Sales Development Representative
About the job
- Transferable sales skills from retail, customer service, or other relevant positions.
- A professional yet friendly customer service attitude suitable for working and growing within a higher education technology company.
- Self-motivation, conscientiousness, attention to detail, and commitment to making a difference in higher education.
- Strategic thinking and effective time-management skills focused on long-term success.
- Ability to work independently and in a team environment.
- Generate leads and manage opportunities in support of the sales team, engaging potential customers, understanding their needs, and communicating the value of the company's products or services.
- Support expansion of current enterprise accounts as part of the field sales team.
- Learn and demonstrate sales management practices, including forecasting, account resource allocation, account strategy, and planning.
- Develop and employ effective selling strategies to position Ellucian as a viable choice for customer needs.
- Research potential leads, use demand-generation tactics, and develop outreach strategies to engage prospects.
- Build relationships based on knowledge of customer requirements and commitment to value.
- Coordinate meetings or demonstrations between qualified prospects and the sales team and ensure a seamless handover within the pipeline.
- Understand each customer's technology footprint, strategic growth plans, technology strategy, and competitive landscape.
- Review public information, including executive appointments, earnings statements, and press releases, about prospects and competitors to stay informed about industry trends and issues affecting prospects.
- Participate in sales meetings and provide feedback on lead quality and outreach strategies.
- Meet or exceed assigned quotas for qualified leads, sales opportunities, and revenue generation.
- Drive complex sales cycles by coordinating internal pre-sales, proposals, contacts, inside sales, marketing, and sales-support resources.
- Support the field sales team in advancing internal processes.
About the company
Ellucian provides cloud-based SaaS software and related consulting services for higher education institutions, offering a subscription model for access and support. Its platform supports universities and colleges with integrated modules that handle day-to-day operations, managed through ongoing deployment, configuration, and optimization assistance from Ellucian’s consultants. The company differentiates itself with decades of sector experience, a global client base, and a large in-house R&D team that focuses on higher-ed needs. Its goal is to help academic institutions operate more efficiently, scale to accommodate growth, and stay agile in a changing landscape.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Debt Financing
Total Funding
$1.7B
Headquarters
Reston, Virginia
Founded
1968
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Q1 2026 delivered 26 Ellucian SaaS go-lives across SIS and ERP.
- July 2026 launched Ellucian Advancement in the United Kingdom for fundraising growth.
- CETYS Universidad and Carroll University validated faster implementations and stronger operational stability in 2026.
What critics are saying
- Workday Student remains a direct rival, winning replacement deals at large universities.
- Anthology bankruptcy shows Ellucian must absorb legacy customers without service failures after December 2025.
- If integration of Anthology products stalls, institutions migrate to Workday or Oracle by 2027.
What makes Ellucian unique
- Ellucian Student and ERP unify SIS, finance, and HCM for higher education.
- December 31, 2025 Anthology acquisition added 260-plus SIS and ERP customers.
