Client Development Director

Job Description:

Rakuten International oversees 7 businesses with over 4,000 employees globally. The brand is recognized for its leadership and innovation in e-commerce, digital content, advertising, entertainment and communications, bringing the joy of discovery and access to more than 1 billion members across the world. Our teams deliver on the company's mission to delight merchants and customers through innovation, optimism, and teamwork.

Rakuten Advertising provides advertising technology and consumer insights to the world's leading brands and retailers. Working with agencies and brands around the world, Rakuten Advertising unites technology, client strategy and consumer insights to deliver advertising experiences that drive increased brand awareness and marketing performance. With access to Rakuten's diverse media properties and audiences, combined with an award-winning performance network and proprietary consumer research, Rakuten Advertising creates the right conditions to reach new customers and sustain long-lasting loyalty

Job Summary:

This role is tailored for an accomplished Client Development Director with a robust background in both finance and travel sales (a background in retail sales an added plus). You will be instrumental in driving revenue growth, fostering strategic client relationships, and leveraging your deep industry expertise to achieve ambitious business objectives. You will be responsible for leading and closing enterprise level affiliate deals mainly focused on the Finance and Travel verticals with large brands and agencies. You will be accountable for an annual revenue target, on- time pipeline reporting and achievement of strategic objectives as defined by the VP, Commercial, ANZ.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy and planning

• Targeted Prospecting: Work in close collaboration with the Business Development Representative (BDR) organisation to develop sophisticated prospecting strategies. Utilise a multi-faceted approach encompassing phone, email, and LinkedIn to identify and engage key stakeholders within financial institutions, fintech companies, airlines, hotel groups, online travel agencies, and other relevant travel entities
• Strategic Performance & Growth: Demonstrate a proven track record in developing and executing successful sales strategies. Exhibit expertise in analysing performance metrics, consistently achieving ambitious targets for revenue growth, and expanding market share.
• Proactive Client Engagement: Deliver proactive and compelling proposals to new-to-channel clients entering the affiliate space within finance and travel.
• Industry-Specific Marketing Collaboration: Collaborate closely with the Marketing organisation to plan and execute targeted events and campaigns. Ensure a strong brand presence at industry-specific conferences, trade shows, and digital forums relevant to finance and travel, driving brand awareness and fostering deep client engagement within these critical sectors.

• Strategic Relationship Building: Cultivate and nurture meaningful, long-term relationships with prospective and current clients across the finance and travel sectors. This includes engaging with key decision-makers such as CMOs, Head of Digital, Head of Partnerships, and other senior executives within banks, investment firms, insurance companies, airlines, hotel chains, online travel agencies, and related industry players.
• Needs-Based Solutioning: Develop a deep understanding of each client's unique business needs, financial goals, and travel-specific challenges. Leverage this insight to craft bespoke proposals that clearly articulate how our solutions align with their strategic objectives, drive ROI, and address their specific market dynamics.
• Responsive Lead Management: Ensure prompt and efficient responses to all incoming leads, prioritising those from high-potential finance and travel entities. Implement a rapid qualification process to identify viable opportunities and initiate engagement swiftly.
• CRM Excellence & Pipeline Transparency: Log all client activity and conduct comprehensive reports within Salesforce. This ensures complete transparency of client communication, accurate forecasting of opportunity progression, and provides actionable data to optimise sales strategies within the finance and travel verticals.

• Target-Driven Revenue Generation: Directly responsible for the achievement of quarterly and annual sales targets specifically within the finance and travel verticals. This includes driving significant revenue growth from both new client acquisition and the expansion of existing accounts in these key sectors.
• Strategic Financial Contribution: Possess a comprehensive understanding of how your individual sales targets, directly contribute to and impact the collective annual revenue goals and overall financial health of the organisation.

