SHIKHA LABS/ MUMBAI
Chief Business Officer
Commercial leadership role · Reports to Founder · Full-time · Mumbai
ABOUT SHIKHA LABS
An AI product company built on eight years of education practice
Shikha AI is the for-profit entity within the larger Shikha ecosystem, building research-based AI-powered tools for teachers and schools. Its flagship product, Sakhee, is a comprehensive AI platform that supports teachers across the full cycle of their work: lesson planning, teacher coaching, classroom rehearsal, student assessment, performance analysis, and school improvement tracking. Sakhee is built , from inside a functioning school, with eight years of curriculum and pedagogy development as its foundation.
Shikha AI operates on a surplus-to-mission model. Revenue from commercial customers, including premium private schools and school groups, cross-subsidises access for affordable schools and government partnerships. Commercial success at Shikha AI is not separate from the Shikha mission; it is one of the primary mechanisms through which that mission reaches more schools.
Sakhee is in active use and the product team is in place. What the organisation now needs is the commercial leadership to take it to market at scale, across India and the Middle East, and the intelligence to ensure that what the market tells us shapes what we build next.
Shikha AI sits within a broader foundation structure that includes a model school, a research and development institute, an educator training function and a government system and school scaling programme. The CBO will have direct access to one of the most credible education practitioners in India and to a body of evidence and curriculum development that gives Sakhee a genuine and defensible point of difference in an increasingly crowded EdTech market.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Building the commercial engine for an AI product with genuine differentiation
The target markets are India and the Middle East. Both are at an inflection point in school-level technology adoption, driven by institutional pressure to improve teaching quality, the emergence of AI as a credible classroom tool, and in the Gulf, the ambitions of Vision 2030 and comparable national reform programmes. Sakhee is positioned to serve both: a product built in the Indian context, with the pedagogical depth that serious, top-tier school buyers require, and the AI capabilities that the region's more technologically ambitious institutions are actively seeking.
The CBO will own revenue. They will also own the feedback loop between the market and the product, ensuring that what schools are asking for, what competitors are offering, and where the unmet demand sits all find their way back into Shikha Labs' product roadmap and into the broader Shikha Foundation's strategic thinking.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
Areas of ownership
- Revenue and pipeline: own the commercial targets for India and the Middle East; build and manage the sales pipeline from prospecting through to close; develop the pricing, packaging, and go-to-market approach for different school segments and geographies
- Market development: identify and pursue the institutions, school groups, and system-level buyers most likely to adopt Sakhee; build relationships with the decision-makers whose endorsement unlocks institutional sales, including school group operators, ministry officials, and curriculum leads
- Market intelligence: maintain a live understanding of what schools are buying, what competitors are offering, and where demand is ahead of supply; synthesise this into regular, structured intelligence briefs for the product team and the Shikha Foundation leadership
- Partnerships and channels: identify strategic partnerships, distribution channels, and integration opportunities that extend Sakhee's reach without requiring direct sales effort for every customer; develop and manage these relationships
- Brand and positioning: work with the product team and the foundation to ensure Sakhee is positioned compellingly in both markets; develop the sales materials, demonstrations, and case studies that convert interest into commitment
- Commercial architecture: design the pricing tiers, subscription models, and institutional contracts that allow Sakhee to serve both premium and mission-aligned customers at appropriate price points; ensure the commercial model supports the surplus-to-mission logic
- Team build: as revenue grows, recruit and develop the sales and business development team needed to cover both markets with the depth and consistency the opportunity requires
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
The profile
MUST HAVE
- 10+ years in B2B sales or business development, with a track record of closing institutional deals; has owned revenue targets and delivered against them in a product or SaaS context
- Education market knowledge: understands how schools and school groups buy; knows the decision-making structures, procurement cycles, and the stakeholders whose endorsement matters
- Market coverage across India and the Middle East: has either existing relationships across both markets or the demonstrated range and credibility to build them; comfortable operating across different institutional and cultural contexts
- Commercially sharp and analytically grounded: can read a market, identify where demand exists, size an opportunity, and translate what buyers are asking for into a clear product or positioning brief for the team
- Self-starter with high sales drive: energised by building pipeline from scratch; sets the target, builds the plan, and executes without needing the structure of a large sales organisation behind them
- Strong communicator: credible with school principals, group CEOs, and ministry-level buyers; can position Sakhee compellingly and handle the objections of an education buyer who has seen many EdTech promises come and go
- Comfortable in a founder-led, mission-driven environment: understands that commercial success at Shikha Labs funds and amplifies the broader Shikha mission; the surplus-to-mission model is regarded a source of motivation and larger purpose
GOOD TO HAVE
- Prior experience selling EdTech or SaaS to schools in India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or comparable Gulf markets
- Familiarity with AI-powered teacher tools, learning management systems, or school improvement platforms
- Existing network among school group operators, education ministry officials, or EdTech procurement decision-makers in target markets
- Experience feeding commercial intelligence into product strategy, whether through a formal product role or close collaboration with a product team
LIKELY BACKGROUNDS
Where we expect to find this person
Strong candidates will have built commercial operations in institutional B2B environments, ideally within education or a closely adjacent sector. Profiles we would expect to consider include: senior sales or business development leaders at EdTech companies that have scaled across India and the Middle East, or comparable platforms; commercial directors at school group operators or education management organisations with buying-side knowledge of the EdTech market; senior sales leaders from B2B SaaS companies in adjacent sectors who have made successful transitions into education; and regional heads at international EdTech companies entering or expanding in the Middle East.
COMPENSATION AND STRUCTURE
The terms
CTC
Competitive
LOCATION
Mumbai
REPORTS TO
Founder
TYPE
Full-time
Compensation includes a base and performance component commensurate with the commercial scope of the role. Details will be discussed with shortlisted candidates.
Shikha Labs / Chief Business Officer / Mumbai / 2026
Work Location: In person
