Global Head of Sales, Economist Intelligence Unit

Since 1843, The Economist Group has championed independence, excellence and openness, helping people understand and tackle the critical challenges shaping the world. Today, we are building on that legacy as a global media and information-services company powered by digital innovation, analytical rigour and evidence-based insight. Across our three businesses - The Economist, Economist Enterprise and Economist Education - we deliver trusted analysis and insights to individuals and organisations in more than 170 countries.

As the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, EIU delivers data, analysis and foresight that help organisations understand global developments and what they mean for strategy, investment and risk. Governments, multinational organisations and financial institutions rely on EIU to navigate political and economic uncertainty, assess exposure and make better-informed decisions.

We are looking for an ambitious and highly commercial Head of Sales to lead and accelerate growth for EIU. This is a senior sales leadership role for someone with a strong track record in B2B SaaS, data, business intelligence or information services, who understands how to sell complex, subscription-based products to enterprise customers. Reporting into the CRO, you will be responsible for driving new business, expansion and retention, while building a high-performing, disciplined and customer-focused sales organisation.

The successful candidate will combine strategic thinking with hands-on commercial leadership. You will be comfortable operating in complex enterprise sales environments, engaging senior decision-makers and translating sophisticated data and intelligence products into clear business outcomes for clients. You will also play an important role in shaping our go-to-market approach, bringing customer and market insight back into the organisation to influence product, marketing and commercial strategy.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and execute a clear sales strategy to deliver ambitious revenue growth across new business, expansion and renewals.
• Identify priority markets, customer segments and enterprise accounts with the greatest potential for growth.
• Build and execute go-to-market strategies for EIU’s subscription, data and intelligence products.
• Work closely with Product and Marketing to strengthen positioning, packaging and routes to market.
• Use customer, competitor and market insight to identify new commercial opportunities and inform product strategy.
• Develop strategies to increase customer lifetime value, retention and penetration within key accounts.

Revenue delivery

• Own delivery against revenue targets across new business, upsell, cross-sell and retention.
• Build and maintain a high-quality enterprise pipeline with strong forecasting accuracy and visibility.
• Establish rigorous qualification and deal-management disciplines to improve conversion and sales velocity.
• Lead commercial negotiations with C-suite executives, procurement teams and other senior stakeholders.
• Champion consultative, outcome-based selling, ensuring the team clearly connects EIU’s products and intelligence to the business decisions our clients need to make.

Sales leadership

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing sales organisation, including directly managing and developing sales managers and senior sales leaders.
• Provide effective second-line leadership, coaching managers to become stronger people leaders, raise the performance of their teams and consistently deliver against commercial objectives.
• Set clear expectations and accountability across the sales leadership team around pipeline creation, conversion, forecasting, sales productivity and revenue performance.
• Attract, retain and develop exceptional commercial talent, with a strong focus on leadership development and succession planning.
• Create a high-trust, high-performance culture, empowering sales managers to lead effectively while maintaining clear and ambitious performance standards.

Sales operations and performance

• Embed best-practice sales processes and strong CRM discipline.
• Use data and leading performance indicators to understand pipeline health, conversion, deal velocity and sales productivity.
• Establish consistent forecasting, pipeline reviews and account-planning processes.
• Use commercial analytics to identify opportunities to improve sales effectiveness and allocate resources towards the highest-value opportunities.

Cross-functional leadership

• Partner closely with Product and Marketing leadership to deliver a joined up customer experience.
• Bring the voice of the customer into product and go-to-market planning.
• Collaborate across The Economist Group to identify opportunities to deepen strategic client relationships.

To succeed in the role

• Significant senior sales leadership experience within B2B SaaS, data, business intelligence, research, information services or another subscription-based technology business.
• A strong track record of delivering sustained revenue growth across enterprise new business and existing accounts.
• Experience selling data-driven, analytics, intelligence, API-enabled or workflow-based products.
• Deep understanding of recurring-revenue and subscription sales models, including acquisition, expansion, renewals and retention.
• Proven experience building, leading and developing sizeable high-performing enterprise sales teams.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise sales methodologies and consultative, outcome-based selling.
• Experience building predictable pipelines and improving forecasting, conversion and sales productivity.
• Strong commercial judgement with experience of pricing, negotiation and complex enterprise contracts.
• A highly data-driven approach to sales management, with the ability to identify and act on leading indicators of commercial performance.

Skills, capabilities and mindset

• A commercially ambitious and energetic sales leader who is motivated by growth.
• Strong understanding of how enterprise customers buy SaaS, data and intelligence products.
• Executive presence and the ability to build credibility with senior decision-makers.
• Analytical and data-led, with strong commercial judgement.
• An excellent coach who enjoys developing managers and individuals and raising the performance of teams.
• Comfortable operating in an intellectually rigorous, complex and fast-changing environment.
• Collaborative and able to influence effectively across a matrixed global organisation.
• Resilient, pragmatic and comfortable leading through change.

Working arrangements

This role will be based in our London office, with a minimum of three days per week in the office, alongside time spent meeting clients.

What we offer

• A highly competitive pension or 401(k) plan.
• Private health insurance.
• 24/7 access to counselling and wellbeing resources through our Employee Assistance Program.
• Our Work From Anywhere program, which allows you to work from any location where you have the legal right to do so for up to 25 days per year.
• Generous annual and parental leave.
• Dedicated days off for volunteering and even for moving home.
• Free access to all The Economist content, including an online subscription, our range of apps, podcasts and more.