Associate Director of Sales

Zymo Research Corporation•Tustin, CA

15h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director of Sales supports the Director of Sales in building, leading, and scaling Zymo Research’s sales organization to achieve aggressive growth targets. Operating as a player/coach, this role combines regional strategic execution with hands-on selling, helping translate national sales strategies into measurable revenue outcomes within an assigned region. While the Director holds ultimate accountability for overall sales performance, the Associate Director contributes to shaping regional plans, drives execution on the ground, and provides leadership, coaching, and mentorship to a subset of sales team members across Territory Sales and Inside Sales. The ideal candidate brings a strong scientific background and a growing commercial track record, with the ability to lead by example as a player/coach — spending significant time engaging directly with customers and strategic accounts — while developing the skills and judgment to step into a Director-level role over time. Join us in making a meaningful impact!

Requirements

B.S. in Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, or related field required.
Hands-on laboratory experience in molecular biology, genomics, or related areas.
Demonstrated success as a high-performing individual contributor in life sciences sales, with early experience mentoring or informally leading peers.
Exposure to regional planning and tactical sales execution; aspiration to grow into full sales leadership.
Strong scientific communication skills; ability to engage at a peer level with researchers.
Emerging leadership capability: able to coach and influence without direct line authority.
Data-driven mindset with developing operational rigor.
Entrepreneurial spirit: highly comfortable hunting new business while supporting team discipline.
Proactive, resilient, and highly organized with excellent time management.
Willingness to travel extensively as the role demands.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) preferred.
Prior work in a research lab or life science tools company strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Contribute to the development of national sales strategies, with primary responsibility for adapting and executing them within an assigned region.
Support territory coverage, segmentation, and account prioritization within the region.
Assist in building regional forecasts, inputs to quota models, and annual planning cycles.
Translate corporate and regional goals into tactical sales execution plans for the assigned territory and team members.
Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, and mentorship to a designated subset of Territory Sales Representatives and Inside Sales team members.
Help reinforce KPIs, accountability frameworks, and incentive programs established by the Director.
Coach colleagues on prospecting, pipeline management, and consultative selling, drawing on personal field experience.
Contribute to a high-performance culture built on ownership, teamwork, and continuous learning.
Support achievement of quarterly and annual revenue goals, with direct ownership of regional and individual targets.
Drive proactive pipeline generation through account planning, prospecting, and VOC collection within the region.
Monitor regional pipeline health, deal velocity, and conversion rates; escalate risks and propose corrective actions to the Director.
Partner with Marketing and Business Development to convert demand generation into closed business across the assigned region.
Spend a significant portion of time in-market: build and maintain relationships with key regional accounts, distributors, and strategic partners.
Act as a trusted advisor to researchers and decision-makers, embodying Zymo’s scientist-to-scientist engagement model.
Identify regional customer needs and market trends, feeding insights back to the Director and cross-functional partners.
Support in providing executive-level engagement when regional relationships require it.
Collaborate with Product Management, Marketing, Field Application Scientists, and Technical BD to drive regional execution of positioning, pricing, and go-to-market campaigns.
Provide actionable customer and competitive feedback from the field to inform product development and commercialization.
Ensure smooth coordination with Support teams to deliver customer success within the region.
Champion CRM adoption, data integrity, and consistent reporting within the regional team.
Follow and help refine standard sales processes (account planning, QBRs, forecasting cadence, funnel reviews) defined by the Director.
Provide timely regional performance reporting, forecasts, and risk flags to the Director.
Adhere to pricing, discounting, and contracting guidelines.
Identify new customer segments, accounts, and sub-territories within the region to fuel future growth.
Contribute to the development of playbooks for new product lines and emerging market segments.
Operate as a hands-on contributor: personally own and drive a book of strategic accounts and high-value business development opportunities within the region.
Model best practices in prospecting, customer engagement, and deal closing, demonstrating the scientist-to-scientist ethos to team members.
Weight time toward direct selling and customer engagement, while carving out deliberate coaching moments with mentees.
Deputize for the Director on regional matters where appropriate, building readiness for a future Director-level role.