Placement Manager

Role overview

This position is a high-ownership, performance-oriented individual contributor role focused on building internship and project opportunities for NxtWave’s college students. The role centers on finding companies that have hiring needs, especially by reaching out directly to decision-makers such as founders, CEOs, CTOs, tech leads, and HR leaders. You will own the partnership journey from first contact through qualification, closure, and repeat collaboration, while internal teams support student profiling and interview coordination.

Core responsibilities

The main requirement of the role is proactive business development through cold outreach. The position demands sustained calling activity, strong discovery skills, and the ability to turn unadvertised business needs into internship or project opportunities.

• Make cold calls as the primary daily activity, aiming for around 20–30 meaningful decision-maker conversations each day and roughly 100–150+ each week.
• Build your own prospect pipeline using sources such as job boards, LinkedIn, AngelList, startup directories, company career pages, funding news, and hiring indicators; lead-generation support is only secondary.
• Use a consultative approach to uncover team structure, product plans, hiring timelines, skill gaps, and business challenges before making an offer.
• Spot hidden talent needs and position internships as practical, high-value solutions even when no role has been publicly announced.
• Record every outreach touchpoint in the CRM so follow-up sequences remain structured and effective.
• Gather full opportunity details, including project type, scope, duration, time commitment, reporting structure, compensation, and expectations.
• Manage the company-side placement process end to end by coordinating with the internal student team, arranging interviews, briefing employers, collecting feedback, and closing offers.
• Continue engaging after placement to ensure the engagement goes smoothly and to create follow-on opportunities.
• Build trusted relationships so the company sees you as a go-to hiring partner for future needs.
• Turn one successful placement into repeat business, broader accounts, and longer-term partnerships.
• Collect testimonials, success stories, and case studies from both companies and students to strengthen credibility.
• Represent the organization at startup events, tech meetups, founder circles, and industry forums to widen the partnership network.
• Support social proof through LinkedIn-style posts, company spotlights, and placement stories.
• Keep CRM records current with company status, stage, and next action date after every interaction, with no deal left stale beyond 30 days.
• Join daily stand-ups and weekly reviews to align priorities and discuss blockers.
• Share regular reports on pipeline health, conversion trends, and channel performance.

Qualifications and experience

• A bachelor’s degree in any stream is required; an MBA is helpful but not compulsory.
• 1–5 years of full-time experience in B2B sales, recruitment, staffing, or placement-related work.
• Experience must include independently sourcing and closing deals without warm leads, referrals, or pre-assigned accounts; campus placement exposure does not count.
• Ability to manage 15 or more active companies at the same time while keeping CRM updates disciplined.

Skills and working style

• Working knowledge of CRM systems such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or similar platforms.
• Comfort using prospecting tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo.io, RocketReach, or equivalent software.
• Ability to use AI tools for company research, personalized outreach, and pitch preparation.
• Fast learner with the ability to understand and explain different tech stacks, development roles, and business functions.
• Strong hunter mindset with ownership of pipeline generation and outcomes.
• Resilience to handle objections, voicemails, and slow periods without losing momentum.
• Consultative selling style with an ability to ask thoughtful, problem-focused questions.
• Strong ability to identify opportunities and frame internships as solutions to real business needs.
• Relationship-oriented approach focused on long-term partnerships rather than one-off transactions.
• Highly disciplined in process, follow-ups, and documentation.
• Comfortable working toward measurable targets and owning results.
• Adaptable and receptive to feedback, with the ability to change course quickly when needed.

What success looks like

• Independently handling the full cold-to-close cycle, from prospecting and qualification to discovery, pitching, negotiation, and closure.
• Maintaining 120+ cold conversations per week for extended periods.
• Identifying business needs that the company itself had not recognized and selling a solution against them.
• Reactivating stalled opportunities through structured re-engagement efforts.
• Handling 20+ live deals at different stages without missing follow-ups.
• Creating a dependable network of decision-makers who respond quickly and refer opportunities.
• Knowing conversion rates, open opportunities, and follow-up timelines from regular CRM use.

Not a fit if

• Your only B2B exposure came through a campus placement drive or a structured MBA recruitment process.
• You have not independently sourced and closed business without warm leads, referrals, or assigned accounts.
• You want a short-term role that is mainly a stepping stone to strategy, product, or leadership.
• You are not comfortable making high-volume cold calls on a consistent basis.
• Your experience depends heavily on event-based outreach, roadshows, or brand-led selling.
• You cannot quickly recall a recent client, deal, and outcome without checking notes.
• You treat rejection as a personal setback rather than a normal part of the sales process.

Why this opportunity stands out

• Every placement creates a clear, visible result that reflects your effort directly.
• Compensation is variable and linked to performance, placements closed, and companies retained.
• You get real ownership over pipeline, relationships, and outcomes.
• You will work with startups, unicorns, mature tech companies, and international businesses.
• The role builds skills in B2B sales, tech hiring, consultative selling, negotiation, and stakeholder management.
• Internal teams handle student profiling and interview logistics, letting you focus on business relationships and closure.
• You will speak directly with founders, CTOs, CEOs, and HR leaders without multiple layers of corporate hierarchy.
• Strong performers can move into account leadership, regional growth, or corporate partnership strategy.
• Your work helps students gain real experience and launch their careers.

First 90-day expectations

• By the end of month 1, build a steady outreach habit, create an initial qualified pipeline, and close the first set of opportunities.
• By month 2, reach 100–150+ weekly call touchpoints, maintain an active pipeline of 30+ companies, and show consistent placement output.
• By month 3, keep the pipeline moving, generate repeat business, and maintain strong CRM discipline.

Compensation note

The source mentions that pay is performance-linked and can scale with closures and retained companies, but no fixed salary figure was provided.