OPT Channel Sales Manager Jobs
Channel Sales Manager jobs are a strong fit for F-1 OPT students with backgrounds in business, marketing, or sales. Most roles qualify under standard OPT, and many employers in tech and SaaS sectors have established sponsorship pipelines for high-performing sales managers transitioning from OPT to H-1B visa.
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The Specialist, Channel Sales recruits and onboards new and replacement Pearson VUE Authorized Test Center (PVTC) partners to expand and maintain a high-quality testing network. The role manages prospects from initial market research and outreach through contract execution, readiness coordination, and handoff for installation. This role works closely with prospects and customers along with operations, capacity planning, technical, security, client, finance, legal, and marketing teams. The Specialist, Channel Sales, helps grow channel footprint and ensures each new site supports client coverage, capacity, quality, and compliance.
This is a relationship-focused, target-driven role for someone who can build a qualified partner pipeline, maintain accurate records, remove onboarding obstacles, collaborate with others to solve problems, listen and advocate for testing centers, and think creatively to find solutions in challenging markets.
Key Responsibilities
1. Market Analysis and Partner Recruitment
- Research and qualify prospective testing organizations, including educational institutions, training providers, corporate locations, military institutions, correctional facilities and other suitable organizations.
- Use coverage, capacity, client, market, and pipeline information to identify priority recruitment locations and replacement-site needs.
- Conduct targeted outreach, explain the PVTC value proposition, assess interest and fit, and build a sustainable pipeline of qualified prospects.
- Coordinate recruitment campaigns and collaborate with marketing or regional stakeholders when additional lead generation is required.
- Represent Pearson VUE professionally in virtual presentations and partner discussions.
2. Partner Qualification, Contracting and Onboarding
- Guide prospective partners through the recruitment and onboarding journey from initial inquiry through contract signature and operational handoff.
- Collect, review, and coordinate required application, business, facility, security, technical, and readiness information in accordance with current Pearson VUE requirements.
- Coordinate due diligence and internal reviews, identify gaps, and communicate required actions clearly to prospects and stakeholders.
- Support contract preparation, negotiation, amendments, and approval routing within delegated authority and established policies.
- Maintain momentum across onboarding activities by tracking dependencies, following up on open items, escalating blockers, and providing clear status updates.
- Collaborate across internal teams and with prospective partners to solve problems, remove barriers, and keep site recruitment and onboarding activity moving forward.
- Partner with activation, technical, quality, security, capacity, and operational teams to support a smooth transition from contracted prospect to active PVTC.
3. Pipeline, CRM and Performance Management
- Maintain complete, timely, and accurate prospect, activity and onboarding records in Salesforce and approved reporting tools.
- Monitor pipeline health, aging, conversion progress, onboarding milestones, risks, and next actions; provide routine and ad hoc updates to leadership and stakeholders.
- Balance recruitment priorities across territories or programs as business needs and deadlines change.
- Contribute to achievement of assigned recruitment and activation metrics.
- Use data and partner feedback to recommend improvements to recruitment processes, tools, communications, and reporting.
4. Partner and Stakeholder Relationships
- Build trusted relationships with prospects, new partners, and internal stakeholders through responsive, clear, and consultative communication.
- Help prospective partners understand the operational model, scheduling considerations, testing expectations, and business requirements relevant to becoming a PVTC.
- Advocate for prospective and newly contracted sites by helping stakeholders understand site needs, clarifying requirements, and identifying practical paths forward when challenges arise.
- Manage expectations, document decisions, and hold owners accountable for agreed actions in a constructive and action-oriented manner.
- Maintain awareness of relevant client requirements and contractual obligations and raise potential conflicts or risks promptly.
- Provide limited post-contract support during transition and route established partners to the appropriate operational owner after handoff.
Required Skills
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.
- Experience in sales, partner recruitment, business development, account management, customer relationship management, or a comparable client-facing role.
- Experience recruiting, onboarding, or supporting channel partners, testing centers, franchisees, resellers, vendors, or other third-party locations.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple prospects, tasks, deadlines, and cross-functional dependencies through a defined process.
- Experience supporting contracts and gathering requirements.
- Experience working across regions, time zones, or languages.
- Experience working toward recruitment, sales, activation, or service-level targets.
- Experience using Microsoft Office applications and a CRM or comparable tracking system.
