Business Development Director, UK & Ireland, Vertex

JOB SUMMARY:

The Business Development Director is responsible for creating awareness and demand around the value of adopting Vertex Indirect Tax Solutions over native ERP solutions for VAT and other related VAT solutions in the region. This is accomplished by connecting with IT and Tax professionals as well as direct interaction with Alliance and other Partners to educate on the Vertex value proposition and the opportunity in the region. In addition, this role will partner with sales teams and consulting to ensure understanding of customer pain points and appropriate product and deployment fit, as well as partnering with marketing to ensure Vertex messaging is tailored for prospects and partners in the region. Measures of success will include quantitative objectives for signed licenses of Vertex products (closed by the sales team) with emphasis on O Series for VAT and Chain Flow Accelerator as well as qualitative objectives around regional pipeline growth, partner and customer engagement and brand awareness.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Researching organizations and individuals to find new opportunities.
- Contacting potential clients to establish rapport and arrange meetings with Vertex sales teams
- Understand and clearly articulate the comparative advantages of Vertex tax solutions over competing approaches.
- Educating IT and Tax Professionals about the benefits of using an external tax engine with emphasis on S/4 HANA migration.
- Partnering with regional Alliances and Partners in educating on the need for a tax engine to drive referrals to Vertex and help them grow their tax advisory and implementation practices
- Collaborating on and supporting new marketing initiatives in the region
- Ensuring key market messages are available to customers in the German language
- Increasing the value of current customers by identifying upsell opportunities
- Attending conferences, meetings, and industry events as both attendee and speaker
- Collaborating with Vertex Sales Account Executives during the sales process to educate around value proposition to maximize client value
- Anticipate the future needs of our customers’ business and impact on own product/service objectives
- Travel required

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

- Driven self-starter who acts as a catalyst for sales and educates prospects and partners about Vertex products
- Prospecting skills
- Clear understanding of and vision about the (indirect) tax automation market in the region
- Strong communication skills and IT fluency.
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Ability to flourish with minimal guidance, be proactive, and handle uncertainty.
- Ability to develop and maintain relationships at the "C" level.
- In-depth tax application experience working with ERP business applications; understanding of ERP tax configuration of Vertex Indirect Tax products
- Understanding of competing approaches for solutioning global Indirect Tax Determination, such as with native SAP, tax engines and add-ons.
- Deep understanding of the end-to-end financial accounting and business process flows from ERP business applications to Vertex Indirect Tax applications
- Ability to assess customer and business expectations
- Ability to communicate promised value proposition of Vertex Indirect Tax solutions to tax and IT professionals
- Demonstrate leadership skills and the ability to influence at all levels within the organization
- Manage multiple, complex relationships successfully
- Ability to facilitate consensus when confronted with strong opposing views
- Excellent communication (oral, written, presentation and facilitation) skills
- Must possess strong EQ skills and exhibit emotional stability and maturity in the face of highly emotional and stressful situations
- Must be results oriented, customer focused and able to manage multiple high-visibility or high-impact projects simultaneously
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office packages is required

EDUCATION AND TRAINING:

- Bachelor’s Degree in Tax, Business, Computer Science, or related discipline. Has 10+ years of tax consulting or tax in-house experience.
- MBA and/or Steuerberater equivalent experience, a plus
- ERP, Tax Technology or Tax Professional Certifications and/ or Credentials recommended

REQUIRED FOUNDATIONAL COMPETENCIES:

- Builds Relationships: Fosters open dialogue and obtains shared commitment to proposals; shared ideas and information to promote mutual understanding, respect, and effective decision-making.
- Drives for Results: Acts to create opportunities for Vertex or to avoid future problems; has the courage to act with incomplete information rather than simply thinking about it; maintains a focused commitment to achieving enterprise objectives.
- Knows the Business: Understands and applies knowledge of Vertex’s business and processes to accomplish goals.
- Anticipates Customer Needs (internal and external): Establishes and maintains productive relationships with customers and partners, anticipating their needs.
- Learns Continuously: Expands own knowledge base to enhance performance; seeks development to increase strengths for current and future needs.