Associate Director, Global Sales Support

Informa Group Plc.; Milton; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary + bonus

Hybrid work model

Private medical insurance

Life assurance

Employee assistance programme

Job summary

Taylor & Francis is seeking an experienced Associate Director, Global Sales Support to lead the global sales support services. You will drive a consistent quote-to-invoice process, ensure data accuracy across regions, and prepare the function for readiness under the Unified Commercial model.

You will oversee four Regional Sales Operations Managers, partnering with Finance and Systems & Data, to scale sales support globally while maintaining strong controls and governance.

Qualifications

• Proven multi-region leadership and change-management capability.
• Experience in quote-to-invoice and subscription sales processes.
• Strong commercial data discipline and governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop four Regional Sales Support Managers with shared objectives and development plans.
• Define service levels and operating cadence for backlog, turnaround times, and process adherence.
• Harmonize global processes while accommodating local requirements.
• Own sales-support process from quote to invoicing, with Finance and order-management teams.
• Ensure accurate pricing, customer data, and discount conditions per policy.

Skills

People leadership

Sales operations knowledge

CRM systems

Data governance

Cross-regional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business/commerce or related field

Tools

CRM systems

ERP/Finance tools

Job description

• Full-time

Company Description

Informa is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge, and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

Taylor & Francis is one of the world’s largest publishers of high-quality, peer reviewed scholarly journals, books, e-books and reference works. We empower learners, thinkers and doers with trusted knowledge that advances research and enriches lives. We bring together diverse people, ideas and opinions to validate and publish the experts, theories and truths that matter. And we’ve been doing this in an unbroken arc since 1798.

Our purpose is to foster human progress through knowledge. We strongly believe that this requires us to encourage and examine different ideas and voices, so that any work that meets our exacting levels of quality deserves to be included in our publications. This requires open minds, the opportunity for robust debate, and the courage to defend perspectives that stand up to scrutiny, even if they conflict with our personal beliefs or values. Because that’s the only way to find the best obtainable version of the truth and, ultimately, foster human progress. If you agree, then we’d love to hear from you.

Job Description

Taylor & Francis is seeking an experienced operations leader to take ownership of global sales support services across all regions. As Associate Director, Global Sales Support, you will be accountable for building a consistent, efficient, and well-controlled quote-to-invoice process, driving data accuracy across regional commercial records, and preparing our support function for readiness under the new Unified Commercial (UC) model. You will lead the four Regional Sales Operations Managers and, through them, the regional support teams who keep our commercial engine running smoothly every day.

This is a pivotal leadership role sitting within Commercial Strategy & Operations, working as a peer to the Global Sales Operations Lead and the Global Systems & Data Lead to ensure our sales support infrastructure scales with the business.

What You'll Be Doing:

Global Service Delivery & People Leadership

• Lead and develop the four Regional Sales Support Managers, setting shared objectives, capacity priorities, performance standards, and development plans.
• Define service levels and establish a regular operating cadence covering backlog management, turnaround times, quality, escalations, and process adherence.
• Harmonize processes globally while accommodating documented local requirements, and scale best practices across regions.
• Manage cross-regional escalations and provide strong support to Sales and Inside Sales teams, without assuming ownership of the Inside Sales function itself.
• Own the sales-support operating process from quote preparation and approval through to accurate order and invoicing handoffs, working closely with Finance and order-management owners to agree clear boundaries.
• Ensure commercial terms, customer details, and approved pricing/discount conditions are captured correctly, applying rules set by the Global Pricing Director and escalating exceptions as needed.
• Reduce rework and errors at transaction handoffs by defining clear controls, ownership, and resolution paths for common issues.
• Translate changes arising from the UC model into standardized workflows, training needs, and operational acceptance criteria.

Data Capture & Operational Controls

• Own the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of information entered by regional teams into account, opportunity, and other commercial records.
• Implement front-line validation, exception handling, and remediation routines, aligned with data definitions and standards owned by Systems & Data.
• Ensure data captured at source properly supports forecasting, invoicing, reporting, and incentive calculations, resolving regional input issues promptly.
• Partner with Sales Operations on forecast inputs, deal status, territory changes, and recurring data defects.
• Work with Systems & Data to specify usability needs, test process changes, and manage adoption (while Technology retains technical build ownership).
• Collaborate with Global Enablement to maintain practical instructions, playbooks, and training materials for regional support users.

Decision Rights & Role Boundaries

• Sales Support owns frontline data entry and transaction execution; Systems & Data owns data structures, standards, and CRM business governance.
• Sales Operations owns forecasts, performance metrics, and incentive reporting; Sales Support supplies correct and timely regional inputs.
• Pricing owns price and discount policy; Finance and billing functions retain their designated accounting, invoicing, and cash-control responsibilities.
• Inside Sales remains a separate commercial sales capability unless an explicit reporting-line decision changes this.

What Success Looks Like:

• Consistent quote-to-invoice workflows with documented exceptions across all regions.
• Agreed service levels consistently met, with visible improvement in turnaround time, backlog reduction, and first-time-right processing.
• Measurable improvement in the completeness and accuracy of commercial data at the point of entry.
• The four Regional Sales Operations Managers operating with clear accountabilities, resource plans, and performance routines.
• UC process changes implemented smoothly, with a stable support service and minimal disruption.

Qualifications

What We're Looking For:

Experience & Knowledge

• Proven multi-region people leadership and change management capability.
• Strong understanding of quote-to-invoice and institutional/subscription sales processes.
• Experience in service operations, capacity planning, and process standardization.
• Working knowledge of CRM systems and a strong commercial data discipline.
• Excellent judgment, escalation management skills, and confident stakeholder communication.
• Proven experience in sales support, sales operations, or commercial operations.
• Demonstrated experience leading managers or distributed teams.
• A track record of setting service levels and standardizing processes across multiple regions or units.
• Experience with institutional, academic, subscription, journals, or eBook business models, along with system transitions, is highly desirable.

Key Working Relationships

Regional Sales Leaders; Finance; Global Pricing; Commercial Strategy; Global Enablement; Technology; and the other two Commercial Operations leads - all with clearly defined ownership and escalation paths

Additional Information

You must have the right to reside and work in the United Kingdom

Location: We believe that great things happen when people connect face-to-face. That’s why we work in-person with each other, or with customers and partners, three days a week or more. When you’re not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces – like at conference – you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely. The successful candidate will be able to utilise our balanced working model. We ask that candidates live within a commutable distance of the Milton Park Abingdon office to ensure that as a balanced worker they can make it to our office location3 days per week.

Please note, our Milton Park office will be relocating to Oxford city centre in late 2027 / early 2028, offering an exciting new workplace in the heart of the city.

What we offer in return:

• A competitive salary + bonus
• An excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture
• 25 days annual leave
• 3 additional discretionary days off during the holiday season at the end of the year
• 4 volunteering days annually
• Day off for your birthday
• Company funded single cover private medical insurance
• Employee assistance programme – offering 24/7 well-being support
• Share Match – Plan that matches every share purchased with two free shares.
• Life assurance, plus optical and medical care

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you are able to show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format, more time for questions, or anything else – please ask us, we are happy to be flexible! Please contact [e-mail]

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves. Taylor & Francis recruits, develops, and retains colleagues without regard to any protected personal characteristics or other non-merit based factor.