Senior Director, Sales Enablement - Appian Corporation

As the Head of Field Excellence Programs, you will play a pivotal role in driving the success of our customer-facing, revenue-generating teams by building and leading a team of Field Excellence Program Managers. The Head of Field Excellence Programs is expected to be a player coach and grow the team over time based on company needs and resources.

Your leadership will be instrumental in aligning and streamlining the end-to-end experiences of sellers and buyers profitably and at scale. Your success will be measured by both direct and scaled influence over growth and profitability metrics, such as pipeline added, revenue growth rate, win rate and sales efficiency.

Your responsibilities will encompass program planning and leadership; field enablement and deal support; buyer enablement in partnership with marketing and Sales Operations; cross-functional partnerships with marketing, product and other teams; and continuous improvement.

The Head of Field Excellence Programs must be able to work in a highly-cross functional, fast-paced environment, and have a passion for relationship building, with strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, including introducing and defending new ideas to senior stakeholders.  

This is a full-time position, based at Appian's Headquarters in McLean, VA, reporting to the SVP, Global Field Excellence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership alignment: Work with Sales leadership and the field to identify and prioritize opportunities for growth and profitability by optimizing the end-to-end buyer and seller journeys.

• Key Sales Programs: Lead and operationalize programs that organize cross-functional teams around key organizational objectives.

• Operating model: Build a global framework that enables the Sales organization to drive a consistent narrative, methodology and process while creating opportunities for velocity and autonomy within regional teams.

• Journey management: Build and manage a roadmap of Field Excellence programs to roll out the operating model. Programs typically include (1) the development, piloting and refinement of go-to-market playbooks and best practices through “real-life” revenue-generation activities (including pressure testing with customers), and (2) field enablement at scale that drives high seller and buyer adoption, and measurable results.

• Team leadership: Hire and lead a high-performing team of agile Field Excellence Program Managers who will support specific functions (e.g., Direct Sales, Renewals and Presales).

• Team performance: Foster a team culture that includes results-focus, high accountability, buyer and seller-centricity, sense of urgency, high integrity, and an optimistic and positive environment.

• Field enablement planning: Build a field enablement plan that addresses the specific needs of revenue-generating, customer-facing teams, allows scaling with both regional and language coverage in mind, and drives the onboarding of new employees with efficient ramp-up times.

• Field enablement: Equip revenue-generating, customer-facing teams with the tools, content, and information necessary to sell more effectively and efficiently. This includes: standardized commercial messages and talking points, solution/ industry/ persona-specific sales plays, business value assessments (pre and post-sales), collaboration around RFP and proposals, customer-first QBRs, competitive intelligence and value-based customer success stories.

• Buyer enablement planning: Foster the development of buyer enablement plans, often in the form of cross-functional sales plays) that address the needs of specific Ideal Customer Profiles and is proactively shared with buyers by the field and through self-service mechanisms (e.g., website, portals, etc.).

• Deal support: Provide advice and support on complex sales situations for strategic accounts and high-value deals (both new logos and renewals), both through back-office support (e.g., office hours) and customer-facing engagements. Examples of support activities include: strategic account planning, executive meetings and workshops, QBRs, 1:many executive events and thought leadership campaigns aligned with market needs and the competitive landscape, RFP responses and proposals, and business value assessments.

• Collaboration and alignment: Collaborate with various teams to ensure alignment across the end-to-end buyer and seller journeys, including: Marketing and Communications to ensure consistency on messaging and content, and minimize buyer and seller fatigue and confusion; Product & Marketing to align sales plays with product development, advocate for customers, and ensure that the field is equipped to communicate the platform’s value proposition effectively; and Revenue operations, Finance and Legal to translate best practices into repeatable processes for the field.

• Performance measurement: Establish metrics to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of Field Excellence programs, such as buyer and seller adoption, seller productivity, quota attainment and ramp-up times. Regularly review and adjust strategies based on these metrics.

• Management reporting: Partner with Sales, Finance, Operations, Support, Customer Success and HR to track and communicate the impact of Field Excellence programs with an end-to-end perspective. Report out on a regular weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadence to all key stakeholders, with a strong analytical approach and crisp communication style.

• Continuous learning: Stay abreast of the latest trends in field excellence methodologies and technologies. Foster a culture of continuous learning, both within the Field Excellence Programs team and within the field.

• Continuous improvement: Continuously update Field Excellence programs, plans and assets based on market trends, buyer and seller feedback, and results.

To be successful in this role, you have:

• A Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Computer Science, or related field; MBA or Master of Science preferred.

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in a B2B software sales enablement or field excellence role or in a top tier management consulting firm with exposure to cloud technologies

• Proven experience in building and scaling Field Excellence assets in a Software-as-a-service (SaaS) or Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) organization.

• Strong leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and drive results in a collaborative environment.

• Experience working with cross-functional teams across multiple geographies and levels, and collaborating effectively in a fast-paced environment.

• Demonstrated success working closely with senior executive leaders, including influencing without authority.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage with both technical and non-technical audiences.

• High level of business acumen and a customer-centric mindset.

• Willingness to travel as needed to roll-out enablement activities and support deals.