- April 2026 Gartner named Ellucian a Leader for second consecutive year.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Company Match
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Parental Leave
Wellness Program
Mental Health Support
Flexible Work Hours
Hybrid Work Options
Remote Work Options
Employee Referral Bonus
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
9%1 year growth
9%2 year growth
9%Lewis University selects Ellucian Student to advance strategic plan and power future growth. Sep 30, 2026, 10:00 ET Key Highlights: * A customer for 10+ years, Lewis University is launching Project Tailwind, the university's modernization initiative supporting its 2026-2029 Taking Flight strategic plan. * Lewis University will modernize to Ellucian Student, creating a unified AI-native platform connecting Student, HCM, and Finance. * The initiative will strengthen institutional agility, streamline operations, and support Lewis University's vision to expand access and improve student success. ROMEOVILLE, Ill. and RESTON, Va., Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, today announced that Lewis University, a private Catholic university serving more than 7,000 students and an Ellucian customer for more than a decade, will modernize to Ellucian Student, higher education's complete solution that powers the end-to-end student lifecycle. Together, Student, HCM (Human Capital Management), and Finance operate as one AI-native platform aligning people, resources, and decisions around Ellucian's vision to unlock learning for all. For Lewis, the transformation will support the university's strategic focus on expanding opportunity and advancing student success through transformative, career-connected learning. The new platform will be delivered through Project Tailwind, Lewis University's institution-wide modernization initiative and a key component of its 2026-2029 Taking Flight strategic plan. Enabling Lewis University's Future-Ready Vision Transitioning to Ellucian Student will help Lewis University expand education access for traditional, online, workforce, and lifelong learners while building the institutional agility needed to pursue strategic growth opportunities. By investing in a modern technology foundation, Lewis will simplify operations across campus, strengthen decision-making, and give faculty and staff more time to focus on student success. "We're proud to build on our relationship with Lewis University as it embarks on the next chapter of its transformation," said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO, Ellucian. "Lewis has a clear vision for broadening its reach, serving learners at every stage of their educational journey, and pursuing new opportunities that strengthen its mission. With Ellucian Student, including HCM and Finance, Lewis is combining its bold vision with AI built on decades of higher education expertise - providing the insight and automation the university needs to adapt with confidence and prioritize student success in every decision." A Foundation for Strategic Growth "Project Tailwind gives us the foundation to execute our strategic vision with greater agility and confidence," said Michael Rading, Chief Information Officer, Lewis University. "Ellucian Student connects the systems, data, and processes that support our students, faculty, and staff, allowing us to move faster, make more informed decisions, and continue expanding opportunities for the diverse learners we serve. That's how we'll continue delivering on our mission while preparing Lewis University for the future." Building a More Agile Institution Lewis University's digital transformation will: * Build a connected AI-native platform across Student, HCM, and Finance. * Strengthen reporting and analytics with real-time institutional insight. * Streamline routine administrative processes through intelligent automation, giving faculty and staff more time to engage directly with students. * Increase institutional agility to support strategic growth, new partnerships, and an expanding population of traditional, online, workforce, and lifelong learners. WHAT IS LEWIS UNIVERSITY Located 35 miles outside of downtown Chicago, Lewis University is a comprehensive, Catholic university, where the traditions of liberal learning, values and preparation for professional work come together with a synergy that gives the university its educational identity and focus. Founded in 1932, Lewis is a dynamic, coeducational university offering 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, 35 graduate programs, and certificates of advanced study. Lewis is one of many schools sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, an international Roman Catholic teaching order, with more than 320 years of teaching experience in the Lasallian tradition. Lewis University has been named as one of America's best colleges by U.S. News & World Report, consistently ranking in the top tier of best Midwest master's-level universities. WHAT IS ELLUCIAN Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries, serving more than 21 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrolment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes. Kathrynne Skonicki, MSIS, MBA, Executive Director for Public Relations and Communications [email protected] SOURCE Ellucian
