Global Account Manager

Reporting into the Head of Sector for your focus sector, you will be accountable for proactively managing the growth and expansion of LRQA’s services in a selection of global and strategic accounts. In addition, in line with the sector strategy, you will have a small, but focused target account list, to broaden our footprint in the sector.

Your portfolio will be varied, but will typically start at £5-10m of annual revenue worth of accounts, which you will develop for year on year revenue growth.

Retention, revenue growth and new logo wins will be the key performance indicators use to measure success.

This is a key role part of our strategic growth ambition for the sector and you will have a clear focus on the market, your clients’ business objectives, priorities and challenges, using this knowledge to build best in class solutions from LRQA’s portfolio of products and services.

As you continually build your network of senior decision makers and influencers with your accounts, you will be the LRQA internal representative for them, driving operational excellence in delivery, pipelines of opportunities and a growing network of connections through our local sales teams throughout the world.

This will involve proactive engagement with other LRQA teams, including marketing, Service Delivery (SD) and Service Delivery Support (SDS) as needed to put your account and targets into the best shape possible for success.

Given the strong growth requirements of this role, you will need to manage your client’s pipelines daily, ensuring they are sufficient and progressing quickly enough to meet the relevant revenue growth targets. This will include ensuring the accuracy of values, sales stages, dates of actions and likely closure timelines across the global sales team. Where your overall pipeline is not in the right shape, you will take the right corrective action to ensure it gets back on track in a timely manner. Your pipeline will be an accurate reflection of your sales forecast at any given time.

Key Responsibilities:

• To drive targeted revenue growth through the assigned portfolio of global and strategic accounts, new target logos and core products, services and solutions in your sector, working with local and regional sales team members;
• To own the account plans for your assigned accounts and target logos, working with colleagues, SME’s and any other internal stakeholder for the delivery of agreed action plans. Your role also networks across our delivery organisation(s);
• You will work closely with local teams to drive continual development of each client’s business focus and strategy, and to grow our network of influencers in each client organisation as well as an expanding pipeline of opportunities across LRQA;
• You will work with local and regional sales team members and sector business development network to build knowledge, depth and to prioritise workload and ensure maximum revenue growth;
• To ensure the sales pipeline is sufficient to meet the relevant targets, suggesting actions as needed and following through with escalation plans when required. This will include ensuring the accuracy of values, sales stages, dates of actions and likely closure timelines. You will have full confidence that the pipeline is an accurate reflection of the strategic account sales forecast at any given time.
• To ensure that contracted SLA’s are met for all of your account portfolio, working closely with Program Support and operational delivery teams;
• Oversee retention of your accounts, minimising the risk of loss to the LRQA business, through timely intervention in any process, preventing the re-tendering of business where possible and re-securing the contract where needed;
• Play an active role in new business opportunities for your target logos, either in a lead or supporting sales position, depending on the winning strategy and relevant skills needed to maximise the opportunity of winning;
• Maintain a strong strategic knowledge of the market(s) you operate in, ensuring you are able to maintain a strong level of communication with client personnel, using this to open doors for new products and services, and to contribute to strategic discussions around LRQA business plans and growth objectives;
• Be responsible for the production of sales and pipeline reports, performance summaries and updates on specific project actions related to you assigned Accounts, ensuring they are accurate and delivered in a timely manner;
• Be an ambassador for One LRQA, working with colleagues from other functions and disciplines, to remove barriers to success. Be an active participant at industry events and conferences where you will represent LRQA thought leadership;
• Be accountable for the overall account satisfaction of all your accounts, driving NPS scores and proactively engaging with clients to identify new opportunities for growth and new product ideas for further development across the business
• Maintain financial discipline to control and support rapid growth through the setting of financial targets, budget development and monitoring for all of your assigned accounts;
• Monitor the marketplace and analyse opportunities, providing competitive analysis and stay well-connected with clients to ensure broad market needs are being incorporated into a product development and enhancement cycle. Develop business plans on commercial opportunities and support on strategic growth initiatives in target markets.

