Commercial Director, Adaptive ERP

QAD, Inc.•Chicago, IL

1d•$180,000 - $210,000•Remote

About The Position

This is a rare role for a commercially sharp, process-obsessed operator who wants to sit at the centre of a high-performing enterprise software business. As Commercial Director, you will be the right hand of the General Manager — the person who ensures the business runs with discipline, that every forecast is defended with evidence, and that no deal, pipeline risk, or process gap goes unaddressed. QAD is a global ERP leader with over 30 years of purpose-built manufacturing domain expertise, now supercharged by Champion AI — a genuinely differentiated AI solution embedded into the core product. Backed by private equity, the business operates with the urgency, rigour, and performance expectations that come with that environment. This is not a role for someone who needs to be managed. It is a role for someone who manages everything around them. You will work alongside a newly appointed VP of Sales, playing a critical role in building the commercial infrastructure that will underpin the next phase of growth. You will support the forecasting process end-to-end, partner deeply with Marketing and Sales leadership, and ensure that the GM has the clarity, data, and process confidence to make fast, well-grounded decisions. Proximity to power and decision-making. You will work directly with the General Manager with genuine influence over commercial strategy, not just operational execution. Where the GM goes into the room, you ensure the numbers are right, the process is airtight, and nothing has been left unchallenged before the conversation happens. Your work will be visible, your impact measurable, and your mandate real. Reporting Line: General Manager, QAD ERP · Close collaboration with VP of Sales, Marketing, and Finance The discipline this role demands — and rewards. Our PE sponsor expects rigour, pace, and results. Short planning cycles, tight performance accountability, and an investment thesis built around rapid ARR growth. The Commercial Director is the internal guardian of that rigour — ensuring the forecast is credible, the process is followed, and every number presented to leadership can be defended to the granular level. Forecast Accuracy · Deal Discipline · Process Adherence · Board-Ready Reporting

Requirements

Comfortable at the most granular level of a deal and the most strategic level of a business — and knows when to operate at each.
Deep understanding of enterprise software sales cycles — how deals are won and lost, what a healthy pipeline looks like, and where the common failure modes sit.
Ability to build a forecast model, validate every assumption within it, and tell a story from the numbers that is both honest and actionable under pressure.
Experience with formal sales methodologies (MEDDIC, MEDDPICC, Force Management or similar) and knows how to embed them operationally, not just conceptually.
Does not accept vague process or inconsistent execution — designs systems that work and holds people to them with respect and persistence.
Energised by the detail by clean CRM data, by rigorous stage definitions, by supporting forecast calls with analysis that is thorough enough to withstand challenge and accurate enough to be trusted.
Has built or significantly improved commercial operating processes in a previous role and can point to measurable outcomes as a result.
Understands what it means to work in a private equity-backed business: the cadence of reporting, the expectations around performance, the scrutiny of assumptions, and the urgency of execution.
Thrives under this kind of pressure. Does not need the pace to be set for them, sets it for the people around them.
Commercially fluent enough to represent the business credibly in investor reviews and board settings without the GM needing to hold their hand.
Gravitas to challenge Sales leaders when the forecast is not credible, and the communication skills to align Marketing and Sales around shared goals.
A builder of relationships as well as processes; people they work with trust them because they are rigorous, fair, and always focused on the outcome rather than the credit.
Can operate as a true partner to the GM: anticipating what they need, flagging what they have not yet seen, and acting decisively in their absence.
This role comes with significant autonomy and significant expectation. Nobody will define their agenda for them beyond the outcomes they are accountable for.
Intrinsically motivated by building something that works, a forecast that is trusted, a process that sticks, a business that performs against its plan.
Takes ownership of problems that are not technically theirs to solve, because they care about the outcome more than the organisational boundary.
8–15 years of commercial experience in enterprise software, SaaS, or ERP environments — with meaningful time in sales operations, commercial finance, or a Chief of Staff / Commercial Director type role.
Proven track record of supporting and improving forecasting accuracy in a multi-million dollar ARR business, with direct ownership of the data and the story behind it.
Direct experience working alongside senior Sales leadership (VP or above) in a high-growth or transformational context, ideally including a new hire onboarding period.
Familiarity with ERP, manufacturing software, or supply chain technology is advantageous; the ability to learn a complex domain quickly is essential.
Experience in a PE-backed or similarly performance-driven environment is strongly preferred.
Advanced proficiency in Salesforce CRM, Excel or Google Sheets modelling, and business intelligence / reporting tools.
Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience; MBA, finance qualification, or revenue operations background is an advantage.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with ERP, manufacturing software, or supply chain technology is advantageous; the ability to learn a complex domain quickly is essential.
MBA, finance qualification, or revenue operations background is an advantage.

