Global Sales Director (GSD)

The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to advancing and diffusing the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals and scientific meetings, as well as its education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.

Position Summary:

The newly created role of the Global Sales Director (GSD) is to provide primary strategic and operational leadership of the APS Publications Sales team and to develop and execute strategy and structure to grow revenue, expand APS products and services and customer base, maximize customer satisfaction, and continuously improve sales operations.

The Global Sales Director reports to the Chief Publications Officer and is a member of the Publications leadership team and the APS Core Management Team. The GSD is responsible for driving effective and efficient business practices through successful collaboration with APS colleagues across marketing, finance, operations, technology, communications, human resources, and other departments – as well as external third-party agents and service vendors.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and develop the Publications Sales team by defining and executing an effective structure, including recruiting, retaining, motivating, training, and coaching members of the sales team as well as external partners
• Develop and deliver effective commercial strategies to achieve business goals around growth of sales and licensing; expansion of products, services, and customer base and maximizing customer satisfaction
• Oversee global sales and renewals to institutions (academic, government, and corporate), consortia, funders, and other types of customers
• Negotiate consortia, open access (e.g., transformative, Read & Publish, Publish & Read), and other types of complex agreements
• Set annual pricing of institutional subscriptions and related products
• Ensure business models and pricing across all products and services offered support both sustainable customer value and revenue growth
• Ensure sales teams are fully aware of all product options, value propositions, governance policies, and sales processes and that team members are effective in communicating these to customers and other stakeholders
• Contribute commercial expertise and perspective toward the effective development of strategies and products across other functions, including those pertaining to growing open access, support for open science, compliance with customer requirements, broadening of our publishing footprint, improving data analytics functions, etc.
• Oversee management of relationships with third-party sales agents acting on behalf of APS
• Oversee management of relationships with subscription agents and monitor their viability and financial health
• Track and report on the progress and impact of sales teams, globally and regionally, in driving value for and revenue from customers and providing support, best practices, and actionable data for business development activities in each region
• Design and implement a competitive and motivating compensation and bonus scheme for staff and third-party sales agents
• Drive the continuous improvement of sales operations, including Salesforce, other systems and tools, and related policies, processes, data, and infrastructure
• Ensure excellent customer service for institutions and other customers
• Manage and develop annual budgets for revenues and costs, ensure effective and robust sales and revenue reporting, conduct periodic forecasts, and provide regular updates to colleagues in Publications and the APS Senior Leadership Team
• Collaborate effectively with Marketing and Communications colleagues to develop campaigns that support sales and renewals, and develop channels such as Library Advisory Boards to regularly gather customer feedback and raise the visibility of APS Publications in the market

Qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelors or graduate degree
• Directly applicable experience may be accepted in lieu of a degree

Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience leading and managing institutional sales of scholarly publications (previous work experience of less than 10 years may be accepted where candidate’s body of experience is strong in certain key areas)
• Demonstrable track record of innovation in collaboration with institutions, consortia, funders, and other stakeholders in the US and Europe
• Significant commercial experience within STM publishing, with strong knowledge and in-depth understanding of the global research landscape and academic library markets and licensing, business models, revenue management, and sales operations
• Extensive knowledge of the academic publishing landscape, including trends in open access and open science as well as other forces shaping the industry
• Deep appreciation for high-quality, society-owned journals and their value to the scholarly record and scientific enterprise
• Cultural and market awareness, to effectively support global institutional customers
• Ability to define strategic opportunities and successfully articulate and execute plans to address them
• Ability to quickly build strong relationships with internal and external colleagues and stakeholders
• Strong team building and performance management skills
• Proficiency with CRM systems (Salesforce experience preferred) and other relevant business systems, data, and tools
• Proven commercial leadership and people skills
• Self-motivated, with a strong drive for results
• Customer focus
• Product and business development experience
• Ability to make timely, quality decisions
• Demonstrated skills in relationship-building and negotiations
• Business-travel savvy and freedom to travel as needed
• Ability to work well independently, as well as collaboratively with interdepartmental teams and external colleagues
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently from a remote location or while traveling
• Strong written and oral communication skills and ability to utilize digital technology to collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders

Travel and Preferred Location:

The Global Sales Director role is remote-first – working primarily from home and other locations, rather than from a specific APS office. Primary residence/location within the United States is preferred.

Substantial travel is required to visit client sites, attend library and publishing events, visit the APS offices located in Long Island, NY, and the Washington DC metro area, and attend other periodic meetings, training, and strategy sessions at other locations.

The American Physical Society is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of American Physical Society not to discriminate or allow the harassment of employees or applicants on the basis of race, religious creed, immigration status, alienage or citizenship, religion, color, ethnicity, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, protected veteran status, protected military status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, predisposing genetic characteristics, ancestry, domestic violence victim status or any other characteristic protected by law with regard to any employment practices, including recruitment, advertising, job application procedures, hiring, upgrading, training, promotion, transfer, compensation, job assignments, benefits and/or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, provided the individual is qualified, with or without reasonable accommodations, to perform the essential functions of the job. This policy applies to all jobs at APS. The American Physical Society is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request a reasonable accommodation, please contact APS Human Resources at hr@aps.org.

The “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal'' poster, prepared by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), provides an overview of several laws that protect you from discrimination on the job, and several rights are afforded to you by these laws. The “Pay Transparency Non Discrimination Provision,” prepared by the U.S. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), provides an overview of several protections implemented to protect individuals working under federal contracts from discrimination when inquiring about or discussing compensation; these protections apply to all employees and applicants.

The APS has a "remote first" concept that promotes equal treatment and equal access, independent of physical work location, with a majority of staff working primarily from remote work locations. We welcome you to apply today!