About the role
About Element451
Element451 is the AI platform that takes action across the higher ed student journey, from prospect to success. Element AI CRM brings marketing, admissions, and student success into one source of truth. The Bolt Agent Platform deploys specialized AI agents that work alongside any CRM to follow up with students, read applications, and flag risk around the clock.
Colleges and universities use Element451 to enroll more students and keep them. Our partners help us reach those schools: consulting firms that advise and implement, and technology companies whose products connect to ours.
The role
Element451 is hiring a Partner Development Manager to turn our consulting and technology partners into predictable, joint value streams. You'll own a portfolio of partners, build joint pipeline with them, and get their teams and ours working the same deals. This is a mid-senior individual contributor role. You report to the VP of Strategic Partnerships and carry a partner-sourced pipeline and bookings number.
You'll work two kinds of partners:
- Consulting partners: higher ed implementation firms, enrollment and student success consultancies, and systems integrators that advise schools on CRM selection and deliver implementations.
- Technology partners: SIS and ERP vendors, application platforms, data providers, and other higher ed software companies whose products integrate with Element451.
What you'll do
- Build joint business plans with your top 8 to 10 partners, with named target accounts, pipeline goals, and a quarterly review.
- Source and co-sell deals. Run account mapping with partners, set first meetings, and stay on deals through close with our Account Executives.
- Run deal registration in HubSpot. Review submissions, resolve conflicts, and keep partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline accurately attributed.
- Enable partner teams. Deliver product training, demo certification, and sales plays so partners can position Element AI CRM and Bolt agents without us in the room.
- Launch joint go-to-market with Marketing: co-branded webinars, conference presence, case studies, and campaigns into shared accounts.
- Hand off cleanly to Services so consulting partners deliver on scope when a client project moves to them.
- Report monthly on pipeline, bookings, and partner health. Use the data to invest in partners that produce and cut the ones that don't.
- Represent Element451 at partner events and higher ed conferences.
What you bring
- 6+ years in B2B SaaS partnerships, channel sales, or alliances, with at least 3 years carrying a partner-sourced revenue number.
- A track record of growing partner-sourced pipeline that you can show in numbers.
- Experience with both consulting firms or SIs and technology partners, and a clear view of how each one makes money.
- Strong co-selling skills. You can run discovery, map accounts, and move a deal forward alongside a partner's rep.
- Working knowledge of partner economics: referral fees, resale margins, services subcontracting, and deal registration rules.
- Fluency in HubSpot or Salesforce. You keep your own pipeline clean and forecast it accurately.
- Clear writing and presenting. You can brief a partner's leadership team and train their sellers in the same week.
- Willingness to travel about 25% of the time.
Nice to have
- Higher ed experience in admissions, enrollment, student success, or continuing education technology.
- Relationships in higher ed consulting firms or in ecosystems such as Ellucian, Workday Student, Slate, Salesforce Education Cloud, or Anthology.
- Experience selling or partnering around AI agents or automation products.
- Experience building a partner program from an early stage: tiers, certification, a partner portal, or PRM tools.