Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant

BlackLine•New York, NY

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant is a contributing member of the Professional Services Team, responsible for helping under-adopted customers realize value. Additionally, the Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant partners with customers to integrate strategy, process, and technology while providing thought leadership to optimize the accounting & finance function. Through the Transformation Framework, G helps customers 1) understand their end game 2) understand the keys to a successful journey 3) envision end-to-end process optimization with BlackLine 4) organize their journey based on the nine foundational accounting process categorizes 5) assess their current state and develop a roadmap for process optimization 6) optimize processes using the 7 steps to process optimization. The Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant will be responsible for selling services related to the company's SaaS accounting software. This role involves managing the services sales process, consulting with prospective and existing customers to understand their business needs, estimating the level of effort for implementation, and preparing comprehensive Statements of Work (SOW). The ideal candidate will have a blend of sales acumen, technical knowledge, and project management skills to effectively sell and guide customers through the software adoption process. Advisors partner with Customers to design and drive a digital transformation roadmap leveraging BlackLine. The Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant partners with Account Managers to develop a plan to deploy the key elements of the Transformation Framework to advance the customers’ digital transformation journey. The Senior Strategic Optimization Consultantchallenges the customer’s processes and designs innovative solutions to advance the customers’ digital transformation journey, increasing adoption and expansion of BlackLine, Delivering Professional services bookings and revenues, preventing attrition and churn, and continually enriching the customer experience. The Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant leverages their BlackLine expertise, their accounting, internal controls, and process optimization expertise, as well as their professional judgment to provide leading practice optimization strategies, insights, and deliverables. These deliverables include original, innovative solutions for complex customer challenges, advisory services, process redesign and transformation, solution architecture specific to the customers’ challenges, one to many thought leadership, Executive touch points and strategy sessions, and recommendations to accelerate customer’s accounting innovation journey. Most importantly, the Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant must be confident in the unknown as many customers require assistance in understanding their own processes before considering optimization with BlackLine. All facets of the Senior Strategic Optimization Consultant role are designed to drive customers’ successful digital transformation journey.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in accounting/auditing and/or in accounting/auditing/financial industry software solutions
8+ years customer facing experience (internal or external)
5+ years BlackLine experience
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Economics or Business Administration
Strong interpersonal skills and experience building relationships
Strategic focus with actionable plans
Ability to adapt to changing priorities, customer needs in high-pressure situations with poise, diplomacy and tact.
Comfort and confidence in dealing with the unknown. An ability to complete the puzzle without the final picture being available for reference.
Highly process-oriented mindset, with an aptitude for dissecting processes and delivering optimized solutions
Excellent listening and empathy skills: identify with the customer and want to help solve their business challenges
Desire to be solution focused
Strong verbal and written professional communication
Demonstrated strong presentation skills including content building and delivery in varied settings (live, recorded, webex, etc)
Constantly elevate knowledge of BlackLine, current accounting practices, and changes in the industry
Demonstrated advanced knowledge of BlackLine solutions to optimize processes

Nice To Haves

Recognized process optimization skills and ability to architect multiple solutions with limited customer support/documentation
Demonstrated value communication skills; succinctly tie customer challenges to actionable solutions that deliver value
Demonstrated leadership skills
Adaptability to changing priorities and customer needs
Self-motivated, proactive team player with a natural curiosity and passion for learning
Prioritization and time management skills
CPA, CIA or related professional accounting certification

Responsibilities

Resource planning for advisory services
Actively participate in decision-making for the overall team
Handle complex customer scenarios, including risk of churn/attrition
Handle complex process optimizations
Collaborate cross-departmentally to resolve customer challenges
Partner with customers as they pursue digital transformation, using the Transformation Framework
Ensure that customers are aware of all billable services available to partner with them on their journey.
Generate pipeline and independently close on billable consulting engagements with customers. Responsible for utilizing knowledge of company products and services and developing sales pitches to connect with customers and generate sales.
Deliver on work sold converting to Services revenue.
Work with customers to assess current state processes, challenge the current state, architect potential solutions, and partner to deliver process optimizations.
Articulate value and benefits associated with optimized solutions.
Shadow customers as they pursue digital transformation, providing consultative guidance worthy of elevated hourly billing rates to ensure success
Leverage prior and current experiences and expertise to develop and deliver thought leadership to customers through webinars and other multi-customer events
Listen to customers to understand their needs and translate their pain points into actionable BlackLine solutions
Offer opportunities where customers can provide their processes without written documentation, using professional judgment and expertise; Review and analyze the processes and develop solutions (even when the customer is unsure of their process) based on personal experience and experience with other customers
Provide coaching, mentoring, and guidance for POCs to assist with more complex process optimizations.
Engage with customer leadership and partner with AM to understand the customers’ goals, objectives, and challenges and adapt our offerings to support their needs
Work as a team with Account Managers and other departments on account planning focused on ACV expansion, services revenue, user adoption, referencability, and preventing attrition
Deliver actionable advice and expertise to customers regarding using BlackLine’s solutions as a foundational technology supporting their digital transformation journey
Maintain and elevate BlackLine knowledge as well as, other relevant domain knowledge that is imperative for advising customers on their Digital Transformation
Exhibit authentic energy for BlackLine solutions and the desire to motivate and engage our customers
Other duties as assigned

Benefits

BlackLine offers a wide variety of professional development seminars and inclusive affinity groups to celebrate and support our diversity.
BlackLine is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, age, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, ancestry, color, marital status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, medical condition, genetic information, or any other protected class or category recognized by applicable equal employment opportunity or other similar laws
BlackLine recognizes that the ways we work and the workplace itself has shifted. We innovate in a workplace that optimizes a combination of virtual and in-person interactions to maximize collaboration and nurture our culture.
In addition to base pay, BlackLine also offers short-term and long-term incentive programs, based on eligibility, along with a robust offering of benefit and wellness plans.
We are committed to pay transparency and ensuring candidates have clear information about compensation expectations. For roles that include variable incentive components such as an Incentive Compensation Plan (ICP) or On-Target Earnings (OTE), the compensation structure may follow a split model – for example, a 50/50, 70/30, or 60/40 ratio between base salary and variable incentive.

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