Ellucian earns EDUCAUSE Higher Ed Ready(TM) designation. Sep 28, 2026, 12:15 ET Key Highlights: * Ellucian is the only higher ed student information system (SIS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) provider to earn the EDUCAUSE Higher Ed Ready(TM) designation. * The recognition follows an independent assessment by higher education CIOs and academic technology leaders across six areas of organizational readiness. * The designation reinforces Ellucian's singular focus on higher education and mission to power higher education so institutions can empower student success. RESTON, Va., Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, today announced it has earned the EDUCAUSE Higher Ed Ready(TM) designation, becoming the only higher education SIS and ERP provider to receive the recognition. The EDUCAUSE Higher Ed Ready(TM) Program provides a trusted, third-party assessment recognizing companies that demonstrate strong commitment, transparency, and service to the higher education community. Independent Validation of Higher Education Readiness Higher education relies on solutions providers that understand its mission, constraints, and responsibility to students, faculty, and staff. Organizations earning the EDUCAUSE Higher Ed Ready(TM) designation are evaluated by a panel of higher education CIOs and academic technology leaders across six areas: transparency and communication; innovation; customer success; shared goals and values; standards and compliance; and collaboration and community engagement. For institutions, the designation signals credibility, alignment with higher education's unique needs and priorities, and long-term partnership potential. "We're honored to earn the EDUCAUSE Higher Ed Ready(TM) designation," said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO, Ellucian. "For 60 years, higher education has been our singular focus. That deep domain expertise gives us a unique understanding of the complexities, responsibilities, and opportunities institutions navigate every day and enables us to translate that insight into technology and partnership that help them thrive. This recognition reinforces what has always been fundamental to our mission: powering higher education so institutions can empower student success." Purpose-Built Innovation for Higher Education Ellucian's unmatched higher education expertise is embedded in the Ellucian Platform and Ellucian Student, higher education's complete SaaS-native solution powering the end-to-end student lifecycle. This continued innovation helps institutions navigate complexity, improve outcomes, and prepare for what comes next. * Higher education intelligence: Ellucian AI is powered by the Ellucian Higher Education Knowledge Graph, a living catalog of approximately 10,000 unique higher education processes informed by more than 50 years of expertise and continuously evolving alongside colleges and universities. * AI that understands institutional context: Purpose-built AI applies higher education-specific business logic, policies, regulations, and workflows to deliver actionable intelligence while maintaining institutional governance and control. * A unified foundation for student success: Ellucian Student brings student, HCM (Human Capital Management), and Finance together on the Ellucian Platform, aligning people, resources, and decisions around a single vision: to unlock learning for all. WHAT IS ELLUCIAN Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries, serving more than 21 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrolment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes. Media Contacts SOURCE Ellucian
New HEPI and Ellucian Policy Note 'Risk and Resilience: What UK higher education can learn from the United States' * Author: - Dan Greenstein * Published: - 24 September 2026 Financial pressure does not become a crisis because of one bad year or one isolated problem. A new Policy Note from HEPI, partnered with Ellucian, draws on lessons from the United States to show how interconnected problems can push universities into decline, and what UK institutions can learn about spotting and reversing those trends. In Risk and Resilience: What UK higher education can learn from the United States (Policy Note 76), Dan Greenstein (former Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education) identifies seven lessons for UK higher education from the experience of American institutions. Central to the analysis is an unusual feature of the English system: universities depend heavily on student fees, leaving them exposed when demand falls, but have limited control over the price they can charge. Greenstein argues that this leaves institutions carrying 'private-sector exposure at public-sector speed', while headline sector averages can obscure the financial trajectories of individual universities. The Policy Note argues that institutions rarely run into serious difficulty because of a single problem. Falling recruitment, weaker retention, declining revenue, reduced cash generation and an inability to invest can instead reinforce one another. Drawing on examples of recovery in the US, Greenstein argues that cost-cutting alone cannot reverse this trajectory: institutions that successfully recovered acted on revenue as well as costs. The paper also explores the importance of student retention, international recruitment and shared services, while highlighting the particularly limited financial levers available to universities in Scotland and Northern Ireland. With universities across the UK confronting difficult decisions about their financial futures, the paper offers lessons from institutions that have already faced similar pressures, and considers what successful recovery looks like in practice. Click here to read the press release and find a download link to the full report.
