Managing Director, Sales Operations & Market Activation

Grant Thornton•Chicago, IL

9h•$225,000 - $405,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Managing Director, Sales Operations & Market Activation drives execution across the global commercial organization. This is a hands-on operating role focused on improving pipeline quality, increasing conversion, and ensuring priority accounts translate into revenue. Partnering closely with market leaders, Client Relationship Executives (CREs), and functional leaders across demand generation, solution development and proposal delivery, this role ensures consistent execution, accountability, and growth across regions and service lines.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree, MBA preferred
12+ years of experience in sales, commercial operations, or growth leadership
Proven ability to improve pipeline quality and revenue performance
Experience operating across sales, marketing, and solution teams
Strong understanding of complex, multi-solution environments (Audit, Tax, Advisory preferred)
Experience working across regions or global teams
Ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred
Audit, Tax, Advisory preferred

Responsibilities

Drive Sales Performance & Pipeline Health: Manage performance against sales quota across CREs, Establish and enforce standards for pipeline quality, accuracy, coverage, and conversion, Identify performance and pipeline gaps early and drive corrective action, Improve consistency and predictability of results across markets.
Activate Priority Accounts & Accelerate Deals: Ensure priority accounts have clear growth plans and active pursuit strategies, Track pipeline and revenue progression; refocus effort where momentum stalls, Step into critical pursuits to remove blockers and increase deal velocity, Align the right teams and solutions to opportunities and prevent internal misalignment.
Enable Market Leadership & Accountability: Provide regional market leaders with performance visibility and actionable insights, Translate strategy into repeatable market‑level execution, Reinforce accountability across teams and markets.
Drive Cross‑Solution Growth: Increase multi‑solution penetration within priority accounts, Ensure firm capabilities consistently appear in live pursuits, Align sales activity to strategic offerings.
Oversee Demand Generation, Solutions & Proposals (Governance & Alignment): Provide oversight across demand generation, solution development (Audit, Tax, Advisory), and proposal delivery, Ensure alignment to priority accounts, active pipeline, and revenue outcomes, Pressure‑test campaign effectiveness, solution relevance, and proposal quality, speed, and win rates, Redirect focus when activity is not translating into pipeline or revenue, Drive coordination across teams without adding unnecessary process.
Remove Barriers to Growth: Identify and address behaviors limiting client access or account expansion, Promote multi‑threaded client engagement, Ensure cross‑firm collaboration and reduce siloed execution.
Lead the Commercial Operating Rhythm: Own the commercial operating cadence, Lead weekly pipeline and performance reviews, Drive monthly market performance assessments, Ensure every review results in clear decisions, actions, and accountability.