Solutions Consultant

A Solution Consultant requires a blend of product expertise, strategic thinking, business acumen, leadership skills, and effective communication abilities to successfully influence strategic technology decisions within the GTM team at Ready Education and for existing and potential clients. This role involves working with sales leadership and the sales teams (both CSMs and AEs), aligning to deliver custom product demos for both existing and potential clients. Solution Consultants must be both good listeners and good storytellers and be an expert at delivering the value of our unique platform. This role will need to provide leadership in a dynamic and evolving technological landscape.

• Leadership

  • Provide leadership and guidance to the GTM team regarding our product portfolio and demonstrate best practices when delivering presentations
  • Mentor and coach GTM team members on the technology stacks and technical capabilities of the product portfolio
  • Drive consensus among stakeholders on solution decisions where appropriate

• Communication

  • Foster strong relationships with key stakeholders within Ready, providing links between GTM and the Product team functions to providing competitive analysis.
  • Create and participate in compelling scripted and non-scripted presentations, customer consultations and strategy, execution of proposals, and knowledge of current trends in Higher Education.

• Technology

  • Possess and maintain extensive knowledge of all internal and partner solutions.
  • Possess and maintain knowledge of emerging technologies and industry trends.
  • Continuously improve and refine best practices concerning the Ready product portfolio.
  • Foster a culture of learning and innovation within the GTM team
  • Collaborate with clients, external vendors, and partners to integrate third-party solutions

• Sales

  • Work directly with the sales teams on customizing solutions for clients
  • Work on high-priority deals and coordination of sales support teams to execute the solutions' strategy
  • Evaluate and help respond to RFPs, overseeing response stewardship and maintaining a library of standard responses. Conduct competitor analysis, collaborating with internal teams to ensure accurate and transparent assessments of the competition, thereby sustaining Ready's competitive edge in the market
  • Contribute where possible to elevate and advance sales throughout each stage
  • Delivering demonstrations and facilitating/leading discussions on behalf of the company - with key stakeholders, budget holders, and C-suite executives at institutions who may be prospects or existing clients.

• Strategic Thinking

  • Collaborate with all GTM teams to help inform the development of a next-generation Go-to-Market strategy.

  • Develop a strategic vision for technical solutions and communicate it to clients

  • Help to align solution technology roadmaps with long-term business goals

  • Anticipate future tech trends based on customer interaction, assessing and communicating them within GTM

ROLE PURPOSE

As a Solution Consultant, you will directly impact our mission of helping students succeed by partnering with team members across functions throughout the company to generate revenue. This full-time position reports to the Director, Field Strategy and Enablement and your primary objectives will be to: 

1. Work with the sales team (AEs and CDMs) to craft and deliver “storified” product demonstrations that are tailored to a prospect’s specific needs and goals as uncovered during the discovery process to secure new customers and drive new ARR.

2. Provide product UI training to sales and CSM team members as necessary to help facilitate team learning.

3. Partner with the product managers as well as the product marketing team to ensure that the Ready Education demo instance is consistently updated and maintained in a manner that allows for the best possible user experience. Partner with the Activation and Integration team to create custom demos.

4. Communicate with our Product team to relay competitive analysis and encourage product enhancements.

In this role, you will frequently have conversations with various leaders at Higher Education institutions about their goals and objectives regarding student success, retention, engagement, and mental health. You must be comfortable with and excited to help these leaders shape the future of the college experience.

REPORTS TO

Director, Strategy, and Enablement 

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

Collaborate with all GTM teams and executive leadership to help inform the development of a next-generation Go-to-Market strategy.

In partnership with Sales leadership, the Sales team, and Customer Success, formulate and execute strategies to reach revenue objectives by adopting Ready product platforms. This person works directly with the Americas and the E2AP sales team and CS to help qualify, advance, and accelerate deals through the pipeline.

