Strategic Account Director, Retail

Zendesk • San Francisco, CA

8d • Hybrid

About The Position

Zendesk is hiring a Strategic Account Director, Retail New Business to create and close durable net-new business with large retail and consumer brands. The role develops trusted relationships with executive buyers, connects their priorities to Zendesk service and AI solutions, and guides complex opportunities from initial conversation through close. The successful candidate will help expand Zendesk’s enterprise customer base and provide a clear handoff to the post-sale team.

The position combines disciplined new-business selling with the judgment to make an AI-powered future state credible to executive buyers. Zendesk uses a hybrid working model, bringing employees together in its offices while allowing remote work for part of the week.

Requirements

• Typically 12+ years of related experience, with demonstrated success in complex retail software sales.
• A record of owning new-business opportunities and delivering measurable commercial outcomes, such as quota attainment, new ARR, or equivalent growth results.
• Experience with prospecting, value-based discovery, executive engagement, and complex deal ownership.
• Ability to discuss AI, automation, and platform value credibly and involve specialists when deeper technical expertise is needed.
• A strong new-business mindset and discipline in thoughtful, consistent prospecting.
• A consultative discovery approach that uncovers business problems, urgency, stakeholders, and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to earn trust and guide decisions across executive and cross-functional buying groups.
• Commercial judgment to build business cases, manage deal economics, negotiate, and qualify opportunities honestly.
• Strong operating habits, including accurate forecasting, clear next steps, early risk visibility, and reliable follow-through.
• Clear communication that makes complex platform and AI value understandable to business and technical audiences.
• A collaborative approach to leading specialists and sharing customer and market insight across teams.
• Comfort using approved AI tools for account research, preparation, follow-through, and synthesis while protecting confidential information.
• Ability to discuss AI opportunities in terms of customer outcomes, adoption, security, governance, and implementation readiness, and to recognize where human judgment and specialist expertise matter.
• No specific degree is required; equivalent practical experience is welcome.

Nice To Haves

• Repeated success closing large, complex net-new enterprise deals.
• Experience creating demand and shaping account or market strategy for high-value prospects.
• Strength in ROI storytelling, competitive positioning, and guiding multi-stakeholder buying decisions.
• Experience partnering with channel or ecosystem partners and cross-functional sales teams.
• Familiarity with service operations, customer experience, or AI-enabled business transformation.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage qualified pipeline through targeted prospecting, inbound opportunities, partner relationships, and territory planning.
• Lead complex sales from discovery and qualification through business case, proposal, negotiation, and close.
• Connect customer goals and service challenges to a credible Zendesk platform and AI solution with measurable outcomes.
• Build relationships across executive, business, technical, finance, security, and procurement teams.
• Own pursuit strategy, deal progression, and commercial decisions within approved guidelines.
• Coordinate Solution Engineers, Product Specialists, Marketing, SDR/BDR teams, partners, and leaders to advance opportunities.
• Maintain accurate CRM records and forecasts, surface risks early, and keep buyers aligned on next steps.
• Document customer goals, commitments, and success conditions to support a smooth handoff.
• Share market insights with internal teams.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed