Senior Manager, Student Success

Inspiraeducation; New York (NY); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Flexible paid time off

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Inspira Education in New York is seeking a Senior Manager, Student Success to lead and enhance the student experience by managing counseling operations effectively. This role requires a dynamic individual who can leverage empathy, operational excellence, and leadership skills to ensure students thrive during their admissions journey.

The position demands a strategic thinker capable of developing customer success protocols and optimizing processes across departments. Candidates should have a strong background in operations within fast-paced environments and a passion for empowering students to achieve their academic goals.

This is a full-time, onsite role, offering competitive compensation and benefits.

Qualifications

• 5-8+ years of experience in operations or customer success.
• Experience in leading and scaling teams.
• Ability to handle customer escalations effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead the customer escalation function for issue resolution.
• Design and implement upsell and cross-sell strategies.
• Support a small student success team and ensure high performance.

Skills

Team leadership

Customer escalations handling

Process improvement

CRM tools expertise

Mentorship abilities

Tools

HubSpot

Salesforce

Job description

About Inspira Education

Inspira Education Group is one of the fastest-growing edtech startups in the US. We started with a simple mission to democratize access to high-quality coaching so that every student in the world has an equal opportunity to access the best opportunities.

As the world’s leading network of top admissions coaches in medical, legal, business, and college studies, we’re building software and services in one place—disrupting long-entrenched application processes with products and experiences that strive to provide an equal platform for candidates from diverse backgrounds worldwide.

As one of the fastest-growing edtech firms in the world, we are backed by some of the leading venture capital firms and investors in the world, including Zeev Ventures, Quiet Capital, Craft Ventures and Jeff Fluhr (Founder of Stubhub).

The Role

As a Senior Manager, Student Success, you’re the strategic mastermind behind the entire supply operations of Inspira’s marketplace. You will be matching ambitious students with the perfect counselors to guide them through admissions and test prep journeys. You are the heartbeat of the student experience at Inspira, blending relationship management, operational excellence, and creative problem‑solving to ensure every student’s success.

You’ll collaborate closely with internal teams, students, and families, acting as the trusted advisor who navigates each student through their personalized roadmap toward achieving their academic goals. Your energy, empathy, and proactive approach will directly shape students’ futures and Inspira’s continued growth.

This is 100% onsite role based in NYC, requiring 5 days a week attendance in our Gramercy office.

What You’ll Do

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

Process Design & Operational Excellence

• Architect and implement new processes to improve counselor performance, student experience, and business efficiency
• Leverage CRM and automation tools (HubSpot, etc.) 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

Team Leadership & Growth

• Support and collaborate with a small student success team, contributing to a culture of accountability, continuous learning, and high performance
• Help identify skill gaps and contribute to development plans that strengthen the team over time
• For the right person, there is potential to grow into a leadership role as Inspira scales — but above all, we’re looking for someone who executes with excellence first

Who You Are

• 5-8+ years of experience leading and scaling teams in operations, customer success, or program management, ideally within a high-growth service, education, or marketplace environment
• You’ve managed a small team of full-time employees (2–3 people) and know what it means to hire, coach, and develop others — but you’re still hungry to grow as a leader yourself
• 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
• Thrive 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
• Mission‑driven team culture focused on student success
• Your work directly impacts the lives and careers of students across the globe
• Health, dental, and vision insurance, base plans 100% employer paid
• Flexible paid time off (PTO) and paid holidays
• 401(k) with company match

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.