Manager, Sales Associate

About Northern Trust:
Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.

Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Summary

The team leader for the Sales Operations function in APAC is responsible for managing, leading, and coaching the Sales Associates function within APAC Sales. Providng leadership and guidance, with overall accountability for the performance management and career development programs of the team. They will oversee the assignment and allocation of work to the sales associates supporting the business development team, ensuring that the sales process is followed.

As a player/manager, the individual will also act as the primary lead for sales opportunities and support the sales manager(s) as required from a sales enablement perspective. Playing a leading role in supporting the RFP and sales teams by gathering accurate information from the business and reviewing RFP responses to ensure they are customized to prospects' needs. Additionally, they will provide outstanding support to sales managers in developing new business opportunities and assist the broader relationship management team on re-bid opportunities.

This role reports to the Global Head of Sales Operations for Asset Servicing to align with global objectives and best practices.

Major Duties

Training & Team Management
- Provides leadership and guidance to Sales Associates, fostering an environment which encourages
employee participation, teamwork, and communication.
- Conducts the performance management process for Sales Associates.
- Identifies training and development needs and establishes performance standards for the unit.
- Identifying the talent within the group and aligning operations in the group to maximize performance based on individual talents.
- Maintains communication with the Heads of Sales and Sales Managers to anticipate needs effectively and provide support required.
- Allocates workload across the Sales Associates.
- Encouraging the use of the Sales Academy tools for all new business opportunities - to avoid overinvesting in the wrong opportunities, underinvesting in the right opportunities, or missing opportunities altogether. Including:

- Meeting planners (for each meeting)
- Opportunity Worksheets (per opportunity)
- Decision Grid (per opportunity)
- Drive and encourage Sales Managers, Deal Managers, and other Sales Associates to genuinely differentiate Northern Trust during the sales process.
- Encourage and support taking new opportunities through the deal review process.
- Responsible for the training and coaching of new starters to be proficient in the sales process and following the above criteria.

Sales Operations Optimization
- Capacity planning; working with Global Head of Sales Operations and Heads of Sales in APAC for prioritizing workloads and key deals ensuring that the allocation of sales resource is suitably split. This is to be continually reviewed to load balance resource and manage any capacity constraints.
- Acting as the main point of contact for internal and external contacts on larger deals involving Sales Operations.
- Working with the Sales Group and Client Servicing Teams to define the services that will be provided to new and existing clients.
- Supporting deal review management and governance to feed into the broader business planning. Working with Global Head of Sales Operations and Heads of Sales to lead the deal review meetings (set up, reporting and attendance).
- Working with the Head of Sales to manage the pipeline at key end of quarter and end of year reporting dates.
- Mitigating risk by effective capacity management, governance, planning and reporting.
- Supporting decisions to determine Sales Operations optimal operating model and staffing needs including hiring decisions.
- Supporting the ARC process for direct reports in conjunction with Global Head of Sales Operations.
- Manage ad-hoc projects (Compliance/Audit/Regulatory requirements).
- Drive adoption of CRM tools and ensure data integrity for accurate forecasting and reporting.
- Champion the use of AI-driven tools and analytics to enhance sales performance and client insights.
- Identify and implement AI solutions to automate workflows and improve decision-making.
- Coordinate with global operations to align on best practices and shared services.

Sales Enablement - Key Deal Responsibilities
- Work closely with the sales managers providing oversight and support for the deal, including:

- Supporting the Sales Manager with the development of the relationships