About the role

  • Sales Manager overseeing strategic accounts across FE, HE, and Research sectors at Phoenix. Focused on governance, performance, and relationship building with educational institutions.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the Strategic Accounts function across the FE, HE, and Research sectors, setting the strategic direction, driving high‑quality execution, and ensuring strong commercial outcomes.
  • Act as the senior point of escalation for complex customer, commercial, or operational challenges, ensuring issues are resolved swiftly and effectively.
  • Maintain strong governance across forecasting, pipeline management, and commercial practices, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with business standards.
  • Lead, develop, and coach the Strategic Accounts team, setting clear expectations, driving performance, and supporting leadership capability and talent development.
  • Build and manage senior‑level relationships with key vendors and partners, leading joint business planning and ensuring strategic alignment.
  • Oversee vendor pipeline performance, profitability, and forecast accuracy, ensuring growth opportunities are maximised and risks are identified early.
  • Optimise the organisation’s participation in FE/HE/Research procurement frameworks, ensuring compliance, effective utilisation, and strong commercial performance.
  • Contribute to major tender submissions and research‑driven procurement activity, helping shape compelling, compliant, and competitive responses.
  • Provide data‑driven insights and reporting on pipeline health, margin, profitability, and commercial risk, ensuring alignment with Education Sales leadership.
  • Identify emerging risks, operational issues, or performance gaps, and recommend actions to drive continuous improvement and stronger commercial outcomes.

Requirements

  • Extensive experience in IT sales within the FE, HE, Research, or wider public‑sector markets, with a strong track record of managing complex, enterprise‑level accounts.
  • Demonstrated commercial acumen, with the ability to make sound judgements, manage risk, and drive profitable outcomes.
  • Credibility and confidence when engaging with senior stakeholders (internally and externally) with the ability to influence, challenge constructively, and build trust.
  • Experience working with managed services and recurring‑revenue models, with an understanding of how to position long‑term value propositions.
  • Previous experience leading or developing people, with the ability to coach, support, and elevate team capability.
  • Strong understanding of public‑sector procurement processes and frameworks, ideally across FE/HE/Research environments.
  • Ability to navigate and coordinate multi‑vendor environments, building relationships and driving alignment across partners.
  • Strategic and commercially minded, with the ability to connect long‑term vision to practical, day‑to‑day delivery requirements.
  • Comfortable operating at senior level, making informed decisions and managing complexity in a calm, low‑ego, and collaborative manner.
  • Able to balance strategic leadership with hands‑on involvement, ensuring high‑quality execution while maintaining a broad strategic perspective.

Job title

Sales Manager

Job type

Experience level

Mid levelSenior

Salary

Not specified

Degree requirement

No Education Requirement

Location requirements

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