Associate Director Sales

About the Opportunity

**Job Type**: Permanent

Application Deadline: 16 October 2024

Title Associate Director Sales

Department Sales Team - Adviser Distribution

Location Kronberg

Reports To Head of Adviser Distribution

Level Associate Director

We’re proud to have been helping our clients build better financial futures for over 50 years. How have we achieved this? By working together - and supporting each other - all over the world. So, join the Adviser Distribution sales team of our German platform business (FIL Fondsbank GmbH/FFB) and feel like you’re part of something bigger.

About your team:
Making advisers’ lives easier and their firms more efficient - while providing a great end-investor experience for their clients - is at the heart of what we stand for. We believe in building strong, enduring partnerships with adviser firms, collaborating closely with them to ensure our platform remains in-tune with their requirements. Our goal is to help firms build strong, profitable and sustainable businesses and to support them through any challenges that may arise.

About your role:
Customer expectations are ever growing in demands and the sales department is a key player in providing first line customer care. The vision of the department is to deliver a seamless, joined up experience to our customer and advisers when they want it, however they want it. Our role is to provide our clients and advisers with help, expertise and guidance on a range queries using the interactions to build strong relationships to develop trust in our business. We provide an important role in growing and evolving the business through active promotion of our products and services within these interactions and being the voice of our clients and distribution partners in the bank. The way we operate is also key to creating a high level of engagement and job satisfaction from our employees helping to retain great talent within the organisation.

Your key responsibilities will be:

- Grow business relationships with key distribution partners and intermediary clients in the German financial sector, in line with FFB’s strategy and risk appetite.
- Directly engage with a dedicated book of our most important distribution partners all over Germany, at senior management levels, to understand their business and strategy, and keep them informed about FFB’s proposition and service offering and its evolution. This entails working collaboratively to maximise business growth with and support them and their advisers and identify opportunities to develop and/or adjust their business strategy based on services provided by FFB. Regular interactions, including in-person meetings, and attendance at relevant events and fairs, are a key part of the role.
- Prospect for new B2B opportunities within the financial sector, including developing, owning and managing a pipeline of leads, identify and systematically target new client segments and work with colleagues in the bank as appropriate to convert these opportunities into new clients.
- Enhance profitability of collaboration with key distribution partners by enhancing vertical integration, developing their offering to the linked IFAs and co-creation of new products.
- Play a significant role in the strategic development of FFB by conducting strategic client relationship reviews and working closely with proposition, fund partner, key account and marketing teams to shape the bank’s sales strategy, market presence and offering.

About you:

- You are a senior sales professional, with a track record in growing new and developing existing business relationships, ideally in the intermediated platform market and/or in the context of investment funds/securities services in Germany with a deep understanding of the German IFA market and its dynamics.
- You demonstrate a deep understanding of the Adviser market and its dynamics and are experienced in dealing with Advisers.
- You have several years experience in sales and/or relationship management (preferably in the context of investment funds / securities services)
- You are excellent at presenting, with experience of preparing your own messages and delivering them impactfully, regardless of audience size or communication medium.
- You are a self-starter, motivated by finding solutions for clients that is used to developing and executing on your own business plans, including gaining access to decision-makers, and developing the requisite technical and product knowledge to be able to sell FFB based on consistently creating a positive impact on clients.
- You have excellent influencing and negotiating skills, including the ability to overcome objections, as well as experience of contracting.
- You have preferably, an undergraduate degree or equivalent with relevant professional qualifications
- You have the skills to interpret data and distil complex information, enabling a targeted and efficient approach to sales and relationship building.
- You are f