Sr. Deal Desk Manager

AppFolio • San Diego, CA

1d

About The Position

AppFolio is more than a company. We’re a community of dreamers, big thinkers, problem solvers, active listeners, and multipliers. At every opportunity, we set the pace while delivering innovation built to carry real estate into the future. One in which every experience feels effortless, yet meaningful. Where customers are empowered to take on any opportunity. We show up as one team, connected by our values to be a force for good. Because together, we have the power to create extraordinary outcomes for our customers, our communities, and ourselves. The Senior Deal Desk Manager is a critical, high-impact role responsible for optimizing the structure, profitability, and efficiency of our most complex, strategic, and non-standard deals. This role acts as a trusted, cross-functional partner, bridging the Sales organization with Finance, Legal, Product, and Engineering to ensure deal velocity, compliance, and alignment with AppFolio's business strategy, pricing models, and revenue recognition policies. A successful candidate will possess a strong balance of technical deal-structuring expertise, operational excellence, and a deep understanding of SaaS pricing and packaging.

Requirements

• Experience: 8+ years of progressive experience in Deal Desk, Sales Operations, Commercial Finance, or Revenue Operations roles within the Enterprise SaaS or B2B software industry, preferably at a publicly traded company.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related quantitative field.
• Technical Acumen: Expert-level proficiency with CRM systems (Salesforce required) and CPQ tools (e.g., Zuora CPQ, other Revenue Cloud applications).
• Financial & Legal Literacy: Strong understanding of U.S. GAAP revenue recognition principles and the ability to interpret, understand, and negotiate commercial/legal contract terms.
• Analytical Skills: Superior analytical and problem-solving skills, with a proven ability to translate complex data and financial models into clear, executive-level recommendations.
• Operational Mindset: Demonstrated success in designing, implementing, and optimizing cross-functional processes and workflows in a high-growth, fast-paced environment.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization.

Responsibilities

• Deal Expert: Serve as the primary subject matter expert and trusted advisor to the Sales and Customer Success teams on all deal-related matters, including complex contract structures, non-standard terms, and exception management.
• Strategic Consultation: Provide real-time, data-driven consultation on deal strategy, pricing, and commercial terms to maximize profitability, manage risk, and accelerate the sales cycle for high-value and enterprise transactions.
• Revenue Recognition & Compliance: Ensure all deals are structured and documented in compliance with company policies, internal approval matrices, and U.S. GAAP revenue recognition principles.
• Modeling & Analysis: Develop and manage sophisticated financial models to evaluate the economic impact (e.g., Gross Margin, TCV, ARR, discount ROI) of non-standard deal terms, presenting clear risk/reward profiles and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Process Optimization: Drive continuous improvement of the Quote-to-Cash (QTC) process, including deal intake, quoting, approval workflows, and booking to enhance efficiency, scalability, and sales productivity.
• Tooling & Systems: Partner with RevOps/IT to define business requirements, test, and implement enhancements for critical deal-related systems, primarily Salesforce (CPQ), ERP (e.g., NetSuite), and other contracting tools.
• Training & Enablement: Develop and deliver targeted training and enablement to the field organization on new policies, tools, pricing, and best practices to drive consistency and self-service.
• Reporting & Metrics: Own and report on Deal Desk Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as deal cycle time, discount velocity, exception rates, and deal profitability to provide actionable insights for GTM and Finance leadership.
• Policy Governance: Act as the governance owner and operational enforcer of the official pricing policies, discount guidelines, and approval matrices set forth by the Pricing and Strategy teams.
• Field Advocacy & Feedback: Partner closely with Product and Pricing teams by providing crucial "field-level" feedback based on deal exceptions and market friction. This feedback will directly inform the evolution of AppFolio's pricing models and product packaging strategy.
• Operational Readiness: Collaborate with Pricing and Product Marketing to ensure operational readiness for all new product introductions and packaging changes, helping to design workflows and configure systems (CPQ) to support them flawlessly before launch.
• Strategic Analysis: Analyze recurring deal exceptions and custom requests to provide data-backed recommendations to the Pricing and Strategy teams, helping them to identify gaps in current offerings and opportunities for profitable adjustments.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level