Academic Account Executive
ACI Learning is a leading provider of audit, cybersecurity, and IT training solutions, empowering individuals and organizations worldwide to build technical capability and strengthen cybersecurity through compelling, comprehensive training. We are a leader in learning content, state-of-the-art Labs, and assessment technology for educational partners around the world. We have hundreds of 4- and 2-year universities, colleges, community colleges, and for-profit education institutions as long-term customers.
Our leadership position extends even further with our new SaaS learning platform, myACI, which goes beyond audit, cyber, and IT training to deliver organizational and individual knowledge assessment, analytics, and training delivery. myACI integrates AI to help organizations understand capabilities and skill gaps, then close them with targeted learning.
We are seeking a high-performing Academic Account Executive to accelerate adoption of our solutions within higher education institutions, including universities and colleges. In this role, you will work with cybersecurity and IT instructors and department leaders to demonstrate how ACI Learning’s Training and Skill Labs help them deliver the student outcomes they need. You will combine strategic selling with strong education market awareness to navigate complex buying processes and close new business in your territory.
OTE is what you can reasonably expect to earn when you hit your goals, combining base salary and commission. For this role, OTE is $130,000 per year, made up of an $80,000 base salary plus variable commission tied to performance.
The best part: commissions are truly uncapped. There is no ceiling on what you can make here. If you outperform, you earn more, period. We want high performers to win big, and our plan is built to reward the reps who build pipeline, close deals, and consistently beat quota. If you are the kind of seller who likes control over your income and wants your results to show up directly in your paycheck, this role is designed for you.
What You’ll Do
- Consistently achieve or exceed quarterly and annual sales quotas.
- Develop and maintain a healthy sales pipeline (3x quota coverage within 90 days, 4 to 5x by 180 days).
- Become deeply knowledgeable in our products and technologies so you can explain them clearly and simply to target buyers.
- Quickly research prospect accounts, identify target buyers and opportunities, and close them.
- Maintain accurate CRM records, ensuring clean data and timely, reliable sales forecasts.
What We’re Looking For (Requirements)
- 5 to 8+ years of full-cycle sales experience selling SaaS or software solutions to senior technical buyers. If you have not sold SaaS or software, please do not apply.
- Proven success achieving sales quota multiple years in a row at the same company.
- Experience closing new customers with an average order value of at least $5K to $20K.
- Experience with Salesforce, Outreach or SalesLoft, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
- Smart, curious salespeople who ask strong questions, use data to make decisions, and are self-motivated.
We Prefer
- Understanding of cybersecurity and IT technologies and trends, or a demonstrated ability to sell complex software or SaaS technologies.
- Background in higher education sales, particularly selling to department heads and faculty. Knowledge of academic buying seasonality and processes is especially helpful.
Things to Know
- You will be expected to generate 45 percent of your sales opportunity pipeline. Marketing will deliver the remaining 55 percent. We have a very strong marketing team.
- You will be provided a carefully selected set of prospect accounts that match our Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). You are expected to investigate these accounts and understand them in depth.
- We have an organized, ongoing Sales Onboarding and Enablement program to help you learn what you need to succeed quickly. We also have a great RevOps team focused on improving our systems, data, and processes so you can spend more time selling and less time fighting tools.
- We have differentiated technology used by thousands of customers, and our 2026 product roadmap is amazing. You will have new, compelling products to sell.
- We use Salesforce, HubSpot, and Outreach. You are expected to be familiar with these tools when you join. We will help you learn our specific instances, but we are not going to teach people how to use Salesforce from scratch.
