Sales Manager
Overview of the role
Phoenix enables digital transformation in the workplace, empowering UK organisations to innovate and transform with cloud and hybrid infrastructures, data, AI, security, and collaboration tools.
We are now very excited to grow our Education team further by hiring a new Sales Manager to lead our Strategic Accounts segment. This senior leadership role focuses on performance, governance, and strengthening relationships with key FE, HE, and Research customers. You will shape how we engage major institutions and influence performance at scale.
What will you be doing?
- Lead the Strategic Accounts function across the FE, HE, and Research sectors, setting the strategic direction, driving high‑quality execution, and ensuring strong commercial outcomes.
- Act as the senior point of escalation for complex customer, commercial, or operational challenges, ensuring issues are resolved swiftly and effectively.
- Maintain strong governance across forecasting, pipeline management, and commercial practices, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with business standards.
- Lead, develop, and coach the Strategic Accounts team, setting clear expectations, driving performance, and supporting leadership capability and talent development.
- Build and manage senior‑level relationships with key vendors and partners, leading joint business planning and ensuring strategic alignment.
- Oversee vendor pipeline performance, profitability, and forecast accuracy, ensuring growth opportunities are maximised and risks are identified early.
- Optimise the organisation’s participation in FE/HE/Research procurement frameworks, ensuring compliance, effective utilisation, and strong commercial performance.
- Contribute to major tender submissions and research‑driven procurement activity, helping shape compelling, compliant, and competitive responses.
- Provide data‑driven insights and reporting on pipeline health, margin, profitability, and commercial risk, ensuring alignment with Education Sales leadership.
- Identify emerging risks, operational issues, or performance gaps, and recommend actions to drive continuous improvement and stronger commercial outcomes.
What does success look like?
- Achieving revenue & GM targets across Strategic Accounts.
- Strong governance and forecasting discipline.
- Deep, high-impact vendor partnerships.
- Development of future leaders.
- Contribution to framework wins and major bids.
Why you should apply?
At Phoenix, our philosophy is simple – we aim to be the UK’s leading IT solution and managed service provider and that means we recognise that it’s our people who are the heart of everything we do.
We do this by providing the encouragement, support and skill development that you need to be the very best you can be at work. We are proud of our culture, so much so that we have developed our Culture Blueprint which you can read here.
What are we looking for?
The right person for this role will already have proven experience in a similar position in another IT channel partner organisation.
Key Skills & Experience:
- Extensive experience in IT sales within the FE, HE, Research, or wider public‑sector markets, with a strong track record of managing complex, enterprise‑level accounts.
- Demonstrated commercial acumen, with the ability to make sound judgements, manage risk, and drive profitable outcomes.
- Credibility and confidence when engaging with senior stakeholders (internally and externally) with the ability to influence, challenge constructively, and build trust.
- Experience working with managed services and recurring‑revenue models, with an understanding of how to position long‑term value propositions.
- Previous experience leading or developing people, with the ability to coach, support, and elevate team capability.
- Strong understanding of public‑sector procurement processes and frameworks, ideally across FE/HE/Research environments.
- Ability to navigate and coordinate multi‑vendor environments, building relationships and driving alignment across partners.
- Strategic and commercially minded, with the ability to connect long‑term vision to practical, day‑to‑day delivery requirements.
- Comfortable operating at senior level, making informed decisions and managing complexity in a calm, low‑ego, and collaborative manner.
- Able to balance strategic leadership with hands‑on involvement, ensuring high‑quality execution while maintaining a broad strategic perspective.
Practical stuff
Where is the role based?
Primary location is our HQ in Pocklington (YO42) with a number of hybrid/flexible/remote working options available
How many interviews?
Following a screen with the Recruitment Team you can expect a two-stage interview process, one online and one in-person.
*Important* BPSS Check
As part of our recruitment process due to the nature of the work we do, all employees are required to undertake a Baseline Personal Security Standard (BPSS) check. While some employees require further security clearance, the BPSS check is a must-have requirement and all offers of employment are conditional pending the passing of this check.
Have you made it this far?
If you’re still reading, we think there’s a strong chance you might be our kind of person.
Here’s the thing, though — research suggests that 60% of women and underrepresented people might have already talked themselves out of applying. Even if you don’t check every box above, we want to encourage you to introduce yourself.
We believe a diversity of perspectives and experiences makes a team stronger — and the stronger our team, the more successful we will be.