Provide input and insight to the Product and Product Marketing team. Drawing from firsthand experience of working with customers, provide insights for further development of understanding scenarios and business cases that improve the product portfolio feature set. Also provide support and in-depth knowledge for the Product Marketing team, ensuring GTM strategies and collateral are aligned with product capabilities and best practices*.*

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Coach and mentor other Ready employees on aspects of working with the product portfolio

• Provide direction and specialist knowledge in applying the technology/application solutions to the client environment, assist in customizing solutions

• Work on high-priority deals and support the GTM teams to create compelling solutions for prospective customers.

• Focuses on complex sales and upsell opportunities that need creative and complex solutions

• Advise internal and external clients on solutions

• Continually evaluate and where appropriate revise processes that support the work of the solution architect team

• A leading team member, providing direction, and mentoring others

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Collaborate within the Solution Architect team to prioritize tasks based on strategic goals.

• Engage with the Sales team to plan meetings, understand requirements, and set up demos to showcase Ready products to both prospective clients and existing partners..

• Discover the client’s needs and business objectives, and align our solution to help them solve their unique problems.

• Create prototypes to validate technical feasibility and showcase solutions to clients.

• Provide input to product development teams for designing and developing new features based on client feedback and market trends.

• Plan, provide, and review new product features and provide guidance and training to the sales and CSM teams.

• Engage with RFPs/Tenders to proactively understand gaps for activation and engineering teams to address.

• Participate in client meetings to gather requirements and present solutions, addressing any queries and concerns raised.

• Act as a trusted customer advocate, guiding clients on best practices and migration to Ready's advanced student engagement solutions.

• Work with higher education customers, educating, training, and building solutions across all segments.

• Create and deliver presentations, product demos, sample solutions, and discussions to drive the adoption of Ready Education offerings.

• Assess, understand, and share knowledge, insights, and strategies about emerging technologies and industry developments.

• Collaborate with internal teams to provide insight, and define the product roadmap, market positioning, and program initiatives for specific audiences, including education leaders in higher education.

• Stay current with industry certifications and continuously enhance technical skills to keep up with evolving technologies and best practices.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE ROLE

• In-depth knowledge of higher ed tech landscape and competitors

• Demonstrated project management skills

• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills: discovery, needs analysis, positioning, business justification, closing techniques

• Ability to persuade others through presentations, demonstrations, and written one-to-one and one-to-many communication environments

• No Fear: dynamic and creative, and willing to take on any challenge and make a significant impact

• Connector: The ability to connect technology with measurable business value is critical to a solutions consultant

• Strategic Thought Leader: You should also have a demonstrated ability to think strategically about business, products, and technical challenges

• Strong remote and physical presentation skills – agility to adapt your presentation style to multiple audiences including c-suite stakeholders, and effectively whiteboard your solutions in both large and small group settings

• Bachelor’s Degree required; MBA preferred

• Willingness to travel

WHO WE ARE

Ready Education is the leading mobile student engagement platform on a mission to improve student success in higher education worldwide.  Our products connect students with their peers and faculty, allow easy management of courses and finances, and help 700+ institutions strengthen their campus community.  We are a global, remote-first team.  

Ready is growing rapidly, both organically and inorganically, and has successfully completed four acquisitions in the past year. We have a diverse and world class team poised for our next phase of rapid growth. 

WHAT WILL MAKE YOU STAND OUT

Individuals who are most successful in this role will will have expertise in the following areas:

• Verbal and written communication

• Attention to detail and organization

• Active listening and curiosity

• Grit and persistence

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US

• A chance to work towards an amazing mission of helping students succeed as a team member of a global tech startup

• Remote first work environment: Ability to work from anywhere in North America with flexible hours

• Generous paid vacation time

• A chance to travel while working remotely

• Continuous learning and growth culture with many opportunities to develop professionally

• Health Benefits including health, dental, vision, company funded life & disability insurance and identity protection

• Participation in matching 401K plan

• Team bonding activities

• Professional development opportunities

• Home Office Set up support with a company laptop & equipment

• A chance to work with a global collaborative, friendly and diverse team

• And Company Swag!

Although this role is 100% remote, the person in this position should be expected to travel for certain customer/industry/company events and engagements as necessary.