Overview and Summary
The Account Manager holds ultimate responsibility for multiple solutions, contracts, and employees supporting our Automotive OEM clients. This role is responsible for growing profitable business by ensuring strong client relationships and developing and selling additional Urban Science solutions. This role is also responsible for managing their team’s revenue and profitability as it relates to the overall goals for the office. Accredited University Degree in relatable field along with 10 years (13 yrs preferrrd) experience. Automotive industry experience at OEM or related to OEM required.
Urban Science is a business-solutions company focused on supporting the needs of the sales and marketing function of the automotive industry. We leverage a scientific methodology to help our client partners sell more vehicles, improve profitability and increase customer loyalty. And we do that by helping solve their toughest challenges including planning an optimal dealership network, improving individual dealer performance and efficiently converting sales leads into sales. In short, we guide business through science and we've been doing this since 1977.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Contributes directly to company growth and diversification efforts by developing new client relationships that result in the delivery of additional Urban Science solutions.
- Establishes long-term business relationships with clients and develops a firm understanding of client’s business needs in order to properly support them, lead negotiations to renew, deliver and/or add new client contracts.
- Effectively communicates with Urban Science Managing Directors, Global Account Executives and Practice organization to establish on-going strategic plans and business goals and ensure proper alignment of company resources with designated client needs.
- Assumes ultimate responsibility for project outcomes including delivery of projects on time, within budget and at an exceptional level of quality.
- Frequently interacts with clients to provide effective and timely updates, consulting advice, design and present proposals, negotiate agreements, renew contracts, assist with decision making and manage client expectations.
- Proactively and consistantly assesses competitive conditions and provides related written input to local Managing Director and Practice organization in order to detect on time business opportunities and/or deter any competitive business threats.
- Maintains a thorough understanding of one or more Urban Science solutions and applies that knowledge to better meet client needs.
- Expertly leads presentations to internal and external clients, using appropriate presentation tools, to effectively introduce new products/solutions and/or present project outcomes.
- Actively works with Managing Director to understand and implement solutions to ensure and improve NPS (client satisfaction).
- Responsible for adherence to the CRM and deal review PMO process to ensure projects are accurately budgeted for and SOWs follow internal requirements.
- Responsible for accurate review and oversight of teams budget, including income statements, revenues, margins, profitability targets and labor, to ensure strategy and opportunities are in alignment with the office budget and profitability targets.
- Serves as liaison between client and Urban Science technical staff on development projects to clearly communicate client needs and facilitate appropriate deliverable time frames based on internal capabilities and work load.
- Develops a strategic account sales plan 1 and 2 years out in order to anticipate staffing and infrastructure needs to support sales initiatives.
- Coordinates with individuals or teams to complete analyses, tasks and projects on time and with high quality.
- Adheres to quality control standards for Urban Science and client organizations.
- Actively supports and participates in required Urban Science training programs to achieve targeted development objectives.
- Works with Managing Director in completing own annual goal setting and performance review in a timely manner.
- Ultimately responsible for team performance, which includes setting team oriented goals, which are to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
- Actively leads, supports and promotes change initiatives within team, and provides direction on how change initiatives impact work flow or performance.
- Actively works with Managing Director and team to support and promote internal employee engagement initiatives.
Qualifications - Education and Experience
- Client facing experience required (Automotive OEM client experience strongly preferred) including excellent verbal, written and presentation skills. Demonstrated experience in effectively and accurately communicating or translating client requirements/business needs to technical staff including analytical data driven or technical related concepts
- Relationship Building: Requires the ability to effectively build and maintain friendly, warm relationships or networks of contacts with clients/customers
- Sales & Business Development skills including ability to identify potential new opportunities from the client and proactively communicate those opportunities to Managing Director, requires knowledge and understanding of sales and business development processes
- Negotiation: Requires strong formal negotiation skills including the ability to explain and justify pricing, scope, cost estimates, as well as internal and external impacts; must be able to develop strong positive relationships; successful completion and application of a negotiation training/program is strongly preferred
- Results Oriented: Requires the ability to strive for optimal results by taking responsibility for timeliness, commitment to task and adherence to performance standards
- Project Management: Requires full responsibility for the delivery of multiple, concurrent account projects that are on time, within budget and at high quality
- Initiative: Requires the drive to go above and beyond in order to improve or enhance job results
- Team Leadership: Requires the ability to effectively take a role as leader of a team or department with a desire to help the group achieve business related outcomes
- Developing & Coaching: Requires the ability, desire and intent to teach and foster the development and long term capability of one or more employees by providing coaching, direction and feedback to enhance performance
- Analytical Thinking: Requires the ability to understand a situation by breaking it apart into smaller pieces, and/or tracing the implications of a situation in a step-by-step causal way
- Database: Requires the ability to understand database concepts related to Urban Science products/solutions
- Math & Statistics: Requires basic descriptive statistics knowledge and the ability to understand and interpret statistical analysis
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:
- University degree required; technical degrees are strongly preferred (i.e., engineering, applied math, statistics, applied science, information systems, operations research, etc.) from an accredited college or university, or equivalent foreign institution. Non-technical degrees will be considered if candidate possesses appropriate level of analytical and technical knowledge required for the role; Masters or advanced degree preferred
- Minimum of 10 years related work experience required (13 years experience preferred).
WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This description is intended to describe the type and level of work being performed by a person assigned to this position. It is NOT an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by a person so classified. The job may require additional hours beyond the normal 40-hour workweek.