---
title: 'Implementation Lead at Element451'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/implementation-lead-element451-united-states-nmt2rwc867kh'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Implementation Lead at Element451

- **Company:** Element451
- **Location:** United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-08-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/element451/78c5ab67-b84e-4e01-861d-3f062327c1fe

## Job description

Element451 is the AI-native CRM and agent platform built for higher education. We help colleges and universities modernize engagement, recruitment, enrollment, and student success with intelligent automation and a product customers genuinely love. As we continue to scale, predictable, high-quality go-lives are a core growth lever. This role exists to ensure every new institution launches with clarity, momentum, and the right foundation for long-term success.

## The Role

As an Implementation Lead, you are the delivery owner for all customer implementations. You lead the implementation program end to end, including project plan, timeline, stakeholder alignment, and launch readiness, and are accountable for ensuring the platform is successfully adopted to achieve the customer's defined goals at handoff to Customer Success. You keep projects moving, decisions crisp, and go-lives predictable. This is a customer-facing role for someone who blends strong program leadership with enough platform fluency to guide solution direction, make tradeoffs, and coordinate effectively across teams.

## What You'll Own

Go-live delivery ownership

- Own implementation delivery from kickoff through go-live and transition to Customer Success
- Build and manage the project plan: milestones, dependencies, decisions, and weekly execution rhythm
- Drive accountability across internal teams and customer stakeholders to keep timelines on track

Discovery, solution direction, and decision-making

- Lead structured discovery to clarify goals, workflows, stakeholders, constraints, and measurable success criteria tied to customer outcomes
- Translate requirements into a phased implementation approach and realistic timeline
- Partner with Integrations Architect and Product as needed on complex design decisions

Launch readiness and risk management

- Maintain a clear go-live checklist: UAT completion, data readiness, approvals, training coordination, and communications
- Identify risks early (scope creep, stakeholder misalignment, data delays) and implement mitigation plans
- Ensure scope is controlled and tradeoffs are made transparently when needed
- Ensure go-live criteria include both technical readiness and alignment to intended customer outcomes

Outcome validation and value alignment

- Ensure the configured product supports the customer's primary use cases and defined success criteria
- Validate, with the customer, that key workflows and capabilities are live, usable, and aligned to their goals
- Confirm readiness not just for go-live, but for value realization post-launch

Cross-functional coordination and customer experience

- Lead customer working sessions and executive updates with confidence and clarity
- Coordinate with Adoption & Enablement and Integrations specialists to ensure all workstreams land cleanly
- Provide clear validation of how the implementation supports the customer's goals, including any gaps, risks, or dependencies for achieving outcomes

## What You Bring

- 4-8 years in SaaS implementation, project delivery, or customer onboarding (PM, Implementation Manager, Professional Services, TPM, etc.)
- Proven ability to run multiple implementations at once with strong stakeholder management
- Comfort working with technical and non-technical audiences (Enrollment Ops, IT, leadership)
- Excellent project discipline: timelines, risks, communication, and follow-through
- Familiarity with CRM/marketing automation implementations (higher ed experience a strong plus)
- Experience in a scaling environment is a plus

## How We Measure Success

- Early value realization signals (e.g., initial usage, workflow adoption, or goal alignment within first 30-60 days)
- On-time go-live rate and predictable delivery outcomes
- Implementation cycle time without quality tradeoffs
- Risk management quality: fewer avoidable delays/escalations
- Handoff quality score: CS confirms the implementation is positioned to achieve stated customer goals
- Customer experience: post-implementation CSAT and stakeholder confidence

## Our Values

- Impactful not Immediate
- Progress before Perfection
- Learners before Masters
- Together not Alone
- Customer Success not Support

Our Interview Process Our process is rigorous and designed to be a real signal, for you and for us. Expect a live working session grounded in a realistic implementation scenario, not take-home busywork or trivia. You will show how you run discovery, structure a plan, manage risk, and communicate with customers and cross-functional partners.