- Excellent written, verbal, listening, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Strong attention to detail, organization, follow-through, judgment, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work independently, adapt priorities, and collaborate effectively with culturally and professionally diverse teams and partners.
Compensation at Pearson is influenced by factors including skill set, experience, and location.
The full-time salary range for this role is $38,000 – $48,000 annually.
This position is eligible to participate in Pearson’s sales incentive plan. Information on benefits can be found here.
Applications will be accepted through September 30, 2026. This window may be extended depending on business needs.
Who we are:
At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson.
Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.
If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.
Job: Sales
Job Family: GO_TO_MARKET
Organization: Assessment & Qualifications
Schedule: FULL_TIME
Workplace Type: Remote
Req ID: 25995
Role Overview
The Specialist, Channel Sales recruits and onboards new and replacement Pearson VUE Authorized Test Center (PVTC) partners to expand and maintain a high-quality testing network. The role manages prospects from initial market research and outreach through contract execution, readiness coordination, and handoff for installation. This role works closely with prospects and customers along with operations, capacity planning, technical, security, client, finance, legal, and marketing teams. The Specialist, Channel Sales, helps grow channel footprint and ensures each new site supports client coverage, capacity, quality, and compliance.
This is a relationship-focused, target-driven role for someone who can build a qualified partner pipeline, maintain accurate records, remove onboarding obstacles, collaborate with others to solve problems, listen and advocate for testing centers, and think creatively to find solutions in challenging markets.
Key Responsibilities
1. Market Analysis and Partner Recruitment
- Research and qualify prospective testing organizations, including educational institutions, training providers, corporate locations, military institutions, correctional facilities and other suitable organizations.
- Use coverage, capacity, client, market, and pipeline information to identify priority recruitment locations and replacement-site needs.
- Conduct targeted outreach, explain the PVTC value proposition, assess interest and fit, and build a sustainable pipeline of qualified prospects.
- Coordinate recruitment campaigns and collaborate with marketing or regional stakeholders when additional lead generation is required.
- Represent Pearson VUE professionally in virtual presentations and partner discussions.
2. Partner Qualification, Contracting and Onboarding
- Guide prospective partners through the recruitment and onboarding journey from initial inquiry through contract signature and operational handoff.
- Collect, review, and coordinate required application, business, facility, security, technical, and readiness information in accordance with current Pearson VUE requirements.
- Coordinate due diligence and internal reviews, identify gaps, and communicate required actions clearly to prospects and stakeholders.
- Support contract preparation, negotiation, amendments, and approval routing within delegated authority and established policies.
- Maintain momentum across onboarding activities by tracking dependencies, following up on open items, escalating blockers, and providing clear status updates.
- Collaborate across internal teams and with prospective partners to solve problems, remove barriers, and keep site recruitment and onboarding activity moving forward.
- Partner with activation, technical, quality, security, capacity, and operational teams to support a smooth transition from contracted prospect to active PVTC.
3. Pipeline, CRM and Performance Management
- Maintain complete, timely, and accurate prospect, activity and onboarding records in Salesforce and approved reporting tools.
- Monitor pipeline health, aging, conversion progress, onboarding milestones, risks, and next actions; provide routine and ad hoc updates to leadership and stakeholders.
- Balance recruitment priorities across territories or programs as business needs and deadlines change.
- Contribute to achievement of assigned recruitment and activation metrics.
- Use data and partner feedback to recommend improvements to recruitment processes, tools, communications, and reporting.
4. Partner and Stakeholder Relationships
- Build trusted relationships with prospects, new partners, and internal stakeholders through responsive, clear, and consultative communication.
- Help prospective partners understand the operational model, scheduling considerations, testing expectations, and business requirements relevant to becoming a PVTC.
- Advocate for prospective and newly contracted sites by helping stakeholders understand site needs, clarifying requirements, and identifying practical paths forward when challenges arise.
- Manage expectations, document decisions, and hold owners accountable for agreed actions in a constructive and action-oriented manner.
- Maintain awareness of relevant client requirements and contractual obligations and raise potential conflicts or risks promptly.
- Provide limited post-contract support during transition and route established partners to the appropriate operational owner after handoff.
Required Skills
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.
- Experience in sales, partner recruitment, business development, account management, customer relationship management, or a comparable client-facing role.
- Experience recruiting, onboarding, or supporting channel partners, testing centers, franchisees, resellers, vendors, or other third-party locations.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple prospects, tasks, deadlines, and cross-functional dependencies through a defined process.
