Large Enterprise Account Director - Academic, Talent Solutions

About the Role

Join a global professional network that helps people build connections, find opportunities, grow skills, and access insights that support their careers and businesses. The organization also emphasizes employee development and aims to foster a workplace grounded in trust, care, inclusion, and enjoyment.

This position is for a Large Enterprise Account Director focused on the Academic sector within Talent & Learning solutions. The role is centered on acting as a trusted advisor to customers, identifying growth opportunities, and helping clients use the product suite in a way that advances their goals. Success in this role requires a strategic sales mindset, a customer-first approach, and a strong commitment to meeting revenue objectives while representing the customer’s best interests internally.

The work arrangement for this role is hybrid, with time split between working from home and from a company office on designated days based on business needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Study each customer’s business in advance and arrive at meetings with well-prepared questions and relevant insights.
• Use layered, open-ended questioning to uncover goals and challenges beyond the obvious.
• Develop strong relationships with stakeholders across different levels and functions within customer organizations.
• Adapt communication style, message, and content to suit the audience.
• Recommend solutions based on customer outcomes rather than leading with individual products.
• Sell ethically and maintain integrity throughout the sales process.
• Guide customer decisions by building a shared vision and aligning value across stakeholders.
• Use commercial thinking and business judgment when structuring and negotiating agreements.
• Support recommendations and objection handling with data and insights.
• Reduce churn risk through a proactive, customer-centered approach.
• Keep customers engaged to confirm value and adjust strategy when needed to improve return on investment.
• Find opportunities to expand customer value and drive account growth.
• Bring economic, industry, and company context into account planning with a customer-focused lens.
• Map all major stakeholders in an account and design an outreach strategy based on relationship strength.
• Share accountability with colleagues and cross-functional partners to improve customer success.
• Stay humble, seek support when needed, and collaborate effectively through uncertainty or challenges.
• Maintain discipline in territory planning, account planning, forecasting, and quota achievement.
• Use CRM and other sales tools according to best practices to manage the sales and buying cycles.

Qualifications

Basic requirement: At least 8 years of relevant sales experience.

Preferred experience: Background in HR software, selling to the Academic sector, SaaS opportunities, Salesforce.com, and IT solutions. Familiarity with software contract terms and conditions is also valued, especially the ability to structure fair transactions.

Other preferred abilities: Strong negotiation and forecasting capability, a history of managing revenue targets, excellent communication skills, success in high-level business development, comfort using data for decisions, and the ability to read buyers, assess opportunities, and close deals with multiple stakeholders involved. Experience using competitive selling approaches against direct and indirect competitors is also desirable.

Compensation and Benefits

The listed on-target earnings range for this position is USD 212,000 to USD 324,000. Final compensation depends on factors such as skills, depth of experience, certifications, and work location. The package may also include an annual performance bonus, stock, benefits, and/or other incentive compensation plans.

Equal Opportunity and Accessibility

The employer is an equal opportunity organization and evaluates qualified applicants without regard to protected characteristics including race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or other legally protected status.

The company is committed to an inclusive and accessible hiring experience. Candidates who need accommodations for a disability-related limitation during the job search, application, or interview process can request support. Examples include alternate-format documents, accessible interview locations, service animal accommodation, and sign language interpretation. Accommodation requests are generally answered within three business days. Requests unrelated to a disability accommodation, such as application follow-up, will not receive a response.

Additional Policies

Employees and applicants will not be discriminated against for discussing or disclosing compensation information as permitted by law. However, individuals with access to others’ pay information through their job duties may not share it with people who otherwise would not have access, except in legally permitted circumstances.

Qualified candidates with arrest or conviction records may be considered under the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

The organization follows applicable pay transparency and non-discrimination requirements as a federal contractor.

Job seekers can review privacy and compliance documents covering personal data handling, E-Verify participation, and right-to-work information through the employer’s candidate portal.

Career Promise

The role is framed as an opportunity to help transform how work gets done by supporting customers in the academic market and by contributing to a culture that values growth, collaboration, and impact.