We Are Hiring! Join the thinkLaw Team As Our Business Development Officer

About Us

thinkLaw’s vision is a world where critical thinking is taught by all teachers and to all students, leveling the playing field for 21st century success. To that end, thinkLaw seeks a Business Development Officer to ensure potential partners uncover opportunities and solutions within thinkLaw products and fully complete the sales cycle, thereby growing thinkLaw’s partner base and further igniting the movement of thinkLaw where this mission becomes reality. 

thinkLaw exists to create a world where critical thinking is no longer a luxury good. We help educators teach critical thinking to all students, not just the highest achieving ones at the most exclusive schools. Rote memorization and spoon-fed learning will not prepare young people for the rapidly changing workforce that awaits them. This is why thinkLaw increases educational equity by giving all students access to critical thinking. We do this through our award-winning curriculum that uses real-life legal cases in upper grades and fairy tales and nursery rhymes in lower grades as a hook to unleash the critical thinking potential of all students and powerful professional development that helps educators apply rigorous inquiry strategies that help them transform from asking “what” and “how to” to “why” and “what if.” 

thinkLaw has partnered with over 500 school systems and organizations in 40 states in since launching in June 2015 and has thousands of opportunities for new partnerships due to our tremendous exposure through national and regional education conferences, social media and email marketing efforts, district-wide approvals in hundreds of schools districts, and the success of our founder’s books, Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students and Tangible Equity: A Guide to Leveraging Student Identity, Culture, and Power to Unlock Excellence In and Beyond the Classroom. 

thinkLaw is looking for an energetic and user-centric Business Development Officer with a passion for our mission and the execution chops to make it a reality. The Business Development Officer is a key member of our team and will own the responsibility of finalizing all closing logistics for thinkLaw’s partnerships. As our Business Development Officer, your deep understanding of our existing and must-be-created systems and proactive, thoughtful approach will be essential elements of thinkLaw’s rapid growth and expansion.

For you, this is a career-defining opportunity to join us at a critical moment and truly have a significant impact. You should have a proven track record of ed tech/curriculum sales experience, and should be adept at finalizing partnership deals through clear communication, persistent follow up, a keen understanding of school-based challenges, and an ability to empathetically connect with the problems of thinkLaw’s potential partners.

Can you help us spark a critical thinking revolution in students nationwide as our next Business Development Officer? 

As a Business Development Officer, you will:  

The Business Development Officer’s most important work is to help our school and district partners finalize and fully execute partnerships that allow thinkLaw’s products and services to make a tangible difference for their students. You will:

• Research and qualify new leads from all inbound sales opportunities. 
• Create proposals, invoices, and key documents in a way that supports clear and consistent communication with partners and internal team.  
• Follow up with prospective partners to continue meaningful engagement that results in a high percentage of conversions to long lasting partnerships. 
• Enter data, organize, and update CRM databases regularly (and as needed) to maximize thinkLaw’s knowledge base.
• Effectively communicate key product features and benefits of thinkLaw’s curriculum and services for prospective school and district partners and have the empathy and understanding needed to appropriately customize our solutions for our potential partners’ specific challenges. 
• Cultivate a keen understanding of partners’ challenges, needs, and values in order to demonstrate how thinkLaw is a fundamental solution for the school/district’s particular environment. 
• Work collaboratively with thinkLaw sales, curriculum, and support teams to ensure a cohesive experience for school and district partners.
• Work in conjunction with the entire sales team to maximize efficiency and increase effectiveness to ensure thinkLaw’s rapid growth and expansion.

A Profile – Business Development Officer

Important note before reading further: You may read this and feel like you are not 100% qualified for this role. Please apply anyway! You may not have every single quality listed in this posting, but you could very well, yet have different, but significant, relevant capabilities and experiences that would allow you to succeed in this role. Do not disqualify yourself by not trying!

Attributes  

You are:

• An expert-level prioritizer, able to manage time skillfully and tackle tasks, both large and small, with efficiency and effectiveness. 
• An independent and innovative self-starter.
• Strong cross-group collaboration skills within and beyond thinkLaw’s sales and marketing team.
• Relentlessly persistent in follow-up communications grounded in empathy instead of aggression.
• Goals- and results-oriented, proactive about dismantling roadblocks and adapting quickly to change. 
• Eager for feedback to support your own continual development and to support the positive outcomes for our team. 
• As passionate about education equity as you are about doing the important, but mundane tasks necessary to move important work forward, with an ongoing dedication to DEIB, developing your cultural competence, and embodying anti-racist leadership and inclusiveness. 
• An approachable, precise communicator, capable of speaking with intention from an authentic position without being cliche or relying on buzzwords.  
• Known for being responsible and reliable, particularly with sensitive information such as passwords and partner data.  
• Principled, with an impeccable reputation for honesty and integrity.
   

