Company Description

Formed in 2017 by the combination of Misys and D+H, we provide the broadest portfolio of financial services software in the world today—spanning retail banking, transaction banking, lending, capital markets and treasury.

Our solutions enable customers to deploy mission critical technology on premises or in the cloud. With our scale and geographical reach we drive valued solutions and opportunity for customers regardless of size or geography. Through our open, secure, and reliable solutions, we empower customers to accelerate growth, optimize cost, mitigate risk and continually evolve to meet their changing needs.

A Truly global organization with offices in 42 countries worldwide, with an employee base of approximately 10,000 employees. We work with 9,000 customers, including 48 of the top 50 banks globally. Through our software, we're constantly stretching boundaries to do more for our customers. We are proud to be an organization where our vision, values and cultural beliefs are not just shared, but are lived by our people globally and where recognition is part of each and every day.

Job Description

Role Overview:

As the Sales Skills Lead, you will play a critical role in shaping the success of Finastra's sales teams across all four business units (Payments, Lending, Universal Banking, and Treasury & Capital Markets). Your mission is to strategically enhance the skills, knowledge, and performance of our sales professionals through closely collaborating with senior business stakeholders. You will work with this group to define the priority skills. You will determine the skills that the Business Units need to prioritize to bridge capability gaps of today, whilst working to identify the future skills that the industry requires of this role family. With the help of your team, you will design, develop/buy/source materials, and deliver suitable skills campaigns and interventions, with a clear plan on how to achieve full skills activation. You will also report upon the tangible and measurable outcomes of these skills once activated within the Business units across the organisation.

You will provide a skills plan that is pro-active and targeted, informed by quantitative data harvested from the various systems across the business, and using this data, you will build a robust skills plan for the financial year. The plan will include meaningful, tangible, returns on investment and will support the Business Units to deliver their longer-term strategic objectives.

Responsibilities:

1. Own the Strategic Skills Agenda:

• Collaborate with CRO-level executives and Business Unit Heads to define the strategic skills agenda for all four Business Units.
• Provide full year skills plan inclusive of quarterly sprints, which focusses on building the critical Sales Role Family skillset and prioritizes critical skill development, based on Finastra's overall goals, industry best practices and our Skills Centre of Excellence strategy.
• Design and pitch skills campaigns that align with business priorities including anticipated metrics/KPIs for quantifying success of campaigns.

2. Data-Driven Gap Analysis:

• Harvest and analyse sales organization data to identify capability gaps and areas for improvement.
• Use market driven insights for implementation of skills program based on 'what good looks like.'
• Develop insights into skill deficiencies and propose targeted interventions.
• Ensure that skills development initiatives yield measurable results, whilst maintaining tracking and progress reporting against pre-defined/pre-agreed KPIs/Metrics

3. Skills Interventions:

• Create and implement customized skills development programs, leveraging the Skills CoE Design Team and always considering the adult learning principles.
• Collaborate with internal and external subject matter experts to curate relevant content, including product knowledge, selling techniques, and industry trends.
• Pitch Skills interventions to HRDs/HRBPs and Business Leaders, that directly address identified gaps and enhance sales effectiveness.

4. Interpersonal and Business Skills:

• Leadership: Inspire and guide cross-functional teams toward a common vision and strategy
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to convey complex concepts effectively
• Relationship Building: Cultivate strong partnerships with business leaders, sales teams, and external stakeholders.
• Influence and Negotiation: Persuade stakeholders to adopt best practices and embrace change.
• Analytical Thinking: Use data insights to drive informed decisions.
• Presentation skills: Strong presentation skills and ability to present low level data at team level and where required executive level decks.

6. Sales Pedigree and Appreciation for Adult Upskilling:

• Sales Background: A strong sales pedigree with a proven record in complex software and B2B sales environments, which evidences attainment of an individual quota, as well as leading and developing sales teams.
• Upskilling & Adult Learning Expertise: Familiarity with adult upskilling techniques and methodologies, including training needs analysis disciplines and developing skills campaigns.
• Adaptability: Stay current with industry trends and adjust enablement strategies accordingly, including scanning the horizon for the role family critical skills of the future

7. Leadership Requirements:

• Manage a team of Skills leads including career development, motivation, leadership and growth strategy.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performance culture within the Skills CoE (centre of Excellence) Sales function.
• Ability to navigate complex matrix-based environment and influence at an executive level.

Qualifications

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, or a related field (Master's preferred)
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in sales, sales enablement, or related roles
• Previous leadership experience in sales or enablement functions
• Certification in sales enablement (e.g., CSO, CSE) is advantageous.

Additional Information

Finastra is committed to providing accessible employment practices that are in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). We will accommodate applicants' needs upon request, throughout all stages of the recruitment process. Please inform us of the accommodation(s) that you may require. Information received related to accommodation will be addressed confidentially.