Strategic Sales Lead - CS

WHO WE ARE

Certinia delivers a Services-as-a-Business platform that powers and connects all aspects of services operations, from services estimation and delivery to customer success management and financial planning and accounting. The company’s Professional Services Automation (PSA), Customer Success (CS), and Financial Management (FM) solutions, delivered on Salesforce’s leading cloud platform, provide the ability to run a connected services business, deliver with intelligence, and achieve business agility. Headquartered in Austin, Texas with presence around the world, Certinia is backed by Haveli Investments, TA Associates, General Atlantic and Salesforce Ventures.

THE ROLE

As a CS Cloud Strategic Sales Lead (SSL), you are the specialized engine driving the growth of our CS Cloud platform within the software vertical. You act as a high-level strategist and "hunter" who partners with Generalist Account Executives (AEs) to identify, qualify, and architect complex deals. You are responsible for the "Why Buy Now" story, building the business justification and technical use cases that move a prospect from interest to investment.

WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS ROLE

• Targeted Prospecting & Strategy: Partner with AEs and BDRs to identify high-propensity accounts within assigned territories. Lead the "Pod" in developing bespoke outreach strategies based on industry-specific pain points.
• Use Case Architecture: Lead the discovery process to uncover deep business challenges. You will build the "Future State" vision for prospects, mapping CS Cloud capabilities to their specific organizational goals.
• Sales Cycle Leadership: Act as First Chair during the prospecting, discovery, and qualification phases. Transition to Second Chair during the commercial negotiation phase, ensuring the value proposition remains the focal point until the deal closes.
• Industry and Solution Feedback Loop: Conduct routine sessions with our Industry Solution Specialist to provide "boots on the ground" feedback on market sentiment, competitor tactics, and product gaps.
• Enablement Partnership: Collaborate with the PMM and Enablement teams to vet and refine sales plays, ensuring that the content being used by BDRs is sharp, accurate, and effective.
• Evidence Building: Surface key wins and "hero stories" to the Customer Advocacy and Value Engineering teams to support the creation of high-impact testimonials and ROI calculators.

Key Partnerships & Workflows

• With the AE: You are their specialist partner. You hunt the lead and build the case; they manage the broader relationship and close the contract.
• With Steve Frost (ISS): You leverage his industry thought leadership to crack complex deals and provide him with the raw data to fuel new use-case development.
• With Jessica Quazza (PMM): You provide the "field reality" that informs her messaging frameworks and content creation.

WHAT YOU NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE

• Experience: 5+ years in Enterprise SaaS Sales or Specialized Overlay roles, preferably within the Customer Success or CRM space.
• Subject Matter Expertise: Deep understanding of the Software/SaaS vertical (Churn metrics, NRR, Gross Retention, and Customer Lifecycle management).
• Strategic Mindset: Ability to move beyond "feature/function" selling to "outcome-based" selling.
• Collaborative DNA: Proven track record of working in a matrixed environment where success depends on partnering with AEs, BDRs, and Product Marketing.
• Communication: Exceptional ability to lead discovery calls and present complex business justifications to C‑Suite stakeholders (VP of CS, CCO, CFO).