Business Development & Partnerships Director – Accounting & AI

Valenta; Australia; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Valenta, Australia, seeks a senior Business Development & Partnerships Director to drive growth with accounting firms. You will build relationships with Partners and firm leaders and recruit firms into Valenta's partner ecosystem, expanding AI, automation and outsourcing capabilities as new advisory revenue streams.

This role requires deep industry insight, a proven hunter mindset, and the ability to translate client challenges into commercial opportunities, guiding partners from exploration to

Qualifications

• Experience selling to Australian accounting firms.
• Ability to engage senior decision-makers (Partners, Managing Partners, Practice Managers).
• Understanding of AI, automation and outsourcing in advisory services.

Responsibilities

• Develop new accounting-firm relationships across Australia.
• Build and manage Valenta's accounting-firm partner network.
• Identify opportunities within existing client bases and convert them into advisory revenue streams.
• Lead venture to bring AI and automation capabilities into client engagements.
• Develop long-term strategic partnerships rather than one-off transactions.

Skills

Relationship building with Partners

Hunter mindset

Consultative selling

Job description

Business Development & Partnerships Director – Accounting & AI

Location: Australia

Company: Valenta

Role: Business Development, Partnerships & Growth

About the opportunity

Valenta is expanding its work with accounting firms across Australia, helping them address capacity constraints, improve operational efficiency, adopt AI and automation, and create new opportunities for growth.

We are looking for an experienced Business Development & Partnerships Director who already understands the Australian accounting industry.

You may currently be selling accounting technology, practice management software, workflow solutions, tax or audit technology, cloud accounting, fintech, automation, outsourcing or other solutions to accounting firms.

What matters most is that you know the industry, understand the challenges accounting firms face, and have experience building relationships with Partners, Managing Partners, Practice Managers and other senior decision-makers.

This is not a traditional technology sales role.

You'll help accounting firms solve their own operational challenges using Valenta's outsourcing, AI and automation capabilities, but just as importantly, you'll recruit and develop accounting firms as Valenta partners, enabling them to take AI and automation solutions to their clients and build a new advisory revenue stream.

What you'll do

Develop new accounting-firm relationships

• Identify and engage accounting firms across Australia.
• Build relationships with Partners, Managing Partners, firm owners and key decision-makers.
• Understand each firm's strategic, operational and capacity challenges.
• Introduce relevant Valenta solutions across outsourcing, AI, automation and digital transformation.

Build our accounting-firm partner network

• Recruit suitable accounting firms into Valenta's partner ecosystem.
• Help firms understand how AI and automation can become an extension of their existing advisory offering.
• Work with partners to identify opportunities within their existing client base.
• Help partners move beyond discussing AI with clients to identifying practical commercial use cases.

Help firms create new AI Advisory revenue

A major part of the role is helping accounting firms see AI differently.

Rather than simply adopting AI internally, we want to help firms become trusted advisers who can identify where their clients can use AI, automation and process improvement.

You'll help partners:

• Recognise AI and automation opportunities within their clients.
• Start commercially relevant AI conversations.
• Identify potential use cases.
• Bring Valenta's technical and delivery capability into those opportunities.
• Develop an additional advisory and recurring revenue stream without needing to build a large AI delivery capability internally.

Own growth

• Build and manage your own pipeline.
• Develop new relationships rather than relying predominantly on inbound leads.
• Attend and participate in relevant accounting industry events and communities.
• Work closely with Valenta's leadership, pre-sales and delivery teams to progress opportunities.
• Develop long-term relationships rather than pursuing transactional software sales.

Who we're looking for

We're particularly interested in people who have sold technology or services directly to Australian accounting firms.

Your background could include:

• Accounting technology
• Practice management software
• Tax or audit technology
• Workflow/process management
• Fintech/payments
• Payroll
• Document management
• Reporting/advisory technology
• AI or automation
• Professional-services technology
• Outsourcing

You may have worked within the ecosystem around companies such as Xero, MYOB, Intuit/QuickBooks, Karbon, Dext, Ignition, or other technology businesses serving accounting practices.

However, we're more interested in who you've sold to and what you've achieved than the particular product you've represented.

What success looks like

You are likely to be a strong fit if you:

• Have established relationships within the Australian accounting profession.
• Understand how accounting firms operate and make purchasing decisions.
• Can comfortably engage Managing Partners, Partners, owners and senior practice leaders.
• Have personally originated and closed new business.
• Are a genuine hunter rather than primarily an account manager.
• Can sell consultatively rather than relying on feature demonstrations.
• Understand the commercial and operational challenges facing accounting firms.
• Can see opportunities beyond the immediate product being sold.
• Enjoy developing strategic partnerships, not just closing individual transactions.
• Are comfortable discussing AI and automation commercially, even if you're not a technologist.

You do not need to be an AI expert.

Valenta has the technical, solution and delivery expertise. We need someone who can understand the client, identify the opportunity, build trust and bring the right people together.