Key Account Manager

**Description**:
**About us**

We are Digital Science and we are advancing the research ecosystem.

We are a pioneering technology company, and our vision is of a future where a trusted and collaborative research ecosystem drives progress for all. We believe in better, open, collaborative and inclusive research. In creating the next generation of tools and working in partnership with the community we tackle some of the biggest challenges to research. In order to achieve our vision, we need innovative, inspiring and dynamic people to join our team. Want to join us?

**Your new role**

**What you’ll be doing**:
**Account Portfolio Management**:

- Relationship Building: Develop and maintain strong, long-term relationships with key stakeholders across each account for relevant products, including procurement, budget stakeholders, business owners, key influencers, and decision-makers.

**Strategic Planning and Execution**:

- Sales Strategy Execution: Ensure the execution of developed sales strategies, objectives, and revenue goals for assigned accounts.
- Strategic Account Plans: Develop and implement account-specific strategic plans aimed at maximizing client satisfaction and revenue growth.
- Revenue Forecasting: Provide accurate revenue forecasts based on the account’s performance and growth potential.
- Risk Management: Identify and mitigate potential risks that could impact client relationships, satisfaction, or company profitability/revenue.

**Client Engagement and Solution Development**:

- Key Point of Contact: Serve as a key point of contact for relevant products, supporting solution efforts to address client needs. In the context of implementation, onboarding, or client delivery projects, serve as an escalation point if the project breaks down due to lack of client engagement or mismatched expectations.
- Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate the involvement of all necessary DS personnel, products, and services (from pre-sales support through implementation through customer success) to serve client needs effectively.
- Contract Management: Manage all aspects of contract negotiations and renewals.
- CRM Management: Maintain accurate records of sales activities, prospects, and deals using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
- Buying Cycle Knowledge: Maintain a deep understanding of the accounts' buying cycles and processes, including procurement and budget processes.

**Sales and Revenue Growth**:

- Responsible for new sales, upsells, renewals, and cross-sells within accounts for relevant products.
- Renewal Plans: Develop and execute plans to secure client contract renewals.
- Product Knowledge: Maintain deep knowledge of relevant DS products and services to identify, clarify, and validate opportunities across the account. Work closely with product specialist colleagues as needed and at critical points in the sales process.

**Client Advocacy and Feedback**:

- Client Advocacy: Encourage satisfied customers to become advocates for the company, potentially providing references, testimonials, and case studies.
- Feedback Collection: Gather feedback from customers and communicate it to product and service development teams, contributing to the enhancement of offerings based on customer needs.

**Collaboration and Support**:

- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with cross-functional teams within DS to provide updates on sales, product development requests, and customer success & support needs.
- Strategic Lead Generation: Collaborate with team members in Business Development Team and Marketing to identify new SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads) for assigned accounts
- RFP/Tender Process: Contribute to the RFP/Tender process in coordination with the central RFP team and contribute to the completion of the RFP.

**What you’ll bring to the role**:

- Significant sales experience in the academic, library, non-profit or government market
- Experience with selling enterprise software solutions to C-level executives
- Excellent verbal and written communication and relationship building skills
- Willingness to travel within territory, approximately 30%
- Proven ability to achieve sales quotas
- Experience with mainstream CRM preferred
- Remote based role

**The Key Account Manager should have knowledge of**:

- the academic Institutional marketplace
- the research process
- the structure and decision making within academic institutions

**They should also have one or more of the following**:

- Experience of selling products that require the agreement of a range of stakeholders
- Experience of selling in a complex sales process
- Experience of selling information solutions & software
- Experience of new business generation
- Experience of working within a matrix environment (team selling)

**Attitude**
- Inquisitive self starter who can independently implement territory strategies
- A desire to contribute to the development of research through technology
- Comfortable working in a start-up type envi