Program Manager

Inspira Education; New York (NY); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% health coverage

Flexible paid-time off

Learning and development budget

401(k) retirement savings plan with matching

Job summary

A fast-growing education company in New York is seeking an operations leader to drive business growth and enhance student and counselor experiences. This role involves designing programs, managing counselor recruitment, and building community engagement initiatives. Ideal candidates have extensive experience in operations, customer success, and a familiarity with CRM tools. Competitive compensation and benefits are offered.

Qualifications

• 3–7 years of experience leading teams in operations or customer success.
• Ability to manage escalations and collaborate empathetically.
• Experience in high-growth service or education environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the counselor recruitment and onboarding process.
• Lead customer escalation function for issue resolution.
• Develop engagement programs for community building.

Skills

Leadership in operations

Customer success management

Program management

Recruitment experience

CRM optimization skills

Tools

HubSpot

Salesforce

Airtable

Job description

About Inspira Education

Inspira Education Group is one of the fastest‑growing edtech startups in the US, with a mission to democratize access to high‑quality coaching for every student worldwide. As a leading network of top admissions coaches in medical, legal, business, and college studies, we build software and services that disrupt traditional application processes and provide an equal platform for candidates from diverse backgrounds. We are backed by investors such as Zeev Ventures, Quiet Capital, Craft Ventures, Jeff Fluhr and David Sacks.

The Role

We’re looking for someone to build and scale a new business inside a high‑growth, mission‑driven education company. You’ll design programs and services, create the infrastructure for growth—including global counselor recruitment, CRM workflow optimization and customer support systems—and drive community building, upsells and cross‑sells. You’ll own the growth of this new vertical from the ground up, working with founders and cross‑functional teams to deliver a best‑in‑class experience that drives student outcomes, counselor excellence and business growth.

What You’ll Do

Counselor Recruitment & Onboarding

• Own the end‑to‑end counselor supply engine: recruitment, onboarding, training and quality monitoring
• Build scalable hiring pipelines with internal and external recruiters to support rapid growth
• Design and enforce performance benchmarks, audits and ongoing engagement initiatives for counselors
• Create onboarding and training programs to ensure counselors are aligned with company standards and student needs

Customer Success & Escalations

• Lead the customer escalation function to ensure fast, empathetic, and consistent issue resolution
• Develop SOPs and escalation protocols to improve quality and reduce refund rates
• Build out processes to track and improve NPS, CSAT and retention metrics
• Turn escalations into feedback loops that inform process improvements and product enhancements

Community Development & Engagement

• Build and scale a thriving community of students, parents and counselors to strengthen brand loyalty and referrals
• Design engagement programs (events, workshops, digital forums) that foster connection and long‑term value
• Partner with marketing to integrate community insights into lifecycle campaigns and upsell opportunities

Process Design & Operational Excellence

• Architect and implement new processes to improve counselor performance, student experience and business efficiency
• Leverage CRM and automation tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, Airtable) to streamline workflows and maintain data integrity
• Build reporting systems that provide visibility into counselor utilization, escalation trends and upsell success

New Product & Vertical Launches

• Lead operational planning and execution for new products, services or verticals
• Collaborate cross‑functionally across sales, marketing, product and tech to ensure seamless launches
• Ensure backend systems, counselor training and customer support are ready to scale with each new launch

Upsells & Cross‑Sells

• Partner with sales and lifecycle marketing to design and implement upsell/cross‑sell strategies
• Train counselors and student success teams to identify upsell opportunities during client interactions
• Track and optimize upsell performance as a key driver of revenue per student

Student Feedback & Counselor Development

• Build structured student feedback loops to capture insights on counselor performance and overall experience
• Translate feedback into continuous improvement plans, counselor training and operational refinements
• Partner with senior counselors to create mentorship and training programs that elevate overall quality

Who You Are

• 3–7 years of experience leading and scaling teams in operations, customer success or program management, ideally within a high‑growth service, education or marketplace environment
• Proven ability to handle customer escalations and collaborate with internal stakeholders with empathy and clarity
• Background in managing or recruiting service providers (e.g., coaches, tutors, consultants) is a strong plus
• Hands‑on experience working in a startup or high‑growth marketplace business
• Familiarity with building and optimizing workflows in CRMs such as HubSpot, Salesforce or Airtable
• Detail‑oriented with a high bar for excellence, while knowing how to keep momentum and avoid getting stuck
• Thrives on ownership and autonomy, continuously improving processes and outcomes week over week
• Comfortable wearing many hats and able to discern when to build something new vs. optimize what already exists
• Energized by working with people and passionate about solving for both sides of a marketplace
• Collaborative, humble and hardworking. You bring zero ego and a strong “roll‑up‑your‑sleeves” mentality

What You’ll Get

• A front‑row seat at a fast‑growing, mission‑led company
• Autonomy to run an entire function and real influence on the company’s future
• Founders who care deeply about impact, and give you space to run
• A chance to help thousands of students realize their dreams
• Competitive compensation, performance upside and a clear growth path

Why you'll love Inspira

• Amazing people with a great vision and values
• Ability to work directly with co‑founders and drive impact super quickly
• Your work directly impacts the lives and careers of students across the globe
• 100% coverage of health, vision and dental benefits
• Flexible paid‑time off
• Learning and development budget
• Retirement savings plans – 401(k) with matching
• Diversity and inclusion programs that promote employee resource groups such as OWN, AAPI, Rainbow, Gender+, LatinX, Black Excellence, Disability Community and Veterans
• Note: certain benefits are not provided to 1099 contract workers

Inspira Education Group does not discriminate based on race, sex, color, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in providing employment opportunities and benefits.