Director, Deal Desk, AMER

Anaplan•Reston, OR

1d•$152,000 - $219,000

About The Position

Anaplan is seeking an experienced Cloud Deal Desk leader to run its AMER Deal Desk. This is a player-coach position: the Director personally handles a significant share of the region’s most strategic deals, partners with the field to design value-based offers for major customers, leads and develops the AMER team, serves as a trusted Deal Desk partner to GTM AMER leadership and Finance, and owns cross-functional projects that improve quoting, contracting, and closing. The Director performs the core day-to-day responsibilities of a Strategic Deal Manager while setting standards for Strategic Deal Managers and Senior Analysts. The role requires independent judgment, navigating ambiguity, and giving Sales leaders clear, well-reasoned recommendations. The Director works with the field and business partners to resolve deal obstacles in ways that serve customers and protect Anaplan. They participate in sales forecasting and deal reviews and collaborate with Sales, Product COEs, Finance, Legal, Revenue Recognition, and the global Deal Desk team. The Director leads a team of six covering all of AMER, as part of a global Deal Desk team of 19. They oversee team priorities and coverage, performance and career development, hiring and onboarding, and team capability-building. They also lead or contribute to commercial operations and finance process improvements, quoting and contracting initiatives, CPQ and contract lifecycle management workflows, enablement, documentation, and global programs. The position is the primary Deal Desk contact for GTM AMER leadership and Finance and owns regional adherence to deal approval, pricing, contracting, and revenue recognition policies.

Requirements

At least 7 years of professional Deal Desk experience within SaaS.
At least 3 years of people-management experience, ideally leading analysts or managers in a Deal Desk or Commercial Operations environment.
Proven track record handling complex, high-value enterprise SaaS deals, including non-standard terms and multi-year structures.
Excellent understanding of Deal Support topics, including hybrid and consumption pricing, deal structuring, contracting, and order management, with familiarity with revenue recognition policies.
Deep understanding of commercial legal terms and conditions.
Outstanding business-partnering skills and ability to influence outcomes with Sales, Product COEs, GTM Legal, and Finance.
Strong oral and written communication and excellent documentation skills.
Strong proficiency with Salesforce (SFDC) and CPQ, including configuring, reviewing, and processing deals end to end.
Proficiency with AI tools and agents, including Google Gemini, and comfort adopting AI-assisted workflows to improve quote construction, contract review, and team productivity.
Strong Excel, contract review, and business writing skills.
Customer-first perspective in designing offers.
Sound commercial judgment, weighing revenue, margin, risk, and customer outcomes and defending recommendations.
Ability to build trust with Sales leaders and executives and guide decisions with data and clear rationale.
Ability to learn Anaplan products quickly and articulate their value to customers.
Clear and concise communication across Zoom, Slack, email, and leadership forums.
Ability to develop people and raise the bar for the team.
Systematic thinking to identify recurring problems and improve processes.
Organization, dependability, effective prioritization, and ability to meet deadlines under quarter-end pressure.
Collaborative approach with Finance, Legal, Revenue Recognition, Product COEs, and global Deal Desk counterparts.

Nice To Haves

Conga experience.
FP&A experience.

Responsibilities

Provide expert guidance to Sales and Sales Leadership on structuring, pricing, and contract management for the largest and most complex AMER opportunities.
Design value-based offers with the field and Product COEs, incorporating innovative offerings to deliver customer value and drive adoption.
Participate in Sales and Sales Leadership deal reviews and advise on account-level pricing and deal structure strategy.
Review, interpret, and confirm contract terms and conditions, collaborating with Finance and Legal to ensure accuracy and compliance.
Draft, redline, and finalize Cloud Subscription Services contracts for new business, add-ons, and renewals.
Lead the AMER Deal Desk approach to cloud marketplace deals, including private offers through major cloud provider marketplaces.
Guide Sales and Alliances on marketplace deal structure, pricing, term alignment, and contracting through marketplace paper.
Exercise deal approval authority under Anaplan’s official guidelines and act as the final regional escalation point for deal structure, pricing, and non-standard terms.
Process deals in Salesforce and CPQ efficiently and in alignment with company policy.
Identify commercial, legal, financial, and revenue recognition risks early and work to resolve them using professional judgment and company policy.
Partner with Finance and Revenue Recognition to confirm pricing accuracy and revenue recognition treatment.
Participate in sales forecasting and end-of-quarter execution, communicating deal status, risk analysis, and updates clearly.
Lead, coach, and develop the AMER Deal Desk team of six, including Strategic Deal Managers and Senior Analysts.
Set team priorities and manage workload and coverage, particularly during quarter-end peaks.
Manage performance, goal setting, feedback, career development, promotion cases, and succession planning.
Hire, onboard, and train team members; raise team skills in deal structuring, contract judgment, and stakeholder communication.
Build a team culture of ownership, quality, customer-first thinking, and continuous improvement.
Own or participate in cross-functional Commercial Operations and Finance process-improvement projects from scoping through rollout and adoption.
Lead quoting and contracting improvements, including CPQ and contract lifecycle management workflows, configuration, and automation with relevant business and systems teams.
Act as a delegate for selected global projects, including CPQ implementation, and take ownership of assigned workstreams or projects.
Drive efficiency improvements and support commercial projects requested by the VP, Commercial Ops and/or Global Head of Deal Desk, including UAT and process documentation.
Develop documentation, playbooks, and standard work for consistent team and field operations.
Support field enablement for policy changes, pricing and packaging updates, and new SKUs in collaboration with Pricing and Product teams.
Use deal and cycle-time data to identify bottlenecks and measure improvement.
Collaborate with the global Deal Desk team to align AMER practices with global standards and contribute regional input to global programs.
Serve as the primary Deal Desk contact and trusted business partner for GTM AMER leadership and Finance; attend regional leadership forums, forecast calls, and pipeline reviews.
Anticipate deal-pattern, discounting, and non-standard-request trends; advise on business structuring for faster, cleaner closes and maintain clear escalation paths for the field.
Partner with Sales to find solutions that close deals while protecting margin, compliance, and revenue quality, and incorporate Anaplan’s corporate goals into commercial offers.
Own AMER adherence to deal approval, pricing, contracting, and revenue recognition policies.
Ensure deal documentation is accurate, auditable, and complete.
Partner with Legal and Finance on policy exceptions, contract templates, and regulatory or customer-driven requirements.
Maintain current knowledge of Anaplan products, pricing models, and go-to-market strategy.