Director of Sales and Marketing- Element 74

About Element 74

Element 74 builds case management and association software for organizations working on the front lines of victim services and community advocacy. Based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, we serve two connected layers of the same mission. Vela is case management for the agencies supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Coalition Manager is the member, grant, and training platform used by state coalitions and statewide networks in 49 states.

That combination is rare. We sit at both the coalition layer and the agency layer of one market, which gives us a view of the sector that no point solution can match. Our customers reflect it: retention runs in the high 90s, and the people who use Vela every day call it mission critical. We are part of Banyan Software, which brings long-term ownership stability, shared AI and go-to-market expertise, and a network of peer companies across health and human services.

The Opportunity

We are hiring our first VP of Sales to build and lead the new business function. We have grown on the strength of our product, our reputation, and founder-led relationships. The next phase needs a commercial engine built deliberately: outbound pipeline, disciplined forecasting, a repeatable playbook, and a team built to win new logos. Our core market is deeply established, and the same platform maps onto adjacent advocacy and human services verticals where the buyers, the funding, and the workflows are closely related.

You will report to the CEO, sit on the leadership team, and own the new bookings number. You will inherit a lean team with budget to grow, a strong brand, and live pipeline. In the near term you will sell as well as lead. This is a player-coach role until your team is built and performing.

What You Will Own

New logo growth

• Own the new bookings plan and the KPIs behind it: MQL and SQL volume, MQL-to-SQL and SQL-to-close conversion, pipeline coverage, forecast accuracy, win rate, sales cycle length, and net new ARR.
• Own and run the lead generation engine. Set the source mix across outbound, campaigns, conferences and partners, hold marketing to agreed MQL targets, and own the handoff into sales.
• Lead competitive displacement against incumbent platforms in our core market.
• Personally lead statewide and strategic pursuits with multiple stakeholders, formal procurement, and long cycles.

Market expansion

• Build the go-to-market approach for adjacent verticals: child advocacy centers, Continuums of Care and homelessness networks, human trafficking response organizations, and substance use coalitions.
• Assess right to win by vertical: incumbent strength, funding sources, buying committee, and positioning.
• Decide where our coalition-first motion replicates and where to enter directly at the agency layer.

Team build and leadership

• Design the sales organization: role profiles, segment or territory ownership, and a headcount plan.
• Recruit, onboard, and develop the team, with documented playbooks, activity standards, and ramp expectations.
• Develop the people already here, with clear objectives, structured 1:1s, and performance management.

Commercial rigor

• Enforce a disciplined qualification methodology in CRM. Every forecast deal carries a business case, mapped decision-makers, a close plan, and a compelling event.
• Own contract management: terms, renewals, statewide and multi-site agreements, and the grant-funding and public-sector procurement constraints that shape how our customers are able to contract.
• Partner with the CEO and Banyan on future initiatives for pricing, packaging, and billing.
• Own sales and marketing costs every quarter: cost per lead, cost per acquisition, and return by channel and by rep.

What We Are Looking For

Must-haves

• 10+ years in B2B software sales, including meaningful experience leading quota-carrying teams and owning a new business number.
• A track record of building. You have hired, ramped, and managed sellers, not only inherited a team.
• Proven experience managing a business development function, including the lead generation or SDR layer, with a documented record of converting top-of-funnel activity into closed business.
• Personal selling ability in complex, multi-stakeholder deals with long cycles and formal procurement.
• Fluency in contract management: you have owned agreement structure, terms and renewals yourself.
• Real command of sales process and CRM discipline. Qualification, forecast hygiene, funnel conversion math and pipeline coverage are second nature, and you hold teams to them.
• Comfortable as a player-coach in a growing business: hands-on, low-ego, effective without a large support function.
• Willing to travel for customers, national and state conferences, and your team.

Domain experience

This matters most. We want someone who already understands how this market buys, with depth in our core markets, credibility in our expansion markets, or both.

• Mission-driven, grant-funded buyers. You know that purchasing follows funding cycles, not fiscal quarters, and you can sell into budgets assembled from multiple vehicles such as VOCA, VAWA, state, federal, private, and donor funds.
• Nonprofit, human services, or public sector software. Case management, client or member management, benefits, workforce, behavioral health, or outcomes software sold to nonprofits, associations, or state and local agencies.
• Our core verticals: victim services, domestic violence and sexual assault, and the state coalitions and statewide networks above them.
• Our expansion verticals: child advocacy, homelessness services and Continuums of Care, human trafficking response, substance use, and adjacent community health and advocacy networks.
• Statewide and multi-site contracting. You have won umbrella agreements that cascade to many downstream agencies, and you know how to sell both levels.

Preferred

• Experience displacing an entrenched incumbent in a specialized vertical.
• Experience introducing price increases, packaging tiers, or annual and multi-year prepay into a price-sensitive base.
• HubSpot or comparable CRM, and a structured qualification framework such as MEDDIC.

Compensation

The expected base salary for this position is $115,000 to $135,000, with total on-target earnings of $225,000 to $260,000. The plan is weighted toward variable compensation, earned against new bookings, funnel conversion, adjacent-market entry, and team build milestones.