The Strategic Account Leader (SAL) works with a targeted list of our largest and most strategic customers and is accountable for ensuring these customers successfully adopt and realize value from all Vertex products, and Services, in both On Premise and/or cloud environments. This individual will develop and execute strategies and tactics to enable customers to achieve the business outcomes they planned to receive from Vertex products, and with this foundation, identify opportunities for the customer to further leverage our products and services across all of their lines of business and entire environment. The SAL will collaborate, leverage and coordinate activities across the entire internal ecosystems of Vertex resources within Customer Success, Sales, Product, Marketing, and other internal teams as appropriate. The SAL will build broad relationships, especially at the VP and CxO level, intended to increase Vertex engagement and relevance in the customer’s business transformation and strategic decisions.

This position is responsible for being a subject-matter expert in understanding the market landscape, strategies and competitive positions of the accounts assigned to him/her. The ideal employee is an influencer in building and executing strategic joint business plans to explore innovative ways to add to Vertex Inc.

• Increases profitability and lifetime customer value by coordinating all components of the customer lifecycle - strategy, go-to-market, implementation, and post-sales service experience for this customer group

• Leads account strategic planning internally (across Vertex) and externally (get customers’ POV)

• Ensures coordinated market and sales strategy; engages where appropriate to accelerate pursuits

• Reaches into the Vertex organization to find new innovation / co-development opportunities with customers

• Ensures that implementation teams and post-sales/customers success teams provide consistent customer experience

• Coordinates post-sales activity across teams to ensure high CSAT/NPS, retention and cross/ up-sell

• Provides end-to-end view of accounts’ health and potential

• Is the voice of the industry/ customer group in executive council-level discussions

• Establishes customer and market priorities to execute a strategic course of action

• Partners with internal resources in order to drive additional value and expertise

• Generates pipeline that leads to closed revenue and quota attainment

• Sells on value and return on investment vs. technical functionality

• Builds credibility and trust while influencing buying decisions

• Uncovers business initiatives and pain points to map back our solutions across multiple lines of business

• Builds account strategy and territory plan by account tiering

• Creates demand by uncovering business problems and matching them to our solution

• Possesses a deep understanding of the way businesses operate, and the priorities that drive decisions from the C-level

• Manages Vertex’s relationship with their customers across a number of identified industries
  

• Positions Vertex as a trusted business advisor, engaging customers in discussions focused on delivering business outcomes by addressing their indirect tax needs

• Measures success across value (profitability, current + potential), engagement (engagement index), innovation (# of projects underway), and loyalty (NPS/CSAT, NRR, churn%)

• Participate in other projects or duties.

• N/A

• Extensive Experience in customer communication
  

• Extensive Experience in Decision Making and Critical Thinking
  

• Extensive experience giving effective effective presentations at the C-suite level

• Extensive knowledge of Web Services, Java, XML technologies

• Extensive knowledge of tax engine software or other tax compliance software.

• Excellent leadership, organizational, negotiating, closing, decision making, presentation, oral and written communications skills required.
  

• Demonstrated relationship-building skills; proven problem-solving skills; understanding solutions, vision and direction of Vertex initiatives and presenting the value associated with such.
  

• Strategic, self-driven thinker who can develop/implement a Go-To-Market strategy across all stages of the customer lifecycle and is skilled at driving continued process improvements
  

• Experience building a business case, gaining consensus and delivering the ROI
  

• Ability to problem solve and strategize with cross functional team members

• Must possess good organizational skills.

• Must be results oriented, customer focused, and exhibit good interpersonal skills.

• Proficiency in Microsoft office packages.

• BA or BS degree required and/or sufficient prior experience.

• Ten (10) plus years of experience in a similar role

• Or equivalent combination of education and/or experience

• Experience selling consulting services required.

• Functional experience in or knowledge of major ERP packages (SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft) required.

• Communicate with Clarity - Be clear, concise and actionable. Be relentlessly constructive. Seek and provide meaningful feedback.

• Act with Urgency - Adopt an agile mentality - frequent iterations, improved speed, resilience. 80/20 rule – better is the enemy of done. Don’t spend hours when minutes are enough.

• Work with Purpose - Exhibit a “We Can” mindset. Results outweigh effort. Everyone understands how their role contributes. Set aside personal objectives for team results.

• Drive to Decision - Cut the swirl with defined deadlines and decision points. Be clear on individual accountability and decision authority. Guided by a commitment to and accountability for customer outcomes.

• Own the Outcome - Defined milestones, commitments and intended results. Assess your work in context, if you’re unsure, ask. Demonstrate unwavering support for decisions.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals in this position. Other functions may be assigned, and management retains the right to add or change the duties at any time.