Knowledge and Expertise 

You will have a/n: 

• Proven ability to build credibility and trust, and to maintain highly valuable and outcome-based relationships with a diverse partner account base by understanding and addressing partner requirements.  
• Passion for working with educators and a desire to deeply understand thinkLaw benefits, use cases, and technical elements. 
• Strong leadership, teamwork, and cross-group collaboration skills. 
• Deep understanding of how Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) issues impact classrooms across the country and how thinkLaw equips teachers, leaders, students, and families with practical tools to make equity a reality.  
• Strong sense of empathy for the realities of classroom educators, school leaders, and school system leaders.  
• Exceptional strengths as a communicator, writer, editor, and salesperson, who is proactive, organized, and strategic about explaining how thinkLaw’s products support the needs and goals of the potential user.

Education and Experience  

The Business Development Officer will have education and experience in the following areas: 

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree or higher in education, business, public relations, communications, marketing, economics, or a related field. 
• At least 1-3 years of experience in a sales role, such as educational tech sales, sales development, account management, and/or gifts officer.
• Experience in opening and closing K-12 education technology or curriculum deals in a fast-paced environment. 
• Experience in influencing key stakeholders and decision-makers in K-12 education, including senior and executive level partner contacts. 
• Additional experience, preferred: 
• Experience with customer relationship management (CRM) systems. 
• Experience working in a 100% work-from-home environment. 

Benefits 

• Autonomy and independence within a flexible work environment (work-from-home) and family-friendly business practices. 
• Salary: $65,000 annually with an opportunity for organization and individual performance-based bonuses. 
• Competitive benefits, including healthcare with 100% employer paid health care for the employee. 15 days of PTO and 12 sick days in addition to the two weeks of company closure in December and July. 
• The opportunity to work for a mission-based, social enterprise that is revolutionizing education. 

Role Structure 

• Location: thinkLaw is a national organization and the Business Development Officer can be located anywhere.  
• Schedule: Occasional evenings and weekends may be required. 
• Travel: Significant travel is not expected for this role. 

Commitment to Equity  

thinkLaw is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and is committed to addressing issues of racism and inequity.  We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace where every staff member feels heard, supported, valued, and can share their authentic brilliance to move the mission forward. Applicants who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, parents, women, people with disabilities, queer, trans, non-binary, immigrants, and anyone who has experienced systemic oppression and/or gender-based violence are encouraged to apply.  

Apply Now! 

If you have a passion for the K-12 ecosystem, education equity, and critical thinking, and this opportunity speaks to you, we want to hear from you!  Please review the job description details and apply using the Application Guidance below as soon as possible to have your candidacy considered for this amazing role!  

OneTeacher is conducting the executive search for thinkLaw’s Business Development Officer. At OneTeacher we care deeply about education equity and connect individuals and organizations that will advance this cause. We partner with like-minded organizations like thinkLaw to support them in making a match with professionals who will make their vision and mission a reality.  

Application Guidance 

Applications that are submitted before the Priority Application Deadline of December 5 will be included in a priority interview group for interviews to take place December 5th and December 12th.  The Final Application Deadline is December 21st, and we encourage you to share your completed application (given the components below) as soon as possible.   

Please submit all application components directed to Erin Tobin, erin.tobin@oneteacheraz.com.

Applications should include the components listed below: 

1) A resume. 

2) A thoughtful and compelling cover letter that addresses: 

• Why are you interested in working with thinkLaw? Please share what inspires you about thinkLaw and why. 
• What relevant qualifications and attributes do you bring to this role? 
• A brief description of relevant work experience and achievements in this field.  

3) A list of three references* that includes names, affiliation, relationship to you while you worked together, email addresses and phone numbers. Please ensure that at least two of your references are either current or former supervisors.  

*References will not be contacted until the final stage of the search and candidates will be given an opportunity to notify their references in advance. 

Our Vision 

A world where critical thinking is taught by all teachers and to all students, leveling the playing field for 21st century success. 

Our Mission 

We help educators teach critical thinking to ALL students. 

Our Core Values 

Communication 

We listen to understand, speak to be understood, and demonstrate the courage to tackle the tough but necessary conversations across lines of difference. 

Imagination 

We dream big, create boldly, and dare to improve our world dramatically, approaching our work with creativity and an endless sense of possibility. 

Making a Difference 

Our bottom line is impact, so we prioritize our actions and our inactions through the lens of maximizing this bottom line. 

Our Approach 

The thinkLaw Method 

1. We make it easy. We are always willing to do the hard work on our end if it’s going to make someone’s work easier on the other side. 

1. We make it engaging. We work hard to make sure our work is received with tears, hell yeahs, this is unacceptables, gasps, are you freaking kidding mes, and laughter because we understand the emotional connection that comes from engaging our partners and community members. 

1. We ground our work in critical thinking. We consider multiple perspectives, we use evidence to back up our decision-making, and we are committed to continuous improvement of our thinking around every aspect of what we do. 

We err on the side of fairness and justice, always. We consider equity, not equality in deciding what is needed for our team, our partners, and our work. We understand that what is legal is not always just and what is acceptable is not always fair, and actively seek to be the hammer that helps to bend the arc of history towards justice.