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Prolific · 11 hours ago

Director of Academia

New York, Hybrid

Full-time

Hybrid

Director/Executive

$150K/yr - $250K/yr

Prolific is a company committed to redefining how the world conducts academic research. The Director of Academia will lead the academic research segment, owning strategy and operations to enhance market position and deepen relationships with the research community.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)CrowdsourcingData Collection and LabelingMachine LearningMarket ResearchProduct ResearchPsychology

Responsibilities

Accountability for the academic segment with ambitious growth targets

Lead and develop the customer-facing team, setting strategy for retention, activation, and expansion

Allocate resources and make investment decisions across growth levers and geographies

Define and track key metrics: retention curves, NPS, activation rates, institutional pipeline

Design and validate packaging, pricing, and value propositions for central university contracts

Build pipeline and pilot institutional contracts, proving the model and navigating complex buying committees

Develop sales playbook and enablement materials to scale institutional motion over time

Deepen engagement with the research community through advisory boards, partnerships, and advocacy programs

Direct the science team's thought leadership to reinforce our differentiation and credibility

Build and maintain relationships with senior academics and research community leaders

Monitor competitive landscape and provide strategic recommendations on partnerships and positioning

Partner with product to prioritize roadmap for academic use cases and institutional needs

Collaborate with marketing on positioning, campaigns, and community engagement

Work with data/analytics to surface insights on researcher behavior and segment health

Represent academic segment needs in executive strategy discussions

Qualification

Academic market fluencyBusiness ownershipCommercial leadershipEnterprise sales experienceCommercial rigorStrategic independencePhDExperience in USUK educationTrack record in competitive markets

Required

Deep academic market fluency: working in or selling research technology to academic/research markets. You understand researcher motivations, university dynamics, procurement processes, and how academic credibility is built

Proven business ownership: managing a business unit or revenue segment at $10M+ scale. You've been accountable for growth, not just advised on it

Commercial leadership: Direct experience building or managing customer-facing teams of 10+ people. You know how to structure for scale, define metrics that matter, and balance high-touch with tech-touch support to optimize customer journeys

Enterprise/institutional sales experience: You've designed value propositions for institutional buyers, navigated multi-stakeholder sales, or led a self-serve to enterprise transition. You know how to package products for centralized procurement

Commercial rigor: Fluent in unit economics (CAC, LTV, retention, expansion). You diagnose growth problems through data and make resource allocation decisions with confidence

Strategic independence: You're comfortable operating with minimal oversight, solving ambiguous problems and building cross-functional alignment