Global Account Manager - Consulting & Research Agencies

Outset; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Outset is seeking a Global Account Manager in the San Francisco area to own and grow relationships with the world’s leading management consulting and professional services firms. The role reports to the VP of Sales and carries full commercial ownership for a small portfolio, with a seven-figure growth target and cross-sell opportunities across engagement managers to firm leadership.

You will lead an extended account team, coordinate cross-region activities, and negotiate complex, multi-year

Qualifications

• 10+ years in enterprise sales, including 5+ years in a named global or strategic account role owning a small book of major accounts.
• Experience selling into and growing accounts at global consulting, market research and professional services firms.
• Deep understanding of how consulting firms buy: partner-led decisions, regional budgets, engagement-funded spend, and procurement.
• Proven record of exceeding aggressive seven-figure growth targets inside existing accounts—expansion, cross-sell and renewal.
• World-class relationship management with long-term account growth.
• Executive presence and commercial sharpness, credible with partners and firm leadership.
• Ability to lead an extended, cross-functional account team without direct authority.
• Experience with complex global structures: multi-region contracting, enterprise procurement, multi-year commitments.
• Operational rigor: account planning methodology, accurate forecasting, CRM discipline.
• Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Travel regularly; travel to San Francisco HQ required periodically.
• Bonus: prior consulting experience or selling research/AI insights to consulting firms.

Responsibilities

• Own a portfolio of global consulting and professional services firms with expansion, cross-sell, pricing, and renewal.
• Carry and exceed a seven-figure growth target across that portfolio.
• Build a live global account plan for each firm: practices, regions, spend, and leadership.
• Convert engagement-by-engagement usage into firm-wide and multi-year agreements.
• Multi-thread relationships—from engagement managers to firm leadership.
• Direct the extended account team across functions and time zones.
• Run executive business reviews tying Outset to firm outcomes and budget.
• Negotiate and close complex agreements—global MSAs and multi-region commitments.
• Forecast with precision; maintain a current Salesforce view.
• Bring the voice of consulting firms into product direction and pricing.
• Regularly meet partner leads to build deep relationships with leadership and ops.

Skills

Enterprise sales

Account management

Relationship building

Forecasting

Negotiation

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic selling

Executive presence

Travel readiness

Partnership management

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Outset invented a better way to do research: AI-powered user interviews.

Global brands like Hubspot, Microsoft, Uber and Nestle use Outset to achieve deeper, qualitative insights about their users at unprecedented speed and scale.

The research industry is massive (>$140B and growing) and ripe for disruption. Incumbents are outdated, slow, and burdened by high-cost services. That's our opportunity.

Outset is backed by top Silicon Valley investors and raised a $30M Series B in December 2025—less than six months after our Series A—led by Radical Ventures with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s venture arm), 8VC, Y Combinator, and Adverb Ventures.

The raise follows a breakout year, with our business growing 8x as enterprise customers across industries adopt our category, AI‑moderated research, as the new standard for understanding people.

We’re a tight-knit team serving some of the world’s largest enterprises.

We’re hiring a Global Account Manager, Consulting & Research Agencies to own and aggressively grow Outset’s relationships with the world’s leading management consulting and professional services firms.

A global consulting firm is not one customer; it’s hundreds. Strategy, customer and CX, digital and product, marketing, private equity and due diligence practices each run research for their clients—across dozens of countries, with partner-level budget owners and engagement-by-engagement buying. Firms also increasingly want to deliver AI-powered research as part of their own client offerings. That makes consulting both one of our biggest direct markets and a powerful route to the world’s largest enterprises.

This is a senior individual contributor role reporting to the VP of Sales. You’ll carry full commercial ownership of a small number of global firms—expansion, cross-sell, pricing, and renewal—and an aggressive seven-figure growth target against them. You’ll go deep in a handful of firms, build relationships from engagement managers to practice leaders to firm leadership, and turn project-by-project usage into firm-wide agreements.

You’ll do it with an account team around you—Sales Development, Research Operations, an Account Director, and a Solutions Consultant, with executive sponsorship from our leadership team—and in close partnership with our Partnerships team where firms bring Outset to their clients.

Responsibilities

• Own a portfolio of a small number of global consulting and professional services firms, with full commercial responsibility for expansion, cross-sell, pricing, and renewal.

• Carry and exceed an aggressive seven-figure growth target across that portfolio.

• Build and maintain a live global account plan for each firm: every practice, industry group, region, and research function; partner-level relationships; whitespace and spend; competitive position; and a dated path to each expansion.

• Convert engagement-by-engagement usage into firm-wide and multi-year agreements, including enterprise licenses, preferred-vendor status, and global MSAs.

• Multi-thread relentlessly—from consultants and engagement managers to partners, practice leaders, and firm leadership—building relationships durable enough to survive partner turnover and reorgs.

• Direct the extended account team (Sales Development, Research Operations, Account Director, Solutions Consultant, Marketing, and executive sponsors) across functions and time zones.

• Run executive business reviews that tie Outset to firm outcomes—faster engagements, higher-margin delivery, and differentiated client offerings—and convert them into committed budget.

• Negotiate and close complex agreements—global MSAs, multi-region commitments, procurement, security, and client-data confidentiality reviews—in partnership with Legal, Finance, and leadership.

• Forecast with precision and keep a clean, current view of your accounts in Salesforce.

• Bring the voice of consulting firms back into Outset—informing product direction, pricing, and how we build the global account motion.

• Regularly meet in person with partner leads across practices to create deep relationships with those driving business performance and who are responsible for partner-level results delivery, as well as operational leaders in centralized roles.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in enterprise sales, including 5+ years in a named global or strategic account role owning a small book of major accounts.

• Demonstrated experience and expertise selling into and growing accounts at global consulting, market research and professional services firms—strategy firms, the Big Three, the largest global market research agencies or large digital and technology consultancies.

• Deep understanding of how consulting firms buy: partner-led decisions, practice and regional budgets, engagement-funded spend, and central procurement.

• A proven record of exceeding aggressive seven-figure growth targets inside existing accounts—expansion, cross-sell, and renewal—not only net-new logo attainment.

• World-class relationship management, with accounts you grew over years, not quarters.

• Executive presence and commercial sharpness: credible with partners and firm leadership, and comfortable negotiating at scale.

• Demonstrated ability to lead an extended, cross-functional account team without direct authority.

• Experience with complex global commercial structures: multi-region contracting, enterprise procurement, multi-year commitments, and competing internal stakeholders.

• Operational rigor—a real account planning methodology, accurate forecasting, and CRM discipline.

• Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced startup that is still building the playbook.

• Travel regularly to customer sites will be necessary to achieve your goals, and should be part of your prior playbook. Travel to our San Francisco HQ will also be required periodically.

• Bonus: prior consulting experience, or experience selling research, insights, analytics, or AI solutions to consulting firms.