatives that will grow the game of chess within schools (K-8) in North America while supporting our global ambassadors with relevant B2B strategies.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and implement the overall business development, sales, and retention strategy and roadmaps for the Scholastic and B2B segment, aligning with the company's short-term and long-term goals.
• Identify new business opportunities, markets, and niches in the scholastic/ed-tech world to grow the game of chess with kids, and create actionable plans to capitalize on them.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and mentorship to the scholastic sales and international team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and professional growth.
• Create strong relationships with key stakeholders, partners, industry leaders, and potential clients to enhance business opportunities and collaborations.
• Lead the negotiation and closure of strategic deals, contracts, and partnerships that drive key metrics including DAU and Revenue contributing to the company's growth.
• Monitor industry trends, competitor activities, and market dynamics to identify potential risks and opportunities, adapting the business development, sales, and retention strategies accordingly.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including, marketing, product development, and finance, to ensure alignment and seamless execution of business initiatives.
• Develop and maintain a robust pipeline of prospects and clients, utilizing data-driven insights to track progress and forecast future business performance.
• Prepare and present regular reports for all levels of the company, highlighting achievements, challenges, and recommendations for the scholastic and B2B sales function.

Preferred Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field.
• Proven experience in business development, sales or strategic partnership roles within ed-tech, scholastic, and/or the B2B sector.
• Demonstrated success in driving growth through usage, revenue, retention, establishing strategic partnerships, and expanding market presence.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to understand complex business models, industry dynamics, and customer needs.
• Exceptional negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills, with a track record of building and maintaining successful relationships.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to gather and interpret market data and insights to drive informed decisions.
• Leadership experience, including managing teams and inspiring a high-performance culture.
• Proficiency in utilizing software and sales tools for managing leads and opportunities.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills working in a fully distributed team.
• Entrepreneurial sense of ownership and responsibility.
• Understanding of chess, scholastic chess and current chess products and features on the market is a bonus!

About the Opportunity

• This is a full-time position
• We are 100% remote (always have been, always will be!)
• This is open to applicants who can legally work in the US or Canada

You can learn more about us here:

• https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-chess-com-virtual-team-works-together
• https://www.chess.com/about

We look forward to meeting you!