Strategic Account Manager Jobs in Chicago, IL

About Sedex

Sedex is a trusted partner for over 100,000 businesses worldwide, helping them create socially and environmentally sustainable supply chains. Through our platform's powerful data insights and expert guidance, we simplify the management, assessment, and reporting of sustainability performance.

Our Vision is to be a leader in making global supply chains more socially and environmentally sustainable. Our Mission is To provide data-driven insights, accessible tools, and exceptional services that support businesses in improving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and outcomes.

The role

We are seeking a Strategic Account Manager - Team Lead in North America. The role mission is to lead, motivate and drive the performance and workflow of a regional Account Management team (team of 4), evolving sales processes that support supplier membership growth, additional revenue, retention and customer satisfaction.

In parallel, you will own and grow a portfolio of around 15 strategic, high-profile customer accounts — building long-term relationships that embed Sedex as a critical business partner and drive shared value and profitability over the long term. You will ensure that a consistently high standard of customer service and technical support is delivered across the team's full portfolio, for customers and all other stakeholders.

We are looking for candidates with exposure to the ESG and sustainability landscape, along with a genuine passion for this space. As a trusted advisor to your customers, you will help them navigate sustainability challenges and best practices, making a strong interest in ESG and responsible business essential for success in this role.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership

• Build and evolve a skilled, qualified Account Management team (1 Strategic Account Manager, 2 Account Managers, 1 Account Executive) aligned to current and future business goals.

• Manage, motivate and support the team in delivery of their roles and core outputs; provide sales coaching to optimise performance.

• Set team sales targets, quotas and approach, using data to accurately track and forecast against budget.

• Implement and deliver KPIs across the team, continuously reviewing ROI across workstreams.

• Review and enhance the Account Management strategy for the team's portfolio, ensuring a structured approach to customer needs and value creation.

• Develop sales enablement documentation to support negotiations, and design campaigns that generate supplier growth or additional revenue.

• Support the Global Head of Account Management with regular leadership reporting.

• Act as the escalation point for the team, driving timely resolution and root-cause analysis.

Strategic Account Management — own portfolio (c.15 accounts)

• Define and develop the retention and growth strategy for own strategic account portfolio.

• Produce and embed an Account Management Plan for each account, setting out defined goals and measures of success.

• Develop a pipeline to manage and measure business growth, retention forecasting and accounts at risk.

• Set and manage customer expectations and SLAs, ensuring key internal stakeholders are engaged and supportive.

• Explore and expand relationships across own accounts beyond the operational team, engaging senior/executive stakeholders.

• Proactively identify up-sell opportunities and deliver against personal revenue KPIs.

• Own renewals and contract negotiations for own accounts, in line with internal governance and process.

• Promote and embed new tools and services across own accounts.

Shared Responsibilities

• Own and resolve customer complaints (team and own portfolio) in a timely manner, balancing Sedex and customer needs.

• Sign off service agreement documents at point of sale across the combined portfolio.

• Collaborate with internal business and product teams, sharing customer insight, behaviours and challenges to shape sustainable solutions.

• Act as a key stakeholder across the global business for the combined portfolio, sharing insights, successes and opportunities.

• Seek opportunities to improve processes that positively impact the customer journey and team efficiency.

• Be present in the regional office for internal and external stakeholders; travel to customers as required.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• 5+ years' experience in an account management or sales role, including experience managing or coaching a team.

• Multi-region or international portfolio experience — comfortable working across time zones and adapting engagement approaches for different markets.

• Supply chain, procurement or sustainability sector experience.

• Excellent leadership qualities, with a proven ability to coach, drive sales strategy and develop a team of high-performing Account Managers to meet and exceed KPIs.

• Results-driven and target-focused, with demonstrable experience of growing accounts and managing a full sales cycle, ideally overachieving targets.

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, ambiguous, ever-changing environment; organises and prioritises independently.

• Experience managing executive relationships with enterprise and strategic accounts, building rapport and confirming Sedex as a critical partner.

• Strong data analysis skills, extracting useful insight from raw data to inform strategy, track KPIs and drive ROI.

• Innovative and creative in finding solutions that exceed customer expectations; agile in a changing environment.

• Practical experience of analysing and improving processes involving both internal and external parties.

• Strong listening skills and ability to communicate effectively, adapting style to all levels of subject understanding.

• Excellent information-gathering, verbal and written presentation skills, with meticulous attention to detail.

• Knowledge of Salesforce and Microsoft Office; ideally Gainsight and/or ThoughtSpot.

Our culture

At Sedex, our approach to business and culture is firmly rooted in our core values, which guide everything we do:

• Respect Each Other: We believe that a foundation of mutual respect is essential to creating a positive and inclusive environment.
• Customer-Driven: We are passionate about delivering exceptional value to our customers. By listening to their needs, understanding their challenges, and continuously adapting our solutions, we aim to empower them to achieve their sustainability goals and drive positive change in their supply chains.
• Thinking Creatively: Innovation is at the heart of our work. We encourage creative problem-solving and embrace new ideas that challenge the status quo. This mindset allows us to continuously improve our products and services, offering fresh and effective solutions to complex sustainability and ethical sourcing issues.
• Take Ownership: We empower our team members to take responsibility for their actions and outcomes. Every person at Sedex is encouraged to own their work, make decisions with confidence, and contribute proactively to the success of the team and the business.
• Deliver Results: We are results-oriented and committed to delivering tangible, impactful outcomes for our customers, our business, and society at large.

Privacy Policy

Sedex is committed to protecting the privacy of its website users and members. Sedex uses any personal information you submit to us in accordance with this policy. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires us to ensure that any personal information you provide us is processed fairly and lawfully. Sedex is the data controller in relation to any personal information you submit. Click here to view our privacy policy