Head of Academia

Summary

Join Prolific as the Head of Academia and lead efforts in higher education, expanding a well-established customer base. You will define and execute go-to-market strategies, build new partnerships, and enhance offerings for academic institutions globally. This hands-on role requires strategic thinking, commercial acumen, and data obsession. You will be responsible for driving customer acquisition, retention, and success, while also partnering with various teams to ensure cohesive strategies. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in a commercial or growth leadership role within a high-growth environment and a deep understanding of the academic research ecosystem.

Requirements

• A proven track record in a commercial or growth leadership role (e.g., Sales, Marketing, Customer Success) at a high-growth startup or scale-up
• Deep understanding of the academic research ecosystem—you know the rhythms, needs, and challenges of university-based researchers and institutions
• Experience leading go-to-market strategy, customer acquisition, and lifecycle marketing in a B2B or B2C context
• Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to turn complex data into clear action
• A bias for action: you’re hands-on, scrappy when needed, and ready to roll up your sleeves to deliver results
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills—you can navigate university departments just as well as internal product and marketing teams
• A genuine passion for research, science, and innovation

Responsibilities

• Own and grow the academic customer base: Drive acquisition, retention, success and expansion of institutional and individual researcher accounts
• Design and execute end-to-end growth strategies, focusing on demand generation, activation, and revenue expansion across the academic vertical
• Operate in a matrix-style environment, partnering with and driving alignment across multiple areas of the business product, marketing, customer success, finance, and data to ensure cohesive strategy and flawless execution
• Identify trends and surface opportunities through research, interviews, and market analysis—becoming our internal expert on the evolving needs of academic researchers
• Represent Prolific as a spokesperson in the Academic community through public speaking engagements, media opportunities, and industry associations
• Develop and lead marketing and outreach campaigns targeting academia—think conferences, content, digital campaigns, and community engagement
• Deeply understand the academic user journey, optimizing experiences and touchpoints to drive satisfaction, retention, and word-of-mouth growth
• Own and track performance metrics across the funnel: acquisition, engagement, activation, satisfaction, and revenue
• Experiment and iterate: Test new approaches, evaluate success with rigorous data, and scale what works