Officer - School Partnerships & Outreach

Location: Pune

We are looking for a highly driven and relationship-oriented School Partnerships & Outreach Officer to help us build and grow partnerships with schools.

This is a frontline school partnerships role. The person will be responsible for identifying and reaching out to schools, building relationships with key decision-makers, understanding their needs, presenting our offering, negotiating commercials and terms, and taking conversations through to closure.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience working with CBSE schools, preferably in an Edtech, education services, publishing, curriculum, learning solutions or related organization.

We are looking for someone who understands that selling to schools is fundamentally about trust, relationships, educational value and long-term partnerships, not simply making sales calls.

Key Responsibilities:

• Identify and build a pipeline of relevant schools, particularly CBSE schools.
  
• Reach out to school leaders including Principals, Directors, Academic Heads, Coordinators and other decision-makers.
  
• Develop relationships with school networks, educators and other relevant stakeholders.
  
• Set up meetings and demonstrations with schools.
  
• Develop creative and effective approaches to opening conversations with schools.
  

• Build strong, long-term relationships with school leadership and decision-makers.
  
• Understand the school’s priorities, challenges, academic approach and decision-making process.
  
• Act as a trusted partner and represent the organisation professionally.
  
• Maintain relationships even when a school is not immediately ready to partner.
  

• Own the school partnership journey from first conversation → meeting → proposal → negotiation → closure → onboarding.
  
• Understand the school’s requirements and position our offering appropriately.
  
• Create and present proposals and partnership plans.
  
• Handle objections and concerns confidently.
  
• Negotiate pricing, commercial terms and partnership structures within agreed parameters.
  
• Drive conversations towards clear next steps and ultimately close partnerships.
  

• Develop a strong understanding of how CBSE schools operate and make purchasing/partnership decisions.
  
• Understand the different stakeholders involved in school decisions and how to navigate them.
  
• Keep track of relevant developments in the school and education ecosystem.
  
• Gather insights from schools and feed them back to the product/program/team.
  

• Maintain an organised pipeline of prospects and opportunities.
  
• Track conversations, meetings, proposals, negotiations and closures through the CRM.
  
• Provide regular updates on pipeline, conversion rates, challenges and opportunities.
  
• Continuously improve outreach and conversion strategies based on what is working.
  

• Direct implementation in schools
  
• Partnership with central-state governments to define, and scale policy 
  
• Building of Centres of Excellence that act as lighthouses for innovation
  
• Resource organisation for the skilling ecosystem
  

Through the design & execution of innovative models from training centres, innovation hubs to mobile outreach initiatives, LAHI’s innovative knowledge resource drives both grassroots learning and systemic transformation across India. With 250+ LAHI staff embedded in state education systems across 20+ states, we provide technical and project management support, enabling governments to translate policy into action.

LAHI’s current scale of work includes - 

• 20+ States and UTs
  
• 15000+ Schools
  
• 15 Lakh+ Students
  
• 250+ Team Members
  
  

• 4+ years of experience in school-facing sales & partnerships.
  
• Experience working directly with CBSE schools.
  
• Prior experience in EdTech, education services, curriculum, publishing, school programs or a related education business.
  
• Demonstrated ability to take a conversation from initial outreach to successful closure.
  
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
  
• Strong negotiation and persuasion skills.
  
• Comfort interacting with Principals, School Directors, Academic Heads and senior educators.
  
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of targets and outcomes.
  
  

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, Education, Commerce, or a related field.
  
• Master’s degree/MBA in Marketing, Business Development, Education or a related discipline would be an advantage.
  
• Candidates with an understanding of the CBSE school ecosystem and education sector would be preferred.
  

• A relationship builder — able to earn the trust of school leaders.
  
• Commercially sharp — understands value, pricing and negotiation.
  
• Persistent without being pushy — knows that school sales can take time.
  
• A strong communicator — can have an intelligent conversation with a Principal, not just deliver a sales pitch.
  
• Curious about education — genuinely interested in improving learning experiences for children.
  
• Resourceful — can figure out how to get the right introduction or open a new school relationship.
  
• Highly accountable — owns the outcome rather than simply reporting activity.
  
• Comfortable with ambiguity — willing to experiment with new approaches to school outreach.
  

• Strong relationship-building and networking skills.
  
• Confident and persuasive communicator.
  
• Commercially driven and target-oriented.
  
• Persistent and resilient without being pushy.
  
• Proactive and resourceful in creating new opportunities.
  
• Strong ownership and accountability for outcomes.
  

This is not simply a lead-generation or telecalling role.

We are specifically looking for someone who can open doors, build relationships, understand the school’s needs, influence the decision, negotiate effectively and close the partnership.

The person should be comfortable owning the entire journey from “Can I get a meeting with the Principal?” to “Let’s finalise the partnership.”