Account Executive

At a Glance

• Location: Remote
• Territory: Assigned multi-state region (10+ states, typically including your home state)
• Travel: ~10–15% for conferences, district meetings, and key sales events
• Compensation: Base salary $65,000–$75,000 with on-target earnings of $90,000–$115,000 (uncapped commission plus accelerators). Earnings grow with your renewal book over time.
• Benefits: Health, vision, and life insurance; unlimited PTO

About Us

Academic Esports, Inc. operates the U.S. Academic Esports League (USAEL), a national program that turns students' passion for gaming into real academic, personal, and career opportunities. Our model is built on four integrated pillars:

• Competition: Structured league play, tournaments, and national events
• Coaching: Expert coaching and mentorship that builds players, teams, and transferable skills
• Curriculum: Standards-aligned esports, STEM, computer science, and career-connected learning
• Career Internships: Work-based learning, internships, and pathways into college and careers

We partner with schools, districts, and state organizations to use esports as a vehicle for student engagement, learning, and workforce readiness. Scholastic esports is an emerging category, and we're helping define it rather than selling into an established one.

The Role

We're hiring an Account Executive to own new-business growth across an assigned multi-state territory. Reporting to the VP of Academic Partnerships, you'll build the pipeline, develop relationships with K–12 decision-makers, and close new business across schools, districts, and partner-driven opportunities.

This is a consultative, multi-stakeholder sale. You'll guide educators, administrators, district leaders, and procurement through a needs-driven, funding-aware buying process, mapping the USAEL bundle (curriculum, competition platform, league participation, and career/internship pathways) to what each district is actually trying to solve. It is not a transactional, one-call-close motion.

You'll work within the set sales strategy while helping shape our go-to-market approach as we scale nationally. This is an early-stage environment with real ownership of your pipeline, your relationships, and your number.

What You'll Do

• Own new-business revenue for an assigned multi-state territory and meet or exceed individual targets
• Build and manage a qualified pipeline of school, district, and partner opportunities
• Prospect into K–12 schools and districts via outbound outreach, referrals, conferences, existing relationships, and marketing-generated leads
• Run discovery calls, presentations, demonstrations, and meetings with educators, administrators, district leaders, and other decision-makers
• Own opportunities end to end, from outreach and qualification through proposal, procurement, negotiation, and close
• Navigate K–12 funding, purchasing cycles, procurement requirements, and grant-driven timelines
• Partner with the VP of Academic Partnerships on strategic district, state, affiliate, and channel opportunities
• Maintain accurate pipeline, activity, and forecast data in the CRM
• Represent Academic Esports at conferences, events, and district meetings
• Bring the field back to leadership, including customer needs, objections, competitive activity, and feedback on pricing, packaging, and product
• Work cross-functionally with marketing, partnerships, customer success, and operations to drive acquisition and smooth program launches

What Success Looks Like

• First 90 days: Ramped on the USAEL portfolio and the K–12 sale, territory mapped, and an active, qualified pipeline built.
• Beyond ramp: Opportunities advancing through procurement and funding cycles toward close, with an accurate forecast the team can rely on.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years of full-cycle sales or business development experience, with a track record of prospecting, building pipeline, and closing new business
• Experience selling into K–12 schools, districts, education organizations, or other public-sector customers (strongly preferred)
• Working knowledge of K–12 funding, purchasing cycles, and procurement, or public-sector and grant-driven sales generally
• Ability to run a consultative sale: uncover a stakeholder's real needs and connect them to a solution across multiple decision-makers
• Comfort managing a full cycle and multiple opportunities at once against activity, pipeline, and revenue targets
• Strong CRM discipline and accurate forecasting
• Excellent communication, presentation, relationship-building, and negotiation skills
• Someone who builds trust quickly with people who are wary of vendors, and who takes coaching and adjusts fast
• Collaborate closely with customer success, operations, and sales enablement, sharing field insight, coordinating on handoffs, and keeping the internal team aligned from first outreach through program launch
• Communicate proactively across departments, surfacing blockers early, looping in the right people, and following through on internal commitments so nothing falls between teams

Bonus Points

• Comprehensive knowledge of or involvement with esports at the secondary-school level, video games, or student-engagement platforms
• Existing relationships in K–12 district leadership, CTE, STEM, computer science, or esports programs
• Experience with outbound prospecting and territory development
• A background in education (teaching, coaching, CTE/STEM, or administration) that you've carried into a sales career; we value credibility with educators
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving, early-stage environment
• Experience with Zoho CRM specifically, or fluency in a comparable CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) that transfers readily

Why This Role Matters

Scholastic esports is an emerging category with significant room to grow across K–12. You'll be on the front lines, introducing schools and districts to a new way of connecting students' passion for gaming with academic achievement, career exploration, and workforce readiness. You'll work directly with experienced leadership while owning your pipeline, relationships, and revenue. For the right seller, this is a chance to help build a category, not just sell into one.

How to Apply

To apply, email careers@usacademicesports.com with the subject line "AE Application, [Your Name]" by October 11, 2026.

In the body of the email:

• A link to your LinkedIn profile
• A few sentences on why this role with the USAEL interests you

Attached to the email:

• Short answers to any two of the three application questions below
• Your resume

Application questions:

• Describe a complex, multi-stakeholder sale you closed. What was your role, and how did you move it to a close?
• What is your personal experience selling into schools, districts, or other public-sector or education customers? If you're newer to K–12, tell us what you'd draw on to get up to speed quickly.
• Tell us about a specific time you had to build a territory or pipeline largely from scratch, or sell something buyers didn't yet understand. What did you do?

Please also confirm that you are authorized to work in the United States and are able to work aligned to Central/Eastern Time business hours. We review applications on a rolling basis and will reach out to candidates who look like a strong fit.

Academic Esports, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit and business needs. The United States Academic Esports League does not discriminate against employees, applicants, interns or volunteers on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, military and veteran status, registered domestic partner status, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.