Sales Engineering Manager

By joining the National Student Clearinghouse, you can be sure that the work you do now will help shape the future of education and the workforce in the U.S. As the trusted source for higher education data since 1993, the Clearinghouse is the leading provider of transcript and data exchange services, automated enrollment and degree verifications, learner insights and research, and compliance solutions for schools, businesses, and learners nationwide. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Clearinghouse works with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions to meet their compliance needs and with thousands of high schools and districts to provide continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics about their alumni. In addition, the Research Center publications inform policymakers and business leaders about student educational pathways. Using our unique combination of data, analytics, and software to drive our mission, security and privacy is paramount. Join us as we continue to invest in our talent and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data on behalf of all learners. ## About the Role: The Manager, Sales Engineering leads the Sales Engineering function supporting the Custom Research and Insights portfolio within the Business Solutions division. This role is responsible for developing and leading a team who partner with Business Development, Product, Research, and customers to design, position, and communicate data-driven and research-backed solutions. Sales Engineering combines technical expertise, customer discovery, solution design, and market insight to help customers understand, evaluate, and adopt solutions that address their business needs. Serving as the bridge between customer challenges and organizational capabilities, the Sales Engineering function translates customer requirements into viable solutions, communicates solution value, and ensures technical alignment throughout the sales lifecycle. The Manager is responsible for establishing the direction, priorities, and effectiveness of the Sales Engineering function, including team leadership, technical sales support, solution consulting, customer engagement, and market feedback activities. The role partners closely with Business Development leadership to support revenue growth, market expansion, and customer retention while collaborating with Product, Research, Technology, and other stakeholders to identify customer needs, shape solution strategies, and improve customer outcomes. This position ensures the Sales Engineering team consistently delivers high-quality discovery, solution development, demonstrations, proposal support, and technical consultation throughout the sales lifecycle. The Manager also serves as a key voice of the customer by translating market trends, competitive insights, and client needs into recommendations that help inform future product, service, research, and solution offerings. 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: - Partner with Business Development leadership to support revenue growth, customer retention, account expansion, and market penetration through effective solution consulting and technical sales support. - Guide the Sales Engineering team in translating customer objectives, business challenges, and technical requirements into viable, scalable, and commercially sound solutions. - Oversee technical discovery, customer assessments, solution demonstrations, proposal support, and solution recommendations throughout the sales lifecycle. - Establish and maintain standards, tools, and best practices that promote consistency, uality, and effectiveness across Sales Engineering activities. - Serve as an escalation point for complex customer opportunities, solution design challenges, and technical questions that may impact sales success or customer outcomes. - Maintain visibility into sales opportunities, customer commitments, team capacity, and priorities to ensure Sales Engineering resources are aligned with business needs. - Provide guidance on the development and application of pricing approaches, solution assumptions, and statements of work. - Collaborate with Business Development to identify customer needs, expansion opportunities, emerging market trends, and potential applications for existing and future solutions. - Partner with Product, Research, Technology, Legal, Information Security, Finance, Customer Care, and other stakeholders to evaluate solution feasibility and support opportunity advancement. - Support privacy, security, governance, compliance, contractual, and technical reviews by ensuring customer requirements are accurately documented and communicated to appropriate stakeholders. - Facilitate effective transition of opportunities from solution design and sales support activities to implementation and delivery teams following contract execution. - Maintain a thorough understanding of organizational products, services, research capabilities, data assets, and customer needs to support effective solution positioning. - Serve as a voice of the customer by providing feedback regarding customer needs, market conditions, competitive activity, and solution opportunities to Product, Research, and organizational leadership. - Collaborate with Product and Research teams to enhance value propositions, identify solution improvements, and support development of new products, services, and capabilities. - Monitor Sales Engineering effectiveness through customer engagement, opportunity support, solution quality, and other business measures to identify areas for improvement. - Improve Sales Engineering processes, documentation, technical collateral, and knowledge-sharing practices that enhance customer experience, team effectiveness, and business results. - Represent the Sales Engineering function in planning discussions related to market opportunities, customer solutions, product capabilities, and business growth initiatives. - Perform other duties as required. Workforce Management: Demonstrate the management and/or senior leadership competencies: Management Competencies: Making Complex Decisions, Being Flexible and Adaptive, Build Collaborative Relationships, Focusing on Performance, and Optimizing Diverse Talent. Senior Leadership Competencies: Balances Stakeholders, Cultivates Innovation, Drives Vision and Purpose, Strategic Mindset, and Understanding the Business. Build a team-based environment that aligns with company values, ways of working, and competencies. Ensure employees comply with company policies, procedures and regulations, while meeting established goals. Recruit and select the best talent to help optimize skills and experiences. Motivate and manage staff to maximize productivity and efficiency. Provide direction to team members, including feedback to support personal and career development and ongoing improvement. Develop and manage career development and advancement and define and monitor training and development plans to support job and career satisfaction. Coach, mentor, and ensure staff are adequately trained and provide guidance, as needed. Monitor and provide feedback on performance including annual reviews, rewards, and compensation structure