H.E. Practice Leader - nextSource
H.E. Practice Leader
Higher Education Professional Services · nextSource
| Reports to | CEO / Chief Growth Officer | Manages | HE Program Directors; Program Managers (9+ direct reports) |
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| Department | Management / Practice Group Team | Location | East Coast / Northeast-based |
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| Scale | $180–220M Spend Under Management; 33 HE institutions | Updated | March 2026 |
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Position purpose
The H.E. Practice Leader is the commercial engine of nextSource's Higher Education business — simultaneously a
sales leader, a delivery executive, and a sector strategist. The role grows revenue from existing clients
(cross-sell, upsell, add-on), wins new institutions through association-anchored relationship development, and drives
operational efficiency through expansion, systems automation, AI agents, and a professional team. Owns a
$180–220M Spend-Under-Management portfolio across 33 institutions and is directly accountable for the P&L.
People First. The Practice Leader treats every extended worker — adjunct, contractor,
EOR associate — as a person, not a unit of labor. Client satisfaction, workforce compliance, and institutional
trust are inseparable from commercial performance.
1. Sales leadership — current client growth (weekly cadence)
| Weekly activity | Frequency | What it produces | Tracked in |
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| Client pipeline review — every active client assessed for expansion signal | Weekly (Mon, 2×30) | Named expansion opportunities; stage + next step | HubSpot / Dynamics |
| Executive-level client call/meeting (Deans, CHRO, CFO, Provost) | Min. x/week across portfolio | Relationship depth; early renewal-risk warning; advisory openings | CRM call log |
| Cross-sell conversation (EOR, AOR, IC compliance, SOW, Direct Sourcing, Co-Architects) | Min. x/week | New service line in pipeline, or documented "not ready" | HubSpot deal stage |
| Up-sell conversation (scope, worker count, geographic coverage) | Min. 5/week | Expanded SOW/amendment, or flagged for pricing | CRM → CEO |
| Add-on conversation (new assessment, advisory product, automation) | Min. x/week | Assessment deployment or advisory engagement initiated | Pipeline stage 4/5 |
| Mirror-benchmarking: on expansion, contact the 2 closest peer institutions within 48h | Within 48h of any expansion | Peer contact initiated; pipeline stage 2/3 | HubSpot (same day) |
2. New client acquisition — market leadership & brand
- Represent nextSource at CUPA-HR, NACUBO, EACUBO, AICUM and corridor associations — presenting/facilitating, not sponsoring — min. 8 events/year.
- Publish/co-author ≥6 sector thought-leadership pieces/year (association newsletters, NACUBO journals, HE publications).
- Deploy the Extended Workforce Readiness Assessment to ≥12 new institutions/year as the new-logo entry point.
- Maintain a new-logo pipeline of ≥20 qualified institutions; execute the 5-step C-suite engagement protocol; pass the 5-step qualification gate before any account enters the active pipeline.
3. Efficiency — overhead reduction, offshore expansion & automation
| Lever | Responsibility | Target |
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| Automation — program ops | Automate the 5 highest-volume manual processes (timekeeping reconciliation, invoice exceptions, worker onboarding, compliance-cert tracking, billing audit) | ≥3 fully automated in Yr 1; overhead hours −20% |
| Automation — reporting/insight | Replace PowerPoint monthly client reporting with live Power BI dashboards (3 HE-specific views) | 100% Tier-1 clients live by Q3 2026 |
| Overhead cost reduction | Quarterly overhead audit; consolidate/eliminate/offshore | −5% practice overhead/quarter; ≥$50K Yr-1 savings |
| Internal VMS & AI-agent integration | Identify where the Elipsum internal VMS + AI staffing agents replace manual adjunct/EOR steps | ≥2 AI-agent capabilities deployed in Yr 1 |
4. P&L management — pricing & financial oversight
- Own the HE P&L (revenue, gross margin, contribution margin, cash efficiency).
- Set/defend pricing across all 33 clients; approve non-standard terms; ensure target deal economics on every expansion/renewal.
- Lead annual budget, quarterly forecast, monthly business review; ensure expansions/new logos clear the contribution-margin threshold before signature.
5. Delivery quality — client outcomes & risk
- On-time/on-budget program performance across 33 institutions; outcomes reviewed quarterly.
- Maintain CSAT/NPS ≥ 4.5/5; manage renewals personally at the executive level (account plans 6 months ahead).
- Flag any client risk in the Monday 2×30 the same week; ensure EOR/IC compliance across all programs with the CTIO + legal.
6. Practice-group strategy & partnerships
- Evolve the HE sector roadmap; secure strategic partnerships across the HE ecosystem.
- Monitor HE regulatory signals (OBBBA, DOL IC rule, IPEDS, FutureReady States) and fold into strategy within 30 days.
- Build business cases for new offerings quarterly; sunset underperforming services toward scalable, automation-enabled solutions.
7. Team leadership — talent & culture
- Lead/grow Program Directors, Program Managers and supporting staff (incl. offshore associates).
- Run the program team as a commercial-intelligence network; set commercial targets per Director (≥1 cross/up-sell conversation per client per quarter).
- Promote automation-first thinking + People-First delivery; quarterly performance reviews with development plans; treat offshore associates as full practice members.