Ellucian named Education Administration Solution Provider of the Year for fifth consecutive year. Aug 04, 2026, 11:05 ET Key Highlights: * The award recognizes Ellucian's leadership in delivering AI-powered, SaaS-native innovation purpose-built for higher education. * Ellucian Student is higher education's complete solution that powers the end-to-end student lifecycle. * The annual EdTech Breakthrough Awards recognize innovation and excellence across the global education technology market. RESTON, Va., Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, today announced it has been named the Education Administration Solution Provider of the Year in the 2026 EdTech Breakthrough Awards for the fifth consecutive year. The annual awards program is conducted by EdTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes top companies and solutions in the global educational technology market. The recognition reflects Ellucian's continued leadership in advancing student-first innovation across higher education. Recognized for Leadership in AI-Powered Innovation "This recognition from EdTech Breakthrough for the fifth consecutive year is a powerful validation of our mission to power higher education so institutions can empower student success," said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO, Ellucian. "As institutions evolve to meet the needs of today's learners, Ellucian continues to innovate with AI-powered capabilities that simplify complexity, accelerate decision-making, and improve outcomes. We are honored to receive this recognition and proud to support institutions around the world as they navigate change, embrace innovation, and deliver student success at scale." "Ellucian is modernizing higher education at scale with proven SaaS momentum, AI, and industry leadership," said Steve Johansson, managing director, EdTech Breakthrough. "Ellucian delivers end-to-end, AI-powered administration solutions built for higher education, at a global scale. The result is more agile institutions with stronger operational performance and better student outcomes. We're proud to recognize Ellucian as 'Education Administration Solution Provider of the Year' for 2026." Powering Student Success Through Ellucian Student Ellucian continues to help institutions modernize operations with Ellucian Student, higher education's complete solution that powers the end-to-end student lifecycle. Together, Student, HCM, and Finance operate as one AI-native platform - aligning people, resources, and decisions around a single vision: to unlock learning for all. The mission of the EdTech Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize innovation, hard work, and success across a broad range of educational technology categories, including student engagement, school administration, adaptive learning, STEM education, remote learning, career preparation, and more. This year's program attracted thousands of nominations from organizations around the world. WHAT IS EDTECH BREAKTHROUGH Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership, the EdTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in educational technology products, companies and people. The EdTech Breakthrough Awards provide a platform for public recognition around the achievements of breakthrough educational technology in categories including remote learning, student engagement, school administration, career preparation, language learning, STEM education and more. For more information, visit EdTechBreakthrough.com. WHAT IS ELLUCIAN Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries, serving more than 21 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrolment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes. SOURCE Ellucian
Ellucian wins Higher Education Innovation Award in the 2026 EdTech Innovation Hub Awards. July 23, 2026 Key highlights. * The recognition highlights the impact of Ellucian Student, higher education's complete solution to power the end-to-end student lifecycle. * The Award honors transformative technology that drives measurable institutional and learner outcomes. * Built on the Ellucian Platform, Ellucian Student embeds AI into the complex workflows that power higher education. RESTON, VA - Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, announced that Ellucian Student has won the Higher Education Innovation Award in the EdTech Innovation Hub (ETIH) Innovation Awards 2026. Ellucian Student is higher education's complete solution that powers the end-to-end student lifecycle. Together, Student, HCM, and Finance operate as one AI-native platform, aligning people, resources, and decisions around a single vision: to unlock learning for all. The inaugural ETIH Innovation Awards recognize transformative education technology that improves student experiences, streamlines institutional operations, and drives innovation across higher education. Purpose-Built for the future of Higher Education. "We're proud to be recognized by EdTech Innovation Hub for this award," said Mike Wulff, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Ellucian. "What makes this recognition especially meaningful is that it highlights the role innovation can play in helping institutions navigate a rapidly changing higher education landscape. With Ellucian Student, we've focused on embedding AI into the complex workflows that power higher education, combining intelligent automation with decades of institutional expertise to help colleges and universities operate more efficiently and better support student success." Built on the Ellucian Platform and trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, Ellucian Student helps institutions unify academic, administrative, financial, and workforce operations while creating more connected experiences for students, faculty, and staff. AI is embedded across key institutional workflows, helping institutions reduce manual effort, improve decision-making, and adapt more quickly to changing student and institutional needs. Driving meaningful outcomes. The Higher Education Innovation Award recognizes solutions that demonstrate measurable value across higher education. Key capabilities that contributed to the recognition include: * Employ AI Assistants to improve personalization across alumni communications, event outreach, reunion campaigns, donor acknowledgements, newsletters, and other engagement activities. * Intelligent automation that improves operational efficiency. * Unified data and reporting & analytics to support informed decision-making. * Modern SaaS architecture that enables continuous innovation. * Student-first experiences that strengthen engagement and success. About Ellucian. Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with approximately 3,000 customers across 50 countries, serving more than 21 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes. Media contact. Greg Giangrande | Chief People & Marketing Officer Lindsay Stanley | Vice President, Communications Jess Weston | Manager, Communications (C) 2026 Ellucian. Product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of Ellucian or its affiliates, or are owned by other parties and are used by Ellucian with permission.