• Sales Process Optimisation for Finance & Travel: Proactively support Management in identifying and analysing bottlenecks within the sales process, particularly those unique to navigating the complex sales cycles and regulatory environments of the finance and travel industries. This includes pinpointing areas where deals might stall due to specific compliance requirements, extended stakeholder approvals, or intricate integration needs common in these sectors.
• Process Improvement for Sector Growth: Collaborate with Management to develop and implement process improvements that streamline sales operations, enhance efficiency, and accelerate deal closures. This could involve optimising proposal generation for financial products, refining onboarding procedures for travel partners, or improving CRM utilisation to better track sector-specific client journeys.

• Extensive Digital Advertising & Affiliate Platform Experience (7+ years): Possess over 7 years of successful, hands-on experience in digital advertising, with a deep specialisation in affiliate platforms. This experience should span both media agency and advertiser-side roles, providing a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem. Crucially, this experience must include a proven track record of applying digital advertising and affiliate strategies specifically within the finance and travel verticals.
• Industry Value Chain Knowledge: Demonstrate an understanding of the digital advertising industry value chain, with particular emphasis on various affiliate models (e.g., CPA, CPL, CPS). This includes an intricate knowledge of how these models are uniquely applied, optimised, and regulated within the financial services sector (e.g., credit cards, loans, insurance, investments) and the travel industry (e.g., flight bookings, hotel reservations, package holidays, car rentals).
• Salesforce Mastery for Complex Sales Cycles: Exhibit proven, advanced knowledge of Salesforce, leveraging its full capabilities to manage complex sales pipelines characteristic of finance and travel deals. This includes tracking intricate sales activities, forecasting revenue with precision, and generating insightful reports on performance metrics tailored to the nuances of these sectors.
• Senior Stakeholder Engagement & Software Solution Sales: Possess extensive and proven experience in successfully selling sophisticated software solutions to senior stakeholders across both the finance and travel landscapes. This includes engaging with C-suite executives, heads of digital, marketing directors, and product leads within banks, fintech companies, airlines, hotel groups, and large OTAs, effectively articulating value propositions that address their specific business challenges and opportunities.
• Exceptional Negotiation, Sales, and Presentation Skills: Command outstanding negotiation, sales, and presentation skills, honed through direct experience in closing significant deals within the finance and travel sectors. This includes the ability to present compelling business cases that highlight ROI, compliance benefits, and competitive advantages, tailored to the financial and operational priorities of these discerning clients.

• Agility in Dynamic Markets: Thrive in the fast-moving and often complex environments of the finance and travel industries, demonstrating an exceptional ability to quickly achieve clarity amidst ambiguity and devise effective solutions to challenges.
• Strategic Deal Leadership: Exhibit a highly organised and proactive approach to leading and closing sales deals, particularly those involving intricate stakeholder landscapes and extended sales cycles common in finance and travel.
• Trusted Industry Advisor: Maintain a commitment to staying informed about the latest trends, innovations, and regulatory shifts in affiliate marketing, the broader travel industry (including airlines, hospitality, and OTAs), and the financial services sector (including banking, fintech, and insurance).

• Exceptional Communication for Complex Sectors: Demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills, capable of articulating complex value propositions and technical details to diverse audiences within the finance and travel industries. This includes effectively communicating with C-suite executives at financial institutions, legal and compliance teams, marketing departments of major airlines, and product managers at online travel agencies.

• Quantifiable Success in Specialised Markets: Possess a demonstrable and consistent track record of setting, meeting, and exceeding sales goals specifically within the finance and travel sectors. Provide concrete examples of how you have driven significant revenue growth, expanded market share, and achieved key performance indicators (KPIs) in these highly competitive and regulated industries.
• Winning Mentality in High-Stakes Environments: Exhibit a strong winning mentality, consistently demonstrating the drive and resilience required to succeed in high-stakes, fast-paced environments.

• Collaborative Integration for Sector Success: Confidently able to integrate seamlessly with both the immediate sales team and the wider business, fostering a collaborative environment that leverages collective expertise to penetrate and expand within the finance and travel sectors. This includes proactively sharing market insights, best practices, and client feedback specific to these industries with product development, marketing, legal, and other relevant departments to ensure a unified and effective approach to securing and serving financial and travel clients.