About SANS

SANS Institute (SANS) was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. In the next 34 years it grew to become the most trusted and, by far, the largest source for information security training and security certification in the world reaching more than 400,000 security professionals around the world today, with around 60,000 having been granted Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) security certifications – the leading certification that provides assurance to employers that their people and prospective hires can do the job. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners – from auditors and network administrators to chief information security officers, all sharing the lessons they learn and jointly finding solutions to the challenges they face – in varied global organizations from corporations to universities working together to help the entire information security community.

Join the SANS Team

At SANS, our culture is defined by Mission, Brand, People. Our goal is to hire people who understand the importance of continuing to fight against the cyber security threats (Mission) while delivering the highest quality training (Brand) to our students. We want employees whose personal values align well with our culture of fairness, honesty, customer focus, and pragmatic approach (People).

Summary of Position

SANS is looking for a Strategic Account Manager (SAM) to join the North America business unit. The SAM is an extremely self-driven and accomplished sales professional able to successfully manage and grow top, high potential accounts primarily comprised of Fortune 500 clientele. The position will require working with clients across the Cyber Talent Lifecycle, implementing strategies to help clients source, develop, and retain cyber talent. As a result, clients will improve their cyber risk, and scale their investments with SANS.

The SAM position has an expectation of overachieving quota and will require independent sales work, both on an inside/outside basis conferring with information security, network security and forensics professionals; software development teams; Learning & Development leaders; HR department, talent acquisition heads; and senior and C-level decision makers with budgetary discretion and control.

The SAM will report to a North American Enterprise Sales Director based in the United States. Primary responsibility is to grow the assigned account book (5-20 customers on average), by expanding our existing footprint with new business units & teams and increasing the adoption of SANS product portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Successfully call on CIO, CISO, CSO, head of engineering, operations, talent acquisition, learning & development and other high-level decision makers in a company
• Identify new business unit and functional areas with strong potential for the SANS portfolio of products
• Prospect, qualify and secure new customer relationships causing new pipeline and business generation
• Leveraging existing account contacts and account-based marketing resources to position relevant content causing leads and pipeline
• Building and maintaining a healthy sales pipeline (target 3 x annual revenue goal) of viable new business
• Manage and grow 5-20 accounts, composed of 5-10 top accounts, with remainder representing large enterprise and high potential organizations
• Prepare and oversee Sales Account Plans required to understand account, engage internal sales resources, and facilitate context for developing strategy and action plans
• Account Planning will be an iterative process and candidate will work with sales resources and leadership to review and collaborate every 60-90 days to progress approach
• Team and guide assigned inside sales (ISR) professional on prospecting into assigned accounts, prioritizing ISR actions( joining customer calls, introducing SANS offerings, balancing account research, identifying new opportunities)
• Team with our business to business (B2B) marketing team. Tailor outreach messages and offers to assigned accounts, aligning content and messaging to key groups
• Team as an active thought leader and contributor with various SANS teams, sharing learnings from wins, losses, and best practices to accelerate growth
• Maintain double digit revenue growth, expand client footprint, and increase portfolio adoption across assigned accounts
• Establish deal sizes ranging from $25K to $1M+ or higher based on customer’s training needs, with an overall anticipated first year quota of $2-3M
• Learn and adapt to SANS’ culture of combining personal talent with generous sharing of intellectual capital, useful tools, assets, and best practices to create, share, and make SANS and its customers more successful
• Demonstrate deep understanding of assigned customers, and thoughtful plan for growth, mutual success, and advancing SANS’ Mission

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience within commercial sales or business development; 7+ years highly preferred
• Confident manager with highest ethical standards, proven track record in sales, consistently exceeding targets, caring about client outcomes and representing personal and professional brand
• Excellent written, oral communication, and presentation skills
• Experience working multiple strategic accounts balancing workload based on revenue opportunity and potential
• Superior organizational and time-management skills able to work autonomously in a heavily matrixed, geographically dispersed team.
• Strong computer skills, especially with Microsoft Office and Salesforce (CRM) applications
• Maintain basic contracting fundamentals in support of agreement negotiation

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in overachieving quota, large enterprise account management, maintenance and growth of recurring revenue, while expanding new revenue streams
• Experience increasing portfolio adoption, targeting and gaining audience with key decision makers and connecting client challenges and needs to solutions
• Ability to be a business-minded and strategic thinker, informing the art of the possible in support of mutually advantageous business objectives

Reporting Relationships

SAM will report to a direct line sales manager

Work Environment

SAM will maintain a conducive remote work environment with expectations to travel to customers and SANS events

Equal Opportunity Employer:

SANS is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state, or local protected class. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or to perform the essential functions of a position, please contact SANS Human Resources.

Compensation:

The base salary range for this position is between $XX,XXX and $XXX,XXX. Base salary ranges may vary by geographic location and relevant experience, education, certifications, and years of service as compared to others doing substantially similar work. There is no guarantee an offer will be at the top of the posted range based on the salary analysis.

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