Sales Development Representative - EdTech (Fully Remote) at Virtual Internships

About Virtual Internships

We're on an ambitious and challenging mission to provide guaranteed internships to anyone, anytime, anywhere—no one else is doing this at our scale! Regardless of background, major, location, or career field, every student can gain invaluable experience at innovative companies worldwide, significantly enhancing their employability and career readiness. Trusted by universities, governments, foundations, and online education institutions, we’re transforming learners' lives globally.

• $14.3million Series A fundraise announced in September 2022, with investors including Hambro Perks, Sequoia India & Surge, Arsenal Growth, Kaplan, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures
• Ranked 20th out of 13,000 organizations to “Escape To in 2023”Featured as a Top 100 EdTech Startup by HolonIQ in 2021, 2022, and 2023
• Rated as a Top 50 Rising Startup by Tech in Asia in 2022
• Remote-first with 100+ employees across 20+ countries globally
• B2B EdTech product, trusted by 100+ universities, 10,000+ interns, and 14,000+ companies

One of the core values at VI is transparency. Therefore feel free to “try before you apply” by visiting our VI-P Guide, which includes our values, how we operate, how we build our packages, and a few other snippets of who we are!

Your Role

We are a start-up that is scaling fast. At Virtual Internships, we’re looking for someone who’s not just excited to prospect, but also eager to think strategically, experiment with new approaches, and contribute to building a scalable sales engine. To thrive here, you’ll need a growth mindset, resilience, and the ability to work through ambiguity as we expand our presence across the USA.

As a Sales Development Representative, you’ll focus on identifying and engaging university stakeholders, initiating meaningful conversations, and generating qualified opportunities for our partnerships team. You’ll work closely with senior sales leaders and Account Executives, gaining mentorship while playing a key role in driving our continued growth in the education sector. This is a high-impact role where curiosity, adaptability, and drive will set you apart.

What You’ll Be Doing

• You will be responsible for prospecting, generating new leads, and creating opportunities for your regional Account Executive that contribute to the overall growth of the company.
• You will work closely with the Demand Generation team to ensure that Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) are nurtured through the sales funnel.
• You will conduct Discovery calls to understand the prospect's needs and pain points, and identify the best solutions to meet their requirements.
• You will be the first point of contact for potential customers and play a key role in creating a positive first impression of Virtual Internships.

In your first 2 weeks, you will:

• Complete onboarding to understand Virtual Internships’ mission, structure, product, and values.
• Begin building internal relationships across Sales, Marketing, and Partner Success to align on goals and priorities.
• Dive into our tools, systems, and historical data to quickly identify patterns and areas of opportunity.
• Shadow SDRs and Account Executives to absorb the sales process and learn effective techniques.
• Collaborate with your manager and team to begin crafting your outreach messaging and sequences.

By the end of your first month, you will:

• Confidently articulate our value proposition to key buyer personas across the education sector.
• Begin conducting Discovery calls with coaching and feedback from senior team members.
• Launch personalized outreach strategies and test messaging across multiple channels.
• Provide early insights and feedback on what's resonating with prospects.

Within 3 months, you will:

• Own the full top-of-funnel sales process—prospecting, outreach, Discovery calls, and qualification.
• Consistently meet or exceed targets for meetings booked and opportunities generated.
• Collaborate with Account Executives to ensure smooth handover and alignment on qualified leads.
• Help iterate on outreach strategies, bringing in data-driven insights and lessons from your experience.
• Represent the SDR function in cross-functional conversations with Marketing and Demand Gen to inform future campaigns.
• Begin contributing to the onboarding and support of new SDRs as a high-performing team member.

Who We're Looking For

Your Attributes

TLDR Version? You are tenacious, self-driven, curious, and resilient - always eager to connect, learn, and grow through every conversation.

• Revenue-Driven: You thrive on driving pipeline and are motivated by achieving targets. You’re a builder and a hustler who ensures every lead is pursued with energy and intention, and no opportunity goes unexplored.
• Self-Starter: You are a self-motivated individual who takes ownership of their work and has the ability to work independently with minimal supervision. You are proactive and always looking for new ways to improve your performance.
• Results-Driven: You are focused on achieving your goals and are not afraid of hard work to get there. You have a strong sense of urgency and are willing to go above and beyond to ensure success.
• Strong Communicator: You have excellent verbal and written communication skills and can effectively communicate with prospects and team members. You have a talent for building rapport and can articulate the benefits of our products or services to potential customers.
• Analytical Thinker: You have strong analytical skills and can use data to make informed decisions. You are able to identify patterns and trends and use this information to develop strategies to optimize your outreach approach.

Your Experience

• 1-2 years+ experience in an business development role
• Experience meeting and surpassing sales quotas
• In addition to business development, you’ve got qualifications or experience in some of these areas: digital marketing, Business, negotiation, client relations, or project management.

You stand out from the crowd if:

• You have worked at a Series A or Series B scaleup (bonus if within EdTech industry)
• Experience using a CRM (Salesforce/Hubspot preferred)
• Experience speaking working with or selling to university executives
• You have worked at a remote-first organization

Consider this our wish-list. We know there will be great candidates that don't meet every one of these criteria—if you're passionate about the role and have early-stage startup experience, we'd still love to hear from you.

Virtual Internships Perks and Benefits

• Remote-First: All roles at VI are currently and will remain remote - flexibility to work from anywhere
• Flexible Working Hours: Start earlier, leave earlier, take a shorter lunch, or leave later, it's totally up to you.
• Annual Leave: Wherever you are in the world, you’ll get 25 days of paid annual leave per year, plus bank holidays and 5 sick days.
• Life Event Leave: There are moments in life where your life responsibility is a higher priority than work (e.g. moving house, your best friend getting married, your sister having a baby) therefore, you’ll get 5 days of paid life-event leave to support these occasions. You also get a day off on your birthday. This is in addition to your Annual Leave.
• Flexible VIer Budget: You’ll receive a flexible budget of $1,000 per year that you can use on but not limited to your work setup, personal wellness, or professional development.
• Tech: New joiners receive a budget for your company laptop depending on the role and location.

Equality & Diversity

Virtual Internships is an equal opportunity employer, committed to equality and diversity amongst both our employees and prospective applicants. We ensure all applicants are treated equally and fairly throughout our recruitment process.