Responsibilities

Accountable for the commercial operating infrastructure of the QAD ERP business — from forecast accuracy and pipeline integrity through to process adherence and cross-functional alignment with Sales and Marketing.
Support the end-to-end forecasting process for the QAD ERP business from pipeline entry through to committed revenue, ensuring every number is earned, not assumed, before it reaches the GM or investors.
Support weekly, monthly, and quarterly forecast cadences preparing the data, validating assumptions, stress-testing deal timelines, and ensuring the numbers presented are accurate and defensible.
Build and maintain forecast models that give the GM real-time visibility into revenue risk, upside, and coverage ratios across segments, geographies, and product lines.
Analyse forecast variances and support root cause reviews identifying whether shortfalls are a pipeline problem, a conversion problem, a deal management problem, or something else entirely.
Partner with Finance to align commercial forecasts with financial plans, ensuring the business operates from a single source of truth.
Act as the operational backbone of the commercial team supporting the processes by which deals are qualified, reviewed, escalated, and closed, and ensuring consistent adherence across the Sales organisation.
Support the deal review process: prepare pipeline reviews, challenge deal hygiene in advance, ensure CRM data integrity, and make certain that every deal above a defined threshold has a clear next action and credible close plan before each review session.
Partner with the VP of Sales to embed commercial discipline across the Sales organisation — setting standards for opportunity management, qualification frameworks (MEDDIC / MEDDPICC or equivalent), and forecasting accountability.
Identify and resolve process gaps that cause forecast slippage, missed handoffs, or revenue leakage; implement fixes and track adherence over time.
Ensure that sales process milestones are consistently applied and that the business has clear, auditable stage definitions from first meeting to signed contract.
Serve as an active partner to the new VP of Sales during their onboarding and ramp — providing context on the business, the pipeline, the team, and the commercial processes in place.
Work alongside the VP to assess the current Sales motion, identify gaps, and build a prioritised improvement agenda grounded in data and process observation.
Act as the connective tissue between the VP of Sales and the GM — ensuring alignment on targets, priorities, and commercial strategy across all stakeholder touchpoints.
Support the VP in building a high-performance team culture grounded in accountability, data, and process discipline from day one.
Partner with the Marketing team to ensure pipeline generation activity is planned, tracked, and accountable against agreed coverage targets — typically 3–4x funnel at all times.
Provide Marketing leadership with regular, commercially grounded feedback on pipeline quality, ICP fit, and campaign effectiveness as measured by deal outcomes, not lead volume alone.
Work with both Marketing and Sales to develop and maintain a unified view of the customer journey from first touch to close, identifying friction points and designing improvements.
Design and maintain the commercial reporting framework for the GM — weekly operating reports, board-ready pipeline summaries, and ad hoc analytical requests completed with accuracy and speed.
Build dashboards and reporting tools that give leaders instant access to the metrics that matter: ARR, pipeline coverage, conversion rates, average deal size, sales cycle length, and win/loss analysis.
Prepare the GM for all internal and PE stakeholder reviews — ensuring the commercial story is coherent, the data is clean, and the narrative reflects both the opportunity and the risk honestly.
Lead analysis of win/loss patterns and competitive positioning, translating findings into actionable recommendations for Sales, Marketing, and Product.