Advanced Specialist, Sales Excellence

At Pearson, we are committed to a world that is always learning and to the people who make that possible. From foundational learning through career advancement, we help learners build the skills and confidence they need to thrive in a rapidly changing economy. We are reimagining how education and workforce readiness come together—creating innovative solutions that help institutions expand access, improve outcomes, and better serve learners across every stage of life.

This role aligns with industry title:
State Adoption Advanced Specialist

Pearson's Career Ready portfolio helps state systems, institutions, and employers access workforce-aligned learning and certification programs. As state adoption activity for Career and Technical Education (CTE) curriculum continues to grow, we're adding a State Adoption Advanced Specialist to own the strategy, expertise, and post-adoption execution planning behind our CTE state adoption bids.

This role is the institutional expert on how and what to submit: which titles to put forward, how to interpret nuanced state-specific requirements, and how to position our portfolio competitively within a given state's adoption cycle. You'll partner closely with our RFP/Bid Management team, who handle the mechanics of submission (forms, compliance, documentation, coordination across departments) — this role sets the strategy and requirements interpretation that makes those submissions successful and then carries that expertise forward into how we execute after a win.

Your role is to dig into each state's enrollment data, competitive landscape, and detailed submission paperwork, and to clearly relay back to Product and Content teams exactly what's needed for our courseware to clear a given state's review hurdles — capturing and communicating that nuance. In addition, you will coordinate closely with Sales to support execution of sell-in related to state adoption materials, informing strategy and guiding execution, and advising on guardrails and considerations specific to this process.

You will also serve as a key point of contact for individual districts throughout a state's adoption review process — managing district-specific communication requirements, such as the "cone of silence" protocols common to certain adoption states like Texas.

Experience with Texas is especially valuable in this role, given its significance as one of our most critical adoption states.

• Serve as the internal subject matter expert on CTE state adoption processes, requirements, and timelines
• Research state enrollment data and the competitive landscape for a given state adoption, informing (not determining) title/product decisions that Product ultimately owns
• Interpret nuanced, state-specific submission requirements and translate them into clear guidance for the teams executing the bid
• Dig into state submission paperwork and requirements, and relay back to Product exactly what's needed in our courseware to clear a given state's review hurdle — capturing the nuance and requirements rather than defining the resulting edits
• Monitor state adoption calendars, legislative activity, and regulatory changes affecting CTE curriculum adoption

• Provide strategic context, requirements interpretation, and subject-matter guidance to the RFP/Bid Management team as they prepare and submit bids
• Ensure submission strategy reflects accurate understanding of each state's adoption process — while partnering with the Bid Management to support deliver on the submission mechanics themselves (forms, compliance tracking, documentation)
• Continuously monitor state purchasing contracts and vendor agreements to…