Presales, Associate Director - Financial Close & Consolidation (Europe)

A global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, governance, risk & compliance, and legal & regulatory sectors. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,200 people worldwide.

Our range of expert solutions combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services. They are all designed to assist and augment our customers’ work on a daily basis. Our priority is to provide timely, actionable insights in an end-to-end digital environment that empowers customers to make informed decisions and deliver impact when it matters most. We are committed to helping professionals improve the way they do business and solve complex problems with confidence in an ever-changing world. Our over 185-year legacy and portfolio represent thousands of customers worldwide.

The Role

We are looking for a Presales Associate Director to join our Global Presales Team supporting the product Line for Close, Consolidation & Reporting being the pre-sales expert and also the first point of contact for the EMEA region.

If you have a passion for both sales and working with software solutions; if a line of program code can challenge you as much as sparring with the office of CFO; if you are passionate about winning new customers and continually working to find new ways to do things; if you think "out of the box" and enjoy achieving a goal in a sustainable and consistent manner…

…then join us in expanding up our Global Presales team!

You will directly report to our Director, Global Technical Sales, and will be responsible for supporting strategic software selection processes, know-how transfer to regional colleagues, quality assurance during proof of concepts, maintenance & enhancements of our demo environments for both the established applications as well as our latest offerings in areas such as lease accounting, account reconciliation, ESG reporting, etc.

The role can be based in one of our offices in UK, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain or remotely in Europe. 

Responsibilities:

• Collaborating with other members of the Global Presales Team for the definition of global initiatives and their evangelization to the local EMEA regions and vice versa (local requests from regional Presales Teams to Global Presales Teams)

• Supporting the EMEA local presales specialists in key sales cycles acting as the Subject Matter Expert for Legal and Management Consolidation & Reporting through coaching, mentoring, enablement, and first-hand involvement in prospect’s opportunities

• Presenting and articulating advanced product features and benefits, product future direction and overall solutions with a specific focus on Actual Close & Consolidation (multi-gaap compliance, regulatory reporting, technical accounting for Account Reconciliation, Lease Accounting, etc and complex global consolidation requirements such as Equity Pick up, partial ownership structure, etc)

• Providing presales technical / functional support to prospective clients and customers, while ensuring customer satisfaction with minimal supervision

• Shortening the sales cycle by delivering flawless standard and custom product demonstrations to mid and c-level executives in the Office of Finance.

• Proactively scoping the technical solution required to address customer requirements, assesses customers' met and unmet needs, and recommends solutions that optimize value for both the customer

• Collaborating with sales to ensure opportunities are effectively covered and well prepared

• Completing prospect RFP's as required.

• Monitoring customer support for technical solutions proposed throughout the sales process and alert the sales and account teams to potential risks of deal closure.

• Providing coaching and professional development to team members in order to enhance their product knowledge, technical acumen, and technical sales skills.

• Coordinating the transition between pre-sales specifications and implementation services once contracts have been awarded

• Strong collaboration within the regional pre-sales teams across the organization

• Strong collaboration with Customer Success to increase customer satisfaction/retention

• Completing required training and development objectives within the assigned time frame

• Act as liaison between the organization’s sales/business development to improve product capabilities, user experience and user interface in order to align with customer’s business requirements

• Collaborating with partners and training them to deliver demos

• Improving/maintaining standard demo assets to ensure top-notch sales presentations.

• Collaborating with Product Management for roadmap definition

• Collaborating with Marketing for lead generation and thought leaderships events

• Collaborating with Product Marketing for competitive intelligence and analysis

Knowledge and Experience:

• Deep knowledge of accounting, especially related to Closing & Consolidation (Management & Legal) and multi-gaap regulatory reporting requirements

• 7+ years’ experience in pre-sales for SAAS Close & Consolidation Vendors or equivalent practicing roles such as Controller, etc.

• CPA a plus but not mandatory

• Great presentation and public speaking skills.

• Versed and experienced with business analysis and financial modeling.

• Attention to detail with an ability to think critically on the fly

• Strong listening skills

• Strategic thinking skills

• Analytical skills

• Strong flexibility to adapt to last minute requests

• Open of traveling any time it is requested

• Fluent in English (mother tongue or equivalent)