Key health & safety responsibilities:

Eliminate or minimise employee exposure to risks by regularly reviewing the health and safety risk register, applying appropriate controls, communicating results of risk assessments, and ensuring health and safety is considered in the planning and execution of all LRQA activities.

Manage your own, and your team’s, compliance with health and safety rules, instructions, systems and legal requirements to ensure employees are suitably trained and adequate resources are available to work safely.

Number of direct reports

N/A.

Geographic area of impact

Global.

Size of budget

12-15% YoY growth from account portfolio (typical value depends on accts mix but will be typically £5-10m in FY24) and up to £1m of new logo contract business annually

Key stakeholders

Regional Sales Managers, Head of Program Support, Program Managers and Program Supports, Subject Matter Experts, Head of Sales Operations, Regional Directors, Business Unit Managing Directors, Sector, Chief Growth Officer, FP&A Partners, Client Operations.

Technical / Professional Qualifications / Requirements:

Essential - Educated to degree level in an appropriate subject relevant to the business. 

Essential – proven experience of working with large strategic organisations to develop sales solutions underpinned by insights, to solve particular business problems.

Essential – demonstrable experience of developing contract values with large accounts through year-on-year double digit growth.

Essential - Has a proven track record of delivering ambitious growth plans in B2B environment, through the achievement of sales targets, selling products and services in a comparable industry. 

Essential - Is exceptionally well organised, a ruthless prioritiser with high attention to details. 

Essential – can demonstrate a strong commercial acumen with examples of successful value propositions for global clients/brands.

Essential – proven experience of working with large global organisations to develop sales solutions underpinned by insights, to solve business problems.  

Essential – ability to communicate fluently in English and a minimum of one other language widely used in businesses in your base region.

Essential – experienced in preparing and delivering proposal presentations to C Suite audiences. 

Essential – Demonstrable experience in managing quotations, bids and proposals, including knowledge of pricing strategies to achieve required margin. 

Essential - Demonstrable experience in working proactively and collaboratively across diverse teams to achieve growth strategies and targets. 

Essential - Knowledge of standard IT programmes, including Salesforce and comfortable in using proprietary software for business processes. 

Desirable – sector specific experience in one of our core sectors, either from 3yrs+ of sales focus or from a previous role inside the sector.

Our Values:

Expertise

We value our experience, specialist knowledge, and pioneering history within the industry. But we also never stop looking for ways to learn and improve in the future.

Integrity

We always do what’s right, in the right way and continually measure our actions and their outcomes against rigorous criteria – both those of stakeholders and our own.

Ambition

We are industry leaders because we combine technology and innovation with the expertise of our people. We help our clients be the best they can be, by being the best we can be.

Vision

We support our clients in the present and prepare them for future success, by using our sharp understanding of social, environmental, technological, and commercial changes to work towards a safer, cleaner, more sustainable future.

Togetherness

We respect the unique skills, expertise and backgrounds of our people and the inclusive culture they create. We believe teamwork and collaboration – internally and with our clients – are the best way to achieve our mutual goals.

Behavioural Competencies (BCs):

Owning Our Delivery

Pioneers

I promote a culture where feedback and coaching are seen as vital to the growth and success of our people and company.

Determined to Make a Difference

Acting on clients’ and colleagues’ needs

I generate and execute strategies aligned to our Purpose, strategy, strategic priorities, and ESG commitments that add value, enhance our position in the market, and ensure our company can meet future needs.
Realising our Purpose

I inspire and unify clients and/or colleagues globally by promoting and articulating our Purpose, strategy, strategic priorities, and ESG commitments, in a clear and compelling way.

Relentless in Testing Boundaries

Embracing Change

I spot opportunities to drive positive change throughout the business and inspire others to view change as beneficial and necessary.

Accountable for Doing What is Right

Being Accountable

I role model accountability, inspiring others and building trust with clients and colleagues, and in the marketplace. I make difficult decisions even where information is limited or ambiguous.

Collaborative and Inclusive

Global Awareness

I invest time and energy in building a global network of internal and external strategic relationships with colleagues, clients, and contacts, focusing on mutually beneficial long-term outcomes for the company. I consider global, local, cultural and sustainability factors when operating strategically.