Strategic Account Executive - GEMS

About the role

The Strategic Account Executive – GEMS is responsible for driving revenue growth and long-term relationships within the Government, Education, Medical, and Strategic sectors. This role focuses on high-value, complex telecommunications solutions, including voice, data, cloud, and managed services, tailored to the unique needs of public and institutional clients.

Responsibilities

• Account Strategy & Growth: Develop and execute strategic account plans for key GEMS clients. Identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling services tailored to each vertical.
• Proactively call assigned customers to coordinate periodic business reviews as defined by customer.
• Build strong, long-term relationships with decision-makers, procurement teams, and technical stakeholders. Act as the single point of contact for assigned accounts.
• Manage upcoming contract expirations and track/report renewal success rate.
• Serve as the primary contact and key point of escalation for post-sale issues that arise and own communication to customer through final resolution.
• Solution Selling: Consultatively sell complex solutions including fiber, wireless, IP networking, VoIP, unified communications, security, and cloud services.
• Proposal & Contract Management: Lead the RFP/RFI process, ensuring competitive and compliant proposals. Negotiate contracts in alignment with client requirements and company policy. Review existing contracted services and ensure customer has copies of contracts, circuit IDs, and key personnel contact information for support departments within Astound (NOC, Billing and Care).
• Market Intelligence: Stay informed on GEMS sector trends, procurement cycles, funding mechanisms (e.g., E-Rate, government grants), and compliance requirements.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Engage internal stakeholders and collaborate with sales representatives to assist as needed for installation updates and general customer follow-up. Provide periodic updates to leadership detailing best practices on customer experience initiatives needed to guarantee positive outcomes for both the customer and Astound.
• Revenue Targets: Meet or exceed quarterly and annual sales targets, including new revenue, renewals, and retention KPIs. Quarterly and/or periodic travel within footprint for customer meetings.

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience in sales
• Minimum 8 years track record of success selling to large business with technical solutions
• 5+ years’ experience in systems selling, consultative sales techniques, and account planning including account profiling, account positioning strategy, customer needs analysis, sales opportunity development, service improvement planning, and long range account management strategies.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated success in telecommunications and internet sales to end-user customers, including strategic and large business customers and government accounts using relationship management and system sales concepts
• Professional business acumen in funnel management and forecasting in a CRM environment
• Product knowledge of both switched and dedicated services, as well as associated end-user and carrier applications
• Experience with Salesforce or CRM preferred
• Operational understanding of telecommunications ordering, provisioning, and billing processes
• Working knowledge of general marketing principles and tools, as well as reviewing complex legal documents such as master service agreements, service level agreements, and non-disclosure agreements
• Strong interpersonal skills, detail-oriented, and highly organized with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously

Skills

• Ability to sell to C level executives within an organization
• Consultative selling techniques
• Customer needs analysis
• Service improvement planning
• Long range account management strategies
• Complex telecommunications solutions including fiber, wireless, IP networking, VoIP, unified communications, security, and cloud services
• Proposal and contract management
• RFP/RFI process
• Negotiation
• Contract review
• Market intelligence gathering
• Collaboration with internal stakeholders
• Customer experience initiatives
• Revenue target achievement

Benefits

We're Proud To Offer a Comprehensive Benefits Package Including:

• 401k retirement plan, with employer match
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and STD insurance
• Paid Time Off/Vacation: Starting at 80 hours per year, and increases based on tenure with the organization
• Floating Holiday: 40 hours per year
• Paid Holidays: 7 days per year
• Paid Sick Leave
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Employee discount program

Pay

Base Salary: The base salary range in New York for this position is $115,000, plus opportunities for bonus, benefits, and commission, if applicable. The base pay range represents the low and high end of the hiring range for this job. Actual pay will vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to relevant skills, experience, and capabilities.

Schedule

Quarterly and/or periodic travel within footprint for customer meetings.