Head of Sales / Business Head : K-12 publishing

Location: Hyderabad / chennai / Bangalore

Interested candidates must contact S Krishnan at (phone hidden)

Experience: 12 to 18 years

Industry: K-12 Education / Publishing / EdTech / Institutional Solutions

Reporting to: [CEO / Founder]

About Our client

Our client works with schools to create customised curriculum and learning solutions. The business is not simply about selling books; it involves helping schools make confident decisions about changing curriculum, learning material and, in some cases, classroom implementation.

We are looking for a Head of Sales / Business Head who can build and lead this business with an entrepreneurial mindset.

The Role

We are looking for an Account Entrepreneur someone who can understand a school deeply, identify what is stopping it from moving forward, mobilise the right internal resources and convert uncertainty into conviction.

The person should be able to walk out of a school meeting understanding not only what the school said, but what is actually preventing the school from taking the next step.

Every interaction should create a reason for the school to meet us again.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build and Drive the Sales Business

- Own the overall K-12 institutional sales strategy and revenue target.
- Develop relationships with promoters, trustees, principals, academic heads and other key decision-makers.
- Build a strong pipeline of school opportunities and drive them from entry to closure.
- Personally lead important and strategic accounts.

1. Consultative / Solution Selling

- Understand the school's philosophy, academic priorities, learner profile and existing curriculum/material.
- Identify the unspoken concerns and uncertainties behind the customer's hesitation.
- Translate those concerns into meaningful next steps rather than conventional follow-ups.
- Use insights, diagnostics,



curriculum comparisons, customised chapters, assessments, teacher-support solutions and POCs to move opportunities forward.

1. Own the Opportunity End-to-End

- Act as the voice of the school inside Our client .
- Convert customer conversations into transparent briefs for Academic, Editorial, Design and Production teams.
- Ensure internal teams understand who needs to be convinced, what needs to be proved and what decision the POC should unlock.
- Take ownership of the response back to the school and drive the next interaction.

1. Qualify with Commercial Judgment

After meaningful interactions, assess whether an opportunity is:
- This Year genuine need, engaged stakeholders and a visible decision path.
- Next Year genuine interest but timing, budget or readiness is not right.
- Low Priority – limited movement, weak stakeholder engagement or no clear decision path.

1. Build and Lead the Sales Team

- Hire, coach and develop high-quality institutional sales professionals.
- Establish a culture of curiosity, preparation, commercial discipline and ownership.
- Coach the team to move away from mechanical follow-ups towards value-led interactions.
- Review key opportunities and help salespeople decode stakeholder concerns and determine the right next action.

What We Are Looking For

Mandatory Experience

- Strong K-12 / institutional sales experience.
- Proven experience selling to schools and engaging promoters, principals and academic leadership.
- Strong conceptual / solution-selling capability.
- Experience selling products or solutions involving curriculum, education, learning content, publishing or related institutional offerings.
- Strong individual contribution and hands-on involvement in important accounts.
- Commercial ownership with a demonstrated ability to deliver revenue.
- Ability to work closely with Academic, Editorial, Design and Production teams.

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