Senior Sales Account Manager, Large Accounts

Sales Account Manager

Would you like to help enrich the lives of learners around the world?

At RM, we've been pioneers of education technology since 1973. We provide technology and resources to the education sector, supporting over 20 million students and improving educational outcomes worldwide.

What we do helps learners at all stages of their lives, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification; we partner with schools, examination boards, governments, and professional organizations globally to make learning more accessible, more engaging, and more impactful.

RM operates through three divisions: Assessment (digital assessment and marking solutions), Technology (managed services, hardware, and software for schools), and TTS (educational resources).

RM Technology has shaped future generations for over fifty years by implementing innovative technology solutions in schools and colleges. Founded in 1973, we're a trusted Edtech partner, transforming teaching environments to be more productive, resilient, and sustainable.

Our committed team pioneer, collaborate, and continually push the bar on products and services in the EdTech space.

As a Sales Account Manager, you'll manage and secure new business within some of our largest customers including local authorities and large multi-academy education trusts (30+ schools). You'll sell RM's technology products and services to K-12 schools that reside in the largest trusts, building long-term relationships with key C-suite decision-makers such as IT professionals, Trust Heads, and School Business Leaders amongst our most high-profile customers. You will be responsible for driving strong revenue and profitability with your portfolio of customers.

This role involves managing the day to day engagement with key customers, building on long term contracts, delivering excellent customer relationship management and also identifying high-value opportunities, qualifying growth opportunities, and managing sales through bids and informal routes. You'll collaborate with the bid team to create compelling proposals, providing commercial direction, pricing, and unique value propositions to win deals in a competitive market.

Success means engaging with C-suite teams to uncover opportunities, qualifying them (BANT), and converting them into orders to exceed sales targets. You'll combine deep knowledge of your customers' needs, market expertise, and RM solutions, to build out long term strategic account plans that retain and grow revenue and profitability. You'll sell RM solutions by building value, overcoming objections, and securing financial commitments.

You'll need to stay updated on education sector trends, ensuring RM's offerings align with market needs. Reporting to the Sales Lead for Large Accounts you'll contribute to accurate forecasting and strategic input for large opportunities. Recognized as an expert, capable of handling highly complex opportunities, you may provide input to others approaches and development.

We encourage early applications as the vacancy may close once the position has been filled or final interviews have been arranged.

Main Responsibilities

Opportunity identification, development, and closure

• Identify, pursue, and develop new opportunities within your customer base using a tailored approach.
• Map out key decision makers and build a long term engagement plan for those stakeholders.
• Where applicable, lead the bid response effort with the support of the bid management team.
• Generate account growth through prospecting, networking, attending events, and leveraging consolidation opportunities.
• Conduct needs assessments and deliver tailored product/service demonstrations with the support of RM colleagues.
• Manage the full sales cycle from renewal through to negotiation and close.
• Win significant business growth opportunities, working with the Go-to-market team, bid team and the rest of RM as appropriate, positioning RM as a credible organization to grow the partnership.
• Take and lead bids through formal governance & exec steering for permission to bid, no bid, submission, and contract close.

Customer Engagement

• Map out, engage, maintain, and influence a network of decision makers and influencers within the trusts you manage to generate long term relationships that can be converted to a tangible future sales opportunity.
• Attend customer meetings, growing personal profile and connections across each trust.
• Act as a window into RM as a point of escalation for the customer.
• Grow and maintain a network of contacts across the local authority & trust schools.

Pipeline Management & Forecasting

• Deliver against targets through pipeline management within RM's CRM.
• Track pipeline and ensure coverage against target.
• Ensure appropriate regular contact with all opportunities and the account in general.
• Identify and mitigate risks within pipeline.
• Prioritize opportunities and the time allocated to them.
• Accurately forecast opportunities through providing a monthly commit during regular meetings with your Sales leadership.

Improvement Focus

• Work closely with your Sales colleagues to share best practice and help each other improve win rates.
• Identify any solutions gaps/requirements that RM needs to address to be successful in any given initiative and support the Business in bringing this to life in bids and customer engagements.
• Work with marketing and product management colleagues to develop a replicable bank of sales assets and case studies to engage/influence the market with, in terms of RM's capability.

Key Account Management

• Detailed financial and commercial management.
• Quarterly invoicing and cashflow maintenance.
• Project board meeting preparation and delivery.
• Delivery and monitoring for contractual community benefits.

Skills and Experience

You will have proven experience of:

• B2B sales, with a strong track record, and ideally experience in the education or technology sectors.
• Engaging with senior stakeholders and decision-makers in local authorities, schools & trusts.
• Working in and leading matrixed sales and bid teams, involving different specialists.

You will be:

• Self-motivated, target-driven, and able to work independently.
• A strong strategic thinker, commercial decision maker and account planner, able to analyze complex market dynamics and requirements, and develop a coherent and compelling response that continues to demonstrate RM's value as a partner for the long term.
• Analytical, able to understand both RM's business drivers, solutions and delivery, and customers' key drivers and their impact on solution design, and how these are brought together effectively, under effective commercial contract.
• Self-motivated and highly organized, able to operate within a complex environment.
• Someone who acts with initiative, able to find a creative approach to solving customer problems and finding channel to market.
• A great communicator, able to engage with and influence external and internal stakeholders of different levels including at the C-suite, articulate complexity in a clear and straightforward manner, negotiate effectively, and present compellingly.
• Proficient in using CRM systems.

You will have:

• Experience in building strategic relationships at an Executive/Director level within Local Authorities and Trusts.
• A full UK driving licence, and a willingness to travel.
• Passion for working with the Education sector.
• A flexible can-do attitude, with a willingness and ability to adapt within the role.
• A strong alignment to RM's core behaviors: Be Brave, Win Together, Be Curious, Make it Simple and Consider it Done.

What's in it for you?

At RM we have My Work Blend @RM which provides office-based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working options. As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process.

RM is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all permanent and temporary staff to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and all successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks.

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, some roles are also eligible for a performance-related bonus. There are lots of voluntary