## About Element451

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Element451 provides an AI-native CRM and AI agent platform purpose-built for higher education to help institutions manage the full student lifecycle.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Growth Equity funded)
- **Headquarters**: Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Higher Education Technology (EdTech), AI-powered CRM, Student Engagement
- Target customers: B2B; colleges and universities (including large public universities, community college systems, and private institutions)
- Mission or purpose statement: To put AI to work for higher education, helping institutions engage students, reduce staff burden, and drive outcomes at every stage of the student lifecycle.

## Products & Services
- **Element (AI-Native CRM)**: A full-lifecycle CRM that connects data, workflows, and AI agents across every team and every stage of the student journey — from marketing and admissions to enrollment, student success, and continuing education & workforce development.
- **Bolt (AI Agent Engine)**: A platform deploying specialized AI agents across the student lifecycle. Agents work inside existing institutional systems to handle tasks like 24/7 prospect engagement, application reading and scoring, fraud detection, transcript evaluation, student risk monitoring, and proactive outreach. Specialized agents exist for Marketing, Admissions, Student Success, and CE & Workforce.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised of $184.75M (latest round: Growth Equity, $175M raised ~2 years ago)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Investors include PSG, Cultivation Capital, Blueprint Equity, London Venture Partners, Cofounders Capital, and 3 others. Key strategic partner: Encoura (announced June 2026).
- **Growth Signals**: Trusted by 350+ higher education institutions (including Columbia University, Louisiana State University, Tulane University, the North Carolina Community College System, and the University System of Georgia). Surpassed 60 million AI-powered student journeys. Reported doubled Q1 growth in 2026 and expanded executive team to support next phase of AI innovation.

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-Native Platform**: Unlike bolt-on “wraparound” agent solutions, Element451’s platform is built from the ground up with AI agents embedded in its core data and workflow engine.
- **Full Lifecycle Coverage**: Covers the entire student journey from first inquiry to graduation and beyond (including continuing education), offering a unified platform rather than point solutions.
- **Specialized Agents**: Bolt deploys agents purpose-built for specific workflows (marketing, admissions, student success) that work inside existing institutional tech stacks.
- **Proven Scale**: Supports over 60 million student journeys across 350+ institutions, demonstrating enterprise-grade reliability.

## Strategic Focus
- Current priorities include expanding AI agent capabilities across the student lifecycle, deepening strategic partnerships (e.g., with Encoura), and driving growth through AI innovation in higher education. The company is focused on addressing the “inflection point” in higher ed: declining enrollment, rising student expectations for AI-powered experiences, and staff burnout.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: The company describes itself as a group of “passionate builders, educators, visionaries, and problem solvers” who believe AI is one of the most important human inventions.
- **Impact**: Employees work on technology that directly addresses critical challenges in higher education — enrollment decline, staff workload reduction, and student success.
- **Growth Stage**: As a well-funded private company (over $184M raised) with doubled Q1 growth, Element451 is in a high-growth phase, offering potential for career advancement.
- **Work Arrangement**: Not explicitly stated, but the company is headquartered in Raleigh, NC (1 Glenwood, Floor 5). Open positions include Account Executive and Enablement Lead (per LinkedIn).
- **Notable**: The company encourages passionate candidates to submit resumes to jobs@element451.com even if no current opening matches.

## Sources
1. [element451.com](https://element451.com/)
2. [element451.com/about-us](https://element451.com/about-us)
3. [element451.com/careers](https://element451.com/careers)
4. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/element451)
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/element451)

## Other roles at Element451

- [Solutions Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/solutions-engineer-element451-united-states-exgxx9wpa80w) — United States
- [Business Development Representative](https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-representative-element451-element451-a1ph416qbr28) — Element451
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-element451-serbia-2yx91mtmy6y1) — Serbia
- [Senior Director, Integrations](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-integrations-element451-united-states-pnqe2qw6jh6d) — United States
- [Director of Demand Generation](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-demand-generation-element451-united-states-vztnapj5k3gb) — United States
- [Team Lead, Delivery Management](https://feeny.ai/job/team-lead-delivery-management-element451-serbia-z5hjq28nj63x) — Serbia