Placement Development Specialist (Fully Remote)

About Virtual Internships

We're on an ambitious and challenging mission to provide guaranteed internships to anyone, anytime, anywhere—no one else is doing this at our scale! Regardless of background, major, location, or career field, every student can gain invaluable experience at innovative companies worldwide, significantly enhancing their employability and career readiness. Trusted by universities, governments, foundations, and online education institutions, we’re transforming learners' lives globally.

• $14.3million Series A fundraise announced in September 2022, with investors including Hambro Perks, Sequoia India & Surge, Arsenal Growth, Kaplan, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures

• Ranked 20th out of 13,000 organizations to “Escape To in 2023”Featured as a Top 100 EdTech Startup by HolonIQ in 2021, 2022, and 2023

• Rated as a Top 50 Rising Startup by Tech in Asia in 2022

• Remote-firstwith 100+ employees across 20+ countries globally

• B2B EdTech product, trusted by 100+ universities, 10,000+ interns, and 14,000+ companies

One of the core values at VI is transparency. Therefore feel free to “try before you apply” by visiting our VI-P Guide, which includes our values, how we operate, how we build our packages, and a few other snippets of who we are!

Your Role

Join Virtual Internships as a Placement Development Specialist (our version of an SDR). Your sole focus is calling companies - either introducing Virtual Internships for the first time or re-engaging prospects who’ve already shown intent but haven’t completed onboarding.

When interns can’t be matched with our existing partner companies, you help unlock new opportunities by getting the right companies into the funnel.

What’s Unique About This Role vs The Traditional “SDR” Role?

• Zero-Cost Value Proposition - Unlike traditional SDR roles where you're pitching paid services, you'll be offering companies a completely free opportunity to host talented interns with no fees or commitments.

• Unique Objection Handling-The challenge isn’t price. It’s credibility and clarity: helping founders/managers believe that “free” really means free!

• Meaningful Impact - Every company you bring on board creates new remote internship opportunities for students. Your work directly expands our placement capacity and helps more students launch their careers.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Speaking with founders and managers through cold calls, introducing them to Virtual Internships for the first time

• Reconnecting with warm prospects who’ve already shown interest and help them take the next step

• Guide interested companies to a meeting or quick registration

• Keep your work organized and visible by logging calls and outcomes in our CRM

• Share what you’re hearing on calls to shape better scripts, messaging, and targeting

Who We're Looking For

Your Attributes

• Fluent English (spoken confidence matters more than certificates)

• Comfortable on the phone - you don’t avoid calls; you lean into them

• Persistent but human - you can handle rejection without sounding robotic

• Clear communicator - you explain things simply, especially to first-time prospects

• Organized - you follow call lists, workflows, and CRM rules consistently

Your Experience

We’re open to candidates from a few different backgrounds - as long as you’re comfortable speaking to people on the phone!

• Early-career sales professionals: 1+ years of experience in SDR, BDR, or sales roles, ideally with cold and/or warm calling experience.

• Graduates looking for their first sales role: No prior sales experience required- this is a great entry point if you want hands-on experience with cold/warm calling

• Students seeking practical experience: currently studying and available for at least 15 hours per week, with a strong interest in gaining your first experience in cold/warm calling.

You stand out from the crowd if:

• Experience making cold or warm calls in English

• A track record of hitting activity or conversion targets

• Comfort handling skeptical founders or busy managers on short calls

Virtual Internships Perks and Benefits

• Remote-First:All roles at VI are currently and will remain remote - flexibility to work from anywhere

• Flexible Working Hours: Start earlier, leave earlier, take a shorter lunch, or leave later, it's totally up to you.

• Annual Leave: Wherever you are in the world, you’ll get 25 days of paid annual leave per year, plus bank holidays and 5 sick days.

• Life Event Leave: There are moments in life where your life responsibility is a higher priority than work (e.g. moving house, your best friend getting married, your sister having a baby) therefore, you’ll get 5 days of paid life-event leave to support these occasions. You also get a day off on your birthday. This is in addition to your Annual Leave.

• Flexible VIer Budget:You’ll receive a flexible budget of $1,000 per year that you can use on but not limited to your work setup, personal wellness, or professional development.

• Tech:New joiners receive a budget for your company laptop depending on the role and location.

Equality & Diversity

Virtual Internships is an equal opportunity employer, committed to equality and diversity amongst both our employees and prospective applicants. We ensure all applicants are treated equally and fairly throughout our recruitment process.