- Experience supporting contracts and gathering requirements.
- Experience working across regions, time zones, or languages.
- Experience working toward recruitment, sales, activation, or service-level targets.
- Experience using Microsoft Office applications and a CRM or comparable tracking system.
- Excellent written, verbal, listening, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Strong attention to detail, organization, follow-through, judgment, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work independently, adapt priorities, and collaborate effectively with culturally and professionally diverse teams and partners.
Compensation at Pearson is influenced by factors including skill set, experience, and location.
The full-time salary range for this role is $38,000 – $48,000 annually.
This position is eligible to participate in Pearson’s sales incentive plan. Information on benefits can be found here.
Applications will be accepted through September 30, 2026. This window may be extended depending on business needs.
Who we are:
At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson.
Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.
If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.
Job: Sales
Job Family: GO_TO_MARKET
Organization: Assessment & Qualifications
Schedule: FULL_TIME
Workplace Type: Remote
Req ID: 25995
See all 44+ OPT Channel Sales Manager Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Channel Sales Manager Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Channel Sales Manager
Target employers with H-1B sponsorship history
Channel sales roles are common at mid-size and enterprise tech companies that regularly sponsor H-1B visas. Searching OFLC disclosure data for past LCA filings in sales management roles helps you identify employers already familiar with the sponsorship process.
Clarify your OPT authorization early in interviews
Bring up your OPT status before the offer stage. Frame it as a current work authorization, not a future problem. Employers who have sponsored before won't be surprised, and those who haven't need time to assess their willingness.
Emphasize revenue impact, not just activity metrics
Channel Sales Managers are evaluated on partner-driven revenue and pipeline growth. Quantify your past results, even from internships or projects. Sponsorship decisions often hinge on whether a hiring manager believes you'll generate measurable returns.
Understand your OPT end date before applying
Know exactly when your OPT expires and whether you qualify for the 24-month STEM extension. Employers will ask. Having a clear answer, including your degree field and graduation date, signals preparation and reduces perceived risk on their end.
Focus on channel-heavy industries with high sponsorship rates
Software, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity companies rely heavily on channel partner networks and sponsor visas at higher rates than other sectors. Targeting these industries improves both your chances of finding a fit and securing long-term sponsorship.
Build relationships with partner managers and channel recruiters
Channel sales hiring often happens through internal referrals and partner ecosystem connections. Attending vendor partner events or joining industry associations puts you in front of hiring managers before roles are posted publicly, which matters when OPT timelines are tight.
Channel Sales Manager OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can F-1 OPT students work as Channel Sales Managers?
Yes. Channel Sales Manager roles qualify for F-1 OPT work authorization as long as the position is directly related to your field of study, typically business, marketing, management, or a related discipline. You work under your EAD card issued by USCIS, and no additional employer filing is required to start. If your degree is in a STEM field, you may also qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension.
Does a Channel Sales Manager role qualify for the STEM OPT extension?
It depends on your degree, not the job title. If your bachelor's or master's degree is in a STEM-designated field, such as computer science, information systems, or engineering, and the Channel Sales Manager role relates to that field, you may qualify for the 24-month extension. The job itself does not determine STEM eligibility. Your DSO confirms eligibility based on your degree's CIP code.
How do I find Channel Sales Manager jobs that sponsor OPT students?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for F-1 OPT and visa-sponsored job searches, so it filters for employers open to work authorization. Searching there surfaces Channel Sales Manager roles at companies already familiar with OPT and H-1B sponsorship, which saves time compared to applying broadly and discovering sponsorship limitations late in the process.
What happens to my Channel Sales Manager job if my OPT expires before H-1B approval?
If your employer files an H-1B petition before your OPT expires and you have a valid STEM extension, cap-gap rules may protect your work authorization through September 30 of that year. Without a STEM extension, the gap between OPT expiration and H-1B approval can interrupt employment. Timing your application and extension carefully with your DSO is critical.
Do Channel Sales Manager employers typically sponsor H-1B visas?
Sponsorship willingness varies by employer. Larger technology companies with established channel programs, particularly in SaaS, cloud, and cybersecurity, tend to have HR infrastructure for H-1B sponsorship. Smaller companies or those without prior international hires may be less familiar with the process. Prioritizing employers with a documented sponsorship history reduces uncertainty during your OPT period.