Senior Director, Strategic Account Management

Zinnia is the leading technology platform for accelerating life and annuities growth. With innovative enterprise solutions and data insights, Zinnia simplifies the experience of buying, selling, and administering insurance products—enabling more people to protect their financial futures. Our success is driven by a commitment to three core values: be bold, team up, deliver value. Zinnia has over $180 billion in assets under administration, serves 100+ carrier clients, 2500 distributors and partners, and over 2 million policyholders.

About the role

As the Senior Director, Strategic Account Manager, you are responsible for driving Zinnia’s clients and their end customers' overall experience. Success will be measured by client satisfaction, strategic and tactical leadership, oversight, and optimizing client support to agreed-upon strategies and plans. The primary focus of the role is to be a strong advocate for the client within Zinnia and to represent a consolidated view of Zinnia within the client organization. This role will also represent a consolidated view of the client within Zinnia, defining new metrics and implementing them in partnership with the delivery management team.

The Senior Director will develop relationships with key client executives and decision-makers, acting as a trusted business and Zinnia advisor. You will build trust and confidence to successfully accomplish client goals while presenting a full view of Zinnia's services, products, and technology. The role requires significant oversight, planning, and consultative skills, interfacing with senior decision-makers in client organizations. This role is enabled by all Zinnia functions, including Business Operations and Services, Technology and Delivery Services, Finance, and executive leadership, forming a single point of client ownership and accountability.

Responsibilities

• Become an extended part of the client’s leadership team, including responsibility for joint governance and prioritization.
• Ensure Zinnia business commitments and priorities are met, addressing and resolving any roadblocks or contentions to the client’s satisfaction.
• Clarify lines of responsibility and authority for functional organizations.
• Own and be accountable for the client within the Zinnia framework, including project delivery, day-to-day operations, service delivery, and financial management.
• Work closely with Zinnia internal teams to represent and communicate the end-to-end customer experience, achieving client objectives while identifying Zinnia’s needs to service the client’s business requirements.
• Introduce Zinnia offerings and capabilities based on a holistic understanding of the client’s needs and goals, acting as a funnel for client input to influence Zinnia’s technology and servicing roadmap.
• Coordinate with the client on new industry/regulatory changes and go-to-market strategies.
• Design and implement a dedicated core team for the client organization in partnership with vertical managers, leading this team daily to ensure they are seen as an extension of the client team.
• Define and execute the account management strategy, promoting a one-Zinnia mindset across the organization, building trust at all levels, and leading internal teams through solutioning, implementation, and execution.
• Build long-term strategic partnerships focused on driving ROI for clients, delivering an exceptional client experience, and ensuring client satisfaction metrics are designed and implemented.
• Identify additional client pull-through business opportunities as part of the account management strategy.
• Establish a key client scorecard, supported by Vertical Owners, to track internal and external key performance metrics.
• Collaborate with Zinnia senior management to develop strategic and tactical plans to meet financial goals at an aggregate relationship level across all services performed for the client.
• Work with Vertical Owners to support client requests for change and address client needs in a timely, accurate, and professional manner, including leading strategic planning sessions with internal constituents.
• Maintain professional internal and external relationships reflecting Zinnia’s core values: Accountable, Responsive, Transparent, Innovative, and Collaborative (ARTIC).

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in technology, business, finance, accounting, or equivalent relevant work experience.
• Minimum of 12 years’ experience in relationship management, consulting, strategic advisory, or other leadership roles, interacting with all levels within a client organization.
• Life insurance industry understanding, especially annuities, preferred.
• Industry certifications a plus.
• Strong technology-related skills and tech-savvy (e.g., technical aspects of platforms and digital strategies).
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to synthesize, organize, analyze, and present data clearly.
• Strong empathy and understanding of clients, their businesses, and the impact on distributors and contract holders, while aligning Zinnia’s services to benefit the client.
• Outstanding team player with a client relationship and strategic partner mindset to interact effectively with technical and non-technical clients.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly present ideas, updates, recommendations, and results.
• Excellent negotiation and conflict management skills.
• Proven problem-solving, critical reasoning, and influencing skills; ability to quickly grasp complex business issues and develop solutions.
• Excellent presentation skills to facilitate effective orientations and presentations (in-person or live online).
• Responsiveness to client escalations, excellent time management, prioritization, and organizational skills.
• Strong relationship-building skills both internally and with clients, with the ability to work across dispersed teams in a virtual workforce.
• Diplomacy skills, including the ability to broker and achieve reasonable compromise.
• Strong goal orientation.
• Extremely organized with exceptional follow-through.
• Self-starter with a high energy level, commitment to excellence, and a diligent work ethic.
• Strong ability to lead employees in a matrix environment.
• Ability to travel a minimum of 25%, depending on client situations.

Benefits

• Health and dental insurance.
• Parental leave.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Incentive and bonus opportunities.
• Tuition reimbursement.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $200,000 to $230,000, estimated based on geographic location and aligned with the individual’s skills, education, experience, training, and location.