Senior Director, Strategic Account Management

Zinnia•Topeka, KS

About The Position

As the Senior Director, Strategic Account Manager, you are responsible for driving Zinnia’s clients and their end customers overall experience. Success will be measured by the level of client satisfaction, strategic and tactical leadership, oversight and optimizing client support to the agreed upon strategies and plans. The primary focus of the role will be to be a strong advocate for the client within Zinnia, and to represent a consolidated view of Zinnia within the client organization. This role will also represent a consolidated view of the client within the Zinnia organization. This role will be central in defining new metrics and implementing in partnership with the delivery management team. The Sr. Director, Client Account manager will develop relationships with with key client executives and decisions makers, be a strong business and Zinnia advisor to them, work on building their trust and confidence in order to successfully accomplish client goals while presenting a full view of Zinnia's services, products and technology for the clients to leverage. The role requires significant oversight, planning and consultative skills; all leveraged in interfacing with some of the most senior decision makers in our client organizations. This role is enabled by all Zinnia functions including and not limited to Business Operations and Services, Technology and Delivery Services, Finance and Zinnia executive leadership; forming a single point of client ownership and accountability.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in in technology, business, finance, accounting or equivalent relevant work experience
Minimum of 12 years’ experience in relationship management, consulting, strategic advisory or other types of leadership roles, interacting with all levels within a client organization
Life insurance industry understanding especially Annuities preferred
Strong Technology-related skills / tech savvy (i.e. technical aspects of platforms and other Digital strategies)
Strong analytical skills with the ability to synthesize, organize, analyze and present data in an understandable manner
Strong empathy for an understanding of clients, their businesses including the impact on their businesses (distributors and contract holders), in parallel with the ability to fold Zinnia Service and Offerings benefiting the client
Outstanding team player with a client relationship and a strategic partner mindset to interact effectively with technical and non-technical clients
Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to clearly present ideas, points of views, updates, recommendation and results.
Excellent negotiations and conflict management skills
Proven problem solving, critical reasoning, and influencing skills; ability to quickly grasp a range of complex business issues to develop recommendations and solutions to address these issues
Demonstrate excellent presentation skills to facilitate effective orientations & presentations (in person or live online delivery)
Demonstrate responsiveness to client escalations, excellent time management, prioritization, organizational skills
Demonstrate strong relationship building skills both internally and with clients, ability to work across dispersed teams in a virtual workforce
Diplomacy skills including the ability to broker and achieve reasonable compromise
Demonstrate strong goal orientation
Extremely organized with exceptional follow through
Self-starter with a high energy level, commitment to excellence, and a diligent work ethic
Strong ability to lead employees in a matrix environment
Ability to travel a minimum of 25%, depending on client situations

Nice To Haves

Industry certifications a plus

Responsibilities

Become an extended part of our client’s leadership team including responsibility for client joint governance and prioritization.
Ensure Zinnia business commitments and priorities are met, and any roadblock or contentions are addressed and resolved timely to the satisfaction of client.
Ensure functional organizations are clear about lines of responsibility and authority.
Own and be accountable for the Client within the Zinnia framework including project delivery, day to day operations, service delivery and financial management.
Work closely with the Zinnia internal teams to represent and communicate frequently the end-to-end customer experience and will work with internal teams to help achieve client objectives and, at the same time, work with the client to identify what Zinnia would need to ensure that it is able to appropriately service the client’s outlined business requirements and objectives.
Enable Zinnia offerings and capabilities by introducing client to opportunities based on holistic and comprehensive understanding of client’s needs/goals.
Be the funnel and source for client input to influence Zinnia technology and servicing capabilities roadmap as well as Zinnia investments.
Coordinate with client on new Industry/Regulatory changes and go to market strategies.
Design and implement the dedicated core team for client organization in partnership with vertical managers. Lead this team on a daily basis and ensure they are seen as an extension of the client team interfacing with Zinnia.
Define and execute our account management strategy promoting a one-Zinnia mindset across the organization with assigned client accounts, seamlessly interface and gain the trust of at all levels and collaborate and lead the internal Zinnia teams through solutioning, implementation, execution and overall client satisfaction.
Build long-term strategic partnerships focused on driving ROI for our clients and identify a clear path and execution approach to deliver an exceptional level of client experience to their customers.
Ensure client satisfaction metrics are designed and implemented.
Identify additional client pull-through business opportunities as part of account management strategy.
Establish key client scorecard, supported by the Vertical Owners, to track internal/external key performance metrics for client accounts.
Collaborate with the Zinnia senior management team to develop a strategic and tactical plan to ensure that we meet our financial goals at an aggregate relationship level across all the services performed for the client.
Work with Vertical Owners to be responsive and support client requests for change, and support client needs in a timely, accurate and professional manner. This includes leading a strategic planning session with all internal constituents to ensure their understanding of how Zinnia can meet client needs.
Maintain professional internal and external relationships that reflect the Core Values of Zinnia, which include ARTIC (Being “Accountable”, “Responsive”, “Transparent”, “Innovative” and “Collaborative”)