Sales Excellence Graduate Programme-Newcastle

Sage; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holidays

Learning days and volunteering days

Private healthcare and wellbeing

Competitive pension

Parental leave and work abroad option

Job summary

Sage offers a Graduate Excellence Programme in Newcastle, combining structured training with hands-on rotations across Sales, Customer Success and Renewal teams. You’ll gain experience in identifying prospects, engaging customers, and driving value from Sage’s software solutions.

The role blends office work with learning days and volunteering opportunities, supporting your growth from day one. The programme emphasizes collaboration, data-led decision making, and a customer‑first mindset.

Qualifications

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the confidence to present ideas clearly.
• Commercial awareness and ability to work with data and pipeline metrics.
• Ability to build trusted relationships with customers and partners.
• Proactive, resilient mindset with curiosity about how businesses work.
• Interest in technology, AI tools, and software to solve business challenges.

Responsibilities

• Experience core areas of the sales organisation through rotations in multiple teams.
• Identify and engage potential customers and learn consultative selling.
• Support renewal and growth opportunities with existing customers.
• Contribute to a joined‑up customer experience with marketing, product and customer success teams.

Skills

Strong communication

Commercial awareness

Relationship building

Proactive mindset

AI tools interest

Education

Business/Management/Marketing degree (advantageous)

Tools

CRM software

AI tools

Job description

At Sage, innovation starts with our people. With over 13,000 colleagues across 40 locations worldwide, supporting over 2 million customers, we’re united by a shared purpose: to transform the way millions of businesses work. As a global leader in AI, finance and HR software, we harness cutting‑edge technology and forward-thinking ideas to simplify complexity and drive progress. At Sage, you’ll join a high achieving culture that values creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning. Together, we’re shaping the future of business software.

Start your career with Sage in the UK and make an impact from day one. Our ethos is simple: to help businesses thrive so they can support their communities and drive economic progress. At Sage, you’ll find a high performing environment where your ideas matter, your growth is encouraged, and your work will add value from day one. Start your journey with us and help shape the future of business across the UK and beyond.

Why join Sage as a graduate?

At Sage, we believe your career should start with opportunity, growth, and purpose. As a graduate, you’ll benefit from structured training and development programs designed to build your skills and confidence from day one. You’ll also have access to Sage Foundation, our global initiative that gives you five paid volunteer days each year to make a positive impact in your community.

You’ll join exceptional teams where you will have the chance to learn from experts, connect with peers, and grow a global professional network. At Sage, we’re committed to helping you shape your future, offering clear career pathways and opportunities to innovate and make a real difference.

What will you be involved in?

Our Graduate Sales Excellence Programme is designed for graduates who are ambitious, commercially curious, and passionate about building relationships and driving business growth. You will experience core areas of our sales organisation, developing a rounded understanding of the full customer lifecycle from first contact to long-term partnership.

During the graduate programme, you will work in two or more of the following teams:

• CS Foundation

  You will start with a foundational rotation in Customer Success, building an understanding of how customers adopt Sage products, realise value, and make decisions about renewal or growth. By the end of this rotation, you will be able to:

  • Use customer health, adoption, usage, and engagement data to identify churn risks, value opportunities, and expansion signals.
  • Build clear value stories that connect Sage capability to customer outcomes, including time saved, risk reduced, and efficiency gained.
  • Support renewal readiness by maintaining accurate CRM data, updating customer status, and contributing structured recommendations.
  • Run adoption and value check‑ins with growing independence, coordinating with Product, Support, or Services to resolve blockers.
  • Produce a concise Customer Success case example showing how your work protected revenue, improved adoption, or created expansion readiness.

• Sales Development

  You will help identify, qualify, and engage potential customers, learning how to prospect, handle objections, and communicate Sage’s value clearly. This rotation builds the core habits of a successful sales career, including resilience, curiosity, and confident communication.

• Retention and Renewal

  You will work with existing customers to help them continue seeing value from Sage and renew with confidence. This rotation develops your account management, negotiation, and relationship‑building skills, while showing how renewal conversations can create growth opportunities.

• New Customer Acquisition

  You will support the team in winning new business, from early discovery through to signed contract. This rotation strengthens your consultative selling skills, commercial judgement, and ability to build clear business cases for customers.

• Channel and Partner Sales

  You will support Sage’s channel partners and resellers, helping them position and sell Sage solutions effectively. This rotation gives you a broader view of sales, partner enablement, and how Sage reaches customers at scale.

Please note that this is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in the office.

During your time on the programme, you could also be involved in:

• Manage a pipeline of opportunities across your rotation area, tracking activity, progress, and priorities in Sage’s CRM.
• Conduct discovery calls and needs assessments to understand customer and prospect goals.
• Prepare and deliver tailored presentations and demos that translate complex software into clear business value.
• Collaborate with marketing, product, and customer success teams to create a joined‑up customer experience.
• Analyse sales data, pipeline metrics, and AI-enabled tools to identify trends, prioritise activity, and improve productivity.

This development programme is designed to give you meaningful, hands‑on experience across the full sales organisation from day one. With the support and space to learn, ask questions, and grow, you will build the skills, commercial acumen, and confidence needed for a long‑term career in sales or business development.

What we’re looking for

To be eligible for this role, a Business, Management or Marketing degree would be advantageous, however we will consider a degree in any discipline. What matters most is your motivation, your ability to communicate, and your commercial curiosity.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to present ideas clearly and persuasively.
• Commercial awareness and confidence working with data, including pipeline metrics and the financial drivers of a business.
• The ability to build trusted relationships with customers, colleagues, and partners, adapting your communication style to different audiences.
• A proactive, resilient, and results‑driven mindset, with curiosity about how businesses work and the confidence to keep improving.
• An interest in technology, AI tools, and how software can help customers solve real business challenges. Prior customer‑facing, sales, or commercial experience would be advantageous.

What you can expect from the process

Please note that due to the high volume of applications, there may be a delay in our response. We thank you for your patience.

Here at Sage, we are committed to inclusivity for all. If you need adjustments that would support you in the application process, please reach out to us at [e-mail].

Benefits of working at Sage include

• Generous holiday plus bank holidays from day one
• Five learning days and five volunteering days each year
• Private healthcare, digital GP, and wellbeing support
• Competitive pension with Sage contributions
• Paid parental leave and the option to work from abroad for up to 10 weeks a year

Sales

United Kingdom

Newcastle

Hybrid

Working at Sage means you’re supporting millions of small and medium sized businesses globally with technology to work faster and smarter. We leverage the future of AI, meaning business owners spend less time doing routine tasks, like entering invoices and generating reports, and more time pursuing their ambitions.

Our colleagues are the best of the best. It’s why we were awarded 2024 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor. Because to achieve extraordinary outcomes, we need extraordinary teams. This means infusing Sage with people who knock down barriers, continuously innovate, and want to experience their potential.

Learn more about working at Sage: sage.com/en-gb/company/careers/working-at-sage/

Watch a video about our culture: youtube.com/watch?v=qIoiCpZH-QE

We celebrate individuality and welcome you to join us if you embrace all backgrounds, identities, beliefs, and ways of working. If you need support applying, reach out at [e-mail] .

Learn more about DEI at Sage: sage.com/en-gb/company/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/

Sales Excellence Graduate Programme-Newcastle

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Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

Sage is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities.

In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions at Sage will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Sage does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.