Alliance Manager

Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd.; London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dynamic Alliance Manager to lead and expand relationships with key partners. This role is crucial for driving business growth through strategic alliances, requiring a blend of consultative sales experience and excellent relationship management skills. You will work closely with marketing and sales teams to create opportunities and enhance the company's market presence. The ideal candidate will be a creative thinker with a proven track record in business development, ready to engage with top-tier partners and contribute to a collaborative environment. If you're eager to make an impact and grow within a supportive team, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Benefits

Extensive learning opportunities

29 days of annual leave

Flexible public holidays

Hybrid working schedule

Health insurance

Gym discounts

Cycle to work scheme

Qualifications

• 5+ years in business development or consultative sales in digital/CX agency.
• Experience with Salesforce or similar technology is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Cultivate strategic relationships with key stakeholders and partners.
• Develop and execute alliance strategies for mutual business growth.

Skills

Business Development

Consultative Sales

Relationship Management

Event Organization

Sales Strategy Development

Communication Skills

Creative Thinking

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Degree-level Training

Tools

Salesforce

CRM Systems

Marketing Automation Tools

Job description

Merkle is a leading data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company that specialises in the delivery of unique, personalised customer experiences across platforms and devices.

With a thirty-year heritage as a leading data and analytics consultancy, in 2016, Merkle became part of dentsu, one of the world’s top five media agency networks with 60,000+ employees across 146 countries and now is the leading Salesforce Agency Globally and in EMEA.

Merkle has seen sustained YoY growth in services revenue related to our numerous technology Alliance Partnerships and to continue to support and accelerate this we are hiring a key individual to lead our UKI “Emerging Alliance” relationships. This person will be critical in maintaining our double-digit growth trajectory and supporting our Industry aligned Sales Leads in expanding our presence, relationships and engagement across a number of our technology alliances while owning and driving associated strategy, GTM, content and own what success looks like with clear opportunity identification and Alliance service revenue growth KPIs.

Being an Alliance Manager at Merkle:

As an Alliance Manager with 5 years+ of experience, you will play a crucial role in cultivating and expanding our relationships across a number of our growing alliance partners, by developing and executing a comprehensive alliance strategy to drive business growth and influence pipeline.

By harnessing your organisational ability and creative nature, you will engage with multiple teams and leadership at the Alliance partner/s, developing long-standing meaningful relationships and executing a comprehensive alliance GTM strategy to drive mutual business growth.

Working closely with our marketing and sales team, you will help open the door to net new logo accounts in the UK&I through partner sourced opportunities, contribute to our marketing efforts (events & campaigns) and proactively seek new services clients through your own outreach and network.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Cultivating strong and strategic and meaningful relationships with key stakeholders and Alliance partner managers and Account Executives
2. Develop and execute a comprehensive alliance strategy for mutual success
3. Define clear objectives, KPI’s and milestones for owned UK&I alliance partnerships
4. Organise and manage events, driving attendance to webinars, seminars, conferences, networking, etc
5. Facilitate introductions for Merkle UK&I Sales team to new relationships and opportunities for pipeline generation
6. Collaborate with Merkle UK Marketing team to drive engagement and inbound enquiries
7. Liaise with internal Merkle Client Partners to coordinate joint GTM sales plays
8. Staying abreast of industry trends and Alliance technology product updates and provide actionable insights to sales and leadership teams.
9. Develop deep relationships and understanding across our Merkle capabilities & practice areas and Alliance partner ecosystem.
10. Become well versed in the Merkle value proposition and our differentiators in the market.
11. Presenting at Internal and Alliance Partner Team meetings

Key Activities:

1. Oversee Alliance associated sales pipeline and forecasting accuracy for the Merkle business.
2. Working closely with the UK&I sales team, Merkle solutions, strategy and practice leaders to help define and position vertical specific Go-To-Market Salesforce propositions.
3. Analysing and mapping our competitors’ customer landscape and understand our Alliance partner win-themes as Merkle.
4. Accumulate the latest trends and developments in Alliance Partner technology and the digital marketing industry in general through an inquisitive and self-motivated approach
5. Understand our key case studies to help drive credibility in the market

What you’ll bring:

1. Anticipated the appropriate candidate will have 5+ years business development/consultative sales experience in the digital/CX agency, CRM and/or commerce technology or tech recruitment space.
2. Sales experience in technology, professional services or digital agency (Experience of any of Salesforce, Shopify, Pega, Adobe, Braze OR Commerce, marketing automation, CDP’s, AI, or CX desirable)
3. Knowledge of the inner workings of software alliance partnerships a big plus
4. Experience in end-to-end sales lead qualification – Lead gen to MQL to SQL, Inbound/Outbound, marketing campaigns & Events
5. Proven ability to curate winning sales strategies, motions and GTM content.
6. Creative mindset, thinking outside of the box to forge relationships
7. Excellent communication and people skills
8. Proven experience of organising events
9. Exceptional communications and presentation skills
10. Ability to lead through influence over authority
11. Eager to learn with a growth mindset
12. Ability to work independently, and collaboratively within cross-functional teams
13. Highly motivated with high energy, well-organized and driven

What we’ll give to you:

We want to hear from you if you want to learn from some of the best in the Industry, work with people at the top of their game or the Merkle/dentsu social calendar, people love working here – and we hope you will too.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the benefits we offer:

1. Extensive learning opportunities, through dentsu University, free access to LinkedIn Learning along with the option to enrol in degree-level training programs via Multiverse.
2. 29 days of annual leave (25 days holiday, your Birthday Day off and 3 additional Wellness Days). We also have 2 volunteer days per year and as an additional bonus we’re typically closed between Christmas and New Year!
3. Flexible public holidays, swap days off according to your values and beliefs
4. You’ll have a hybrid working schedule (typically with set team charter days), we also offer flexible start/end hours – so you can choose what works best for you.
5. All the feels – explore our dedicated benefits hub where there’s a catalogue of benefits for you to choose from that suit you! Spanning PMI, Gym discounts, HelloFresh vouchers, Cycle to work scheme + some sustainability options!

At the point of application, the candidate must have the legal right to work in the UK as we are unable to sponsor visas as this time.

Merkle does not discriminate against job applicants on the basics of age, disability, gender, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Experience stipulated in this job description serves as a guide only and all applications will be considered on their merits, irrespective of experience.

As part of our Diversity and Inclusion agenda, and as an Equal Opportunities employer, if you require interview adjustments during the selection process please engage directly with your Talent Partner.