Account Management Leader

Benchling, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Robust healthcare benefits

Family-forming benefits

Parental leave

Job summary

Benchling, Inc. is seeking an Account Management Leader with a life sciences background to drive renewal rates and expand opportunities across a diverse portfolio. You will mentor and grow a team of Account Managers, partner with cross-functional teams, and lead renewal strategy with data-driven insights.

The role emphasizes strategic renewal planning, risk mitigation, and executive-level collaboration to ensure retention and revenue growth in a fast-paced enterprise SaaS environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Account Management, Renewals, Sales, or related SaaS function.
• 3+ years in a management role leading teams.
• Experience leading customer-facing, commercially-oriented teams in a high-growth enterprise SaaS.
• Willingness to travel up to 20%.
• Experience with Benchling platform or similar life sciences SaaS.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of Account Managers, mentoring and hiring as needed.
• Drive renewal rates and expansion outcomes across the portfolio.
• Develop strategic renewal plans, mitigate risk, and surface upsell opportunities.
• Collaborate with CS, Sales, Finance, Legal, and Deal Desk to align renewal strategy and deals.
• Implement renewal playbooks, standardize risk processes, and reduce AM toil via automation.
• Act as senior liaison for complex renewal negotiations and executive alignment.
• Capture customer feedback to inform pricing, packaging, and product decisions.

Skills

Account Management

Renewals

Leadership

Strategic Planning

SaaS

Education

Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences or related field

Tools

Salesforce

Gainsight

Mode

Sigma

Claude AI

Job description

• Benchling is seeking an Account Management Leader with a background in Life Sciences and enterprise SaaS. This role is an exciting blend of team management and strategic leadership
• You're a hands-on leader who enjoys working closely with your team and with customers to drive world-class renewal rates and expansion outcomes. You must be able to think and act strategically as well as get into the details with our seasoned Account Managers with experience in Life Sciences, who can help grow the organization, develop our processes, and drive execution
• You will develop a deep understanding of Benchling's solutions and demonstrate your experience to guide our teams in building strategic renewal plans, proactively identifying and mitigating risk, and uncovering upsell and expansion opportunities across the portfolio
• Manage, mentor, and grow a team of AMs, including hiring as needed
• Foster a collaborative, commercially-minded culture that drives measurable renewal and retention outcomes for the business
• Ensure the team is highly enabled on Benchling's renewal playbook and can execute consistently across the portfolio
• Coach AMs on building strategic renewal plans and delivering renewal-focused business reviews that reinforce value, address risk, and secure executive buy-in ahead of contract end dates
• Lead the team in achieving renewal, retention, and net revenue retention targets through strategic guidance and operational excellence. Particular focus on identifying contraction and churn risk early, and on surfacing expansion and upsell opportunities within the existing book
• Use data to identify at-risk accounts, renewal timing, and expansion signals across the customer portfolio, and develop account-specific plans to address them alongside the sales organization
• Provide the business with a predictable renewal forecast backed by leading indicators, ensuring risk and expansion signals are surfaced early enough to inform accurate, defensible projections rather than late-stage surprises
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (CS, Sales, finance, Legal, Deal Desk) to ensure alignment on renewal strategy, pricing, and deal structure
• Implement best practices for tracking renewal pipeline, standardizing risk and mitigation processes, and ensuring consistent, proactive coverage across the book
• Partner with CX Operations to identify and eliminate sources of AM toil, leveraging AI tools, automation, and improved workflows so AMs can focus on high-value renewal and expansion conversations
• Serves as a senior point of contact for complex or high-stakes renewal negotiations, supporting AMs in navigating contraction requests, pricing pushback, and competitive threats
• Champions the voice of the customer within Benchling, providing feedback to internal teams to inform pricing, packaging, and product decisions that affect renewal outcomes
• Guides AMs in navigating complex customer organizations to build multi-threaded relationships, identify economic buyers, and drive consensus around renewal and expansion decisions

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity
• Robust healthcare benefits
• Family-forming benefits
• Four months of fully paid parental leave
• Retirement benefits

To be successful in this role, you are comfortable with R&D processes and scientific concepts, and able to speak confidently and build relationships with Scientific, IT, and procurement leaders at leading Pharma and Biotech organizationsYou have experience leading customer-facing, commercially-oriented teams in a high growth enterprise SaaS environmentAnd you are a proven leader who can drive a renewals business from hiring and staffing, to managing and mentoring your team, to leading through changeExperience leveraging a modern CS/Sales tech stack, including CRM (e.g., Salesforce), customer success platforms (e.g., Gainsight), data/analytics tools (e.g., Mode, Sigma), and AI-assisted productivity tools (e.g., Claude)Excellent negotiation and communication skills, able to build relationships across technical, commercial, and executive stakeholdersStrong understanding of Life Sciences R&D, process development, or related scientific domainsSelf-motivated, adaptable, and thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment5+ years of experience in Account Management, Renewals, Sales, or a related commercial function within SaaSAbility to travel up to 20% based on team and customer needsBachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Business, or a related field3+ years in a management roleProven ability to lead and develop a high-performing commercial teamExperience working with or supporting the Benchling platformDemonstrated ability to lead teams through complex renewal negotiations, contraction mitigation, and expansion/upsell motions