Business Development Manager

About Mento

Mento is an early-stage education company building a hands-on curriculum in practical life skills for children in Classes 6–9 — the real-world competencies schools rarely teach, like fire safety, first aid and CPR, personal safety, and emergency response. We deliver in person, on campus, in partnership with schools, giving students skills that genuinely matter and helping schools enrich their offering in a way parents value.

The Role

You'll own the school pipeline end to end — from first conversation with a principal or trustee to a signed partnership and a live batch on the timetable. This is a founding commercial hire: you won't inherit a playbook, you'll help write one. If you've spent years walking into schools, reading the room between the academic coordinator and the management, and getting to yes, this is built for you.

What you'll do

• Own the full sales cycle: prospecting, principal/management meetings, pilot proposals, MoU negotiation, and close
• Build and manage a pipeline of CBSE, Cambridge, and ICSE schools across Chennai and the wider region
• Position Mento against the CBSE skill-education requirement — sell relief from a mandate, not a nice-to-have
• Navigate the school decision calendar and plan the pipeline around it
• Run and learn from paid pilots, then convert them into full-year partnerships
• Work directly with the founder on pricing, positioning, and the sales narrative, and feed what you hear in the field back into the product

What we're looking for

• 5+ years in B2B sales, with a track record of closing deals directly with schools — Cambridge, CBSE, or ICSE
• Owns a vehicle (2/ 4 wheeler)
• Existing relationships with principals, trustees, or school management in and around Chennai
• Comfort owning a number and a long, relationship-led sales cycle with multiple stakeholders
• Based in Chennai and willing to be in the field / on campus regularly
• Startup temperament: self-directed, comfortable with ambiguity, happy building the process as you go

Nice to have

• Experience selling an on-campus programme — activities, robotics, sports, or enrichment vendors
• A network in the middle-school (Classes 6–8) segment specifically
• Prior early-stage or founding-sales experience

CTC - Upto 10 lacs