Strategic Account Manager - South Territory

Ascend Learning, LLC; Bastrop (LA); Remote; USD 81,000 - 116,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Company paid life Insurance

Employee assistance program

Values-driven culture

Job summary

Ascend Learning, LLC is seeking a Strategic Account Manager to manage and grow high-value clients in the South US territory, including MS, FL Panhandle, and LA. You’ll own strategic plans, build advisory partnerships, and drive revenue while collaborating with product and services teams.

The role requires a Bachelor’s degree, 6+ years of sales with multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts, strong negotiation skills, and CRM/MS Office proficiency. Up to 50% travel; remote work option available.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in any business field or related area.
• 6+ years of sales experience with quota attainment.
• Proven negotiation and stakeholder management at executive level.
• Strong written communication for proposals and contracts.
• Proficient CRM and MS Office, with Excel expertise.
• Willingness to travel up to 50%.

Responsibilities

• Serve as lead contact for strategic accounts in the South territory (Mississippi, FL Panhandle, LA).
• Build and maintain strong client relationships and executive sponsor engagement.
• Nurture and manage the sales pipeline with timely follow-ups and progress tracking.
• Develop strategic roadmaps to drive client outcomes and cross-sell opportunities.
• Prepare and present sales strategies, negotiate and close deals, gather implementation details.
• Ensure timely delivery of Ascend solutions and exceed client expectations.
• Maintain CRM with headcount and account data, track opportunities and forecasts.
• Stay current on industry trends to identify new business opportunities.

Skills

Relationship building

Negotiation

Sales strategies

Communication skills

Strategic account management

Multi-project management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

CRM software (Salesforce)

Zoho CRM

Microsoft Excel

Job description

We Impact Lives Through Purpose-Driven Work in A People First Culture Ascend Learning, a leading healthcare and learning technology company, is the connection between a powerful portfolio of brands serving students, educators, and employers with outcomes-based, data-driven solutions across the lifecycle of learning. From testing to certification, Ascend Learning products are used by physicians, emergency medical professionals, nurses, allied health professionals, certified personal trainers, financial advisors, skilled trades professionals and insurance brokers.

Headquartered in Burlington, MA, with additional office locations and hybrid and remote workers in cities across the U.Ascend Learning was recognized by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group as one of America’s 2025 Greatest Workplaces as well as America’s Best Places to work for Mental Well-Being for 2025.

We're always looking for talented, passionate professionals to join us in our mission to help change lives. Ascend Learning's Nursing Category is fueled by a commitment to excellence as we support the full learning journey of future nurses. Our nursing brands — ATI, APEA, and NursingCE — offer evidence-based solutions designed to develop practice-ready nurses who are prepared for board certification and clinical practice. We use data analytics and engaging learning tools to help nursing students master core content. And we provide nursing education administrators and faculty with best-in-class support and expertise from some of the sharpest minds in nursing education. We aid nurse educators in understanding students' comprehension based on nearly two decades of data — including more than 12 million proctored assessments — that detail student learning and performance. The result is customers who are confident in their program offerings and positioned for healthy outcomes.

As a Strategic Account Manager, you’ll be responsible for maintaining and expanding relationships with strategically important large customers. Assigned to the highest-value clients, the Strategic Account Manager is tasked with building a deep understanding of the clients’ business processes, goals, and strategies to align our offerings and drive mutual growth and success.

This position will work remote in the South territory preferably in Mississippi, Florida panhandle, or Louisiana regions.

Serve as the lead point of contact for strategic account matters, build and maintain strong, long-lasting client relationships, develop trusted advisor relationships with key accounts, customer stakeholders, and executive sponsors

Manage relationships with existing clients to ensure their retention, and customer loyalty – including annual account reviews and reporting

Manage and nurture the sales pipeline, ensure timely follow-ups, and progress tracking

Uncover clients' objectives and pain points, build strategic roadmaps to drive positive outcomes and solutions to meet client needs while providing exceptional customer collaboration and guidance

Develop account growth strategies, collaborate with category leadership, leverage market knowledge and client insights, including territory management, pipeline opportunities, and cross-sell opportunity referral activity where applicable

Prepare compelling sales strategies, messaging, and presentations. Negotiate and close deals, collect implementation details for client execution

Ensure timely and successful delivery of Ascends solutions according to customer needs and objectives, exceeding client expectations

Prepare and present regular reports on account opportunities, sales forecasts, tailwinds, and headwinds to management

Maintain CRM to include prospective client headcount or other category suitability

Stay up to date with, and share, industry trends, competitors, and market conditions to identify new business opportunities

Bachelor’s degree required

• 6+ years of relevant sales work experience
• Prior track record of influencing stakeholders up to the executive level, with proven negotiation skills for securing advantageous agreements
• Skilled in delivering tailored solutions to clients and managing multiple projects with precision
• Proficient in written communication for creating sales documents (proposals, contracts)
• Strong analytical abilities for sales data interpretation and strategy formulation
• Proven track record of delivering results in a quota-based sales environment with multi-year multimillion-dollar contracts
• Proficient in CRM software (e.g., Salesforce, Zoho CRM, HubSpot) and MS Office, especially Excel
• Up to 50% travel

The current full-time, annualized base pay hiring range for this role is $80,800.00-$115,500.00. In accordance with applicable state laws, we are providing the expected pay range for this position. Individual compensation will be determined by various factors, including relevant experience, qualifications, current business needs and local market factors. Most regular, full-time employees are eligible to participate in an Ascend incentive bonus or sales plan.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Company paid life Insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Our values-driven culture unifies our teams and inspires a mindset of action, innovation, and collaboration, with a relentless focus on customers.

Applications for U.