Direct Sales, Senior Specialist

The Workplace Sales Professional is responsible for generating new business and expanding Vanguard’s presence across the workplace retirement market. This individual serves as a senior representative of the organization, building trusted relationships with plan sponsors, consultants, advisors, and other influential stakeholders while positioning Vanguard’s capabilities against clients’ most important retirement-plan needs.

The role requires a combination of strategic relationship management, retirement industry expertise, executive presence, and demonstrated sales effectiveness. The successful candidate will understand the institutional buying process, navigate complex stakeholder environments, identify and develop opportunities, and bring the full breadth of Vanguard’s capabilities to market.

What You'll Do

Drive new business and revenue growth

• Develop and execute sales strategies designed to generate new workplace retirement opportunities and advance Vanguard’s strategic growth priorities.
• Build and manage a high-quality pipeline, progressing opportunities from initial identification and discovery through RFP, finalist presentations, negotiations, and implementation.
• Identify client needs and translate them into compelling solutions that differentiate Vanguard in a competitive retirement marketplace.
• Maintain disciplined sales management practices, including pipeline development, opportunity prioritization, forecasting, and follow-through.

Build strategic relationships

• Establish and deepen relationships with senior decision-makers at plan sponsors and other organizations influencing retirement-plan selection.
• Build productive partnerships with retirement consultants, advisors, and other intermediaries who influence institutional opportunities.
• Develop a sophisticated understanding of each relationship, including organizational priorities, decision-making dynamics, business needs, and opportunities for partnership.
• Represent Vanguard credibly with C-suite executives, retirement committees, consultants, procurement teams, and other key stakeholders.

Lead consultative sales engagements

• Diagnose complex client needs and connect those needs to relevant retirement solutions and capabilities.
• Lead discovery conversations, presentations, finalist meetings, and other critical stages of the institutional sales process.
• Develop clear, differentiated value propositions tailored to individual prospects and opportunities.
• Effectively communicate Vanguard’s capabilities, investment philosophy, client value, and approach to workplace retirement.

Navigate the retirement ecosystem

• Maintain deep knowledge of the defined contribution and broader workplace retirement marketplace, including industry trends, competitive dynamics, plan sponsor priorities, participant needs, regulatory developments, investment solutions, and recordkeeping.
• Understand the role consultants and advisors play in influencing plan sponsors and institutional buying decisions.
• Bring market intelligence back into the organization to help inform product, service, distribution, and client strategies.
• Recognize emerging marketplace opportunities and translate them into actionable sales strategies.

Mobilize the organization

• Collaborate across Workplace Solutions, investments, product, client service, marketing, legal, operations, and other internal partners to develop and deliver compelling client solutions.
• Serve as the quarterback for complex opportunities, establishing clear roles and aligning internal partners around the strategy for winning.
• Bring appropriate subject-matter experts into client and consultant engagements while maintaining ownership of the overall relationship and sales strategy.
• Provide market and client insights that strengthen Vanguard’s commercial strategy and competitive positioning.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role is demonstrated through:

• Consistent development and conversion of a strong new-business pipeline.
• Growth of meaningful relationships with senior plan sponsor and intermediary decision-makers.
• Strong execution throughout complex institutional sales cycles.
• Effective positioning of Vanguard’s workplace retirement capabilities against sophisticated client needs.
• Strong collaboration across internal teams to deliver an integrated client experience.
• Market insights that contribute to broader Workplace strategy and commercial effectiveness.

What It Takes

The successful candidate will bring:

• Significant experience in retirement, institutional financial services, investment management, or a related business-to-business financial-services environment.
• Demonstrated success developing relationships and winning complex, consultative sales opportunities.
• Strong knowledge of the workplace retirement marketplace, particularly defined contribution plans and the institutional decision-making process.
• Experience engaging sophisticated plan sponsors, consultants, advisors, and executive-level decision-makers.
• Strong business judgment and the ability to connect client needs with commercial opportunities.
• Executive-level communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to navigate a matrixed organization and mobilize cross-functional resources around high-value opportunities.
• A collaborative, client-focused approach paired with strong accountability for sales outcomes.
• Minimum five years of experience in financial services sales, with a focus on institutional channels.

• Strong knowledge of the recordkeeping retirement landscape.

• Proven ability to develop and execute strategic account plans and deliver results.

• Investment acumen.

• Ability and willingness to travel 50% required.

• FINRA Series 6 or 7 and 63 or ability to obtain.  

Special Factors

Sponsorship

About Vanguard

At Vanguard, we don't just have a mission—we're on a mission.

To work for the long-term financial wellbeing of our clients. To lead through product and services that transform our clients' lives. To learn and develop our skills as individuals and as a team. From Malvern to Melbourne, our mission drives us forward and inspires us to be our best.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.

About Us

Vanguard, one of the world's leading investment management companies, serves individual investors, institutions, employer-sponsored retirement plans, and financial professionals. We have a diverse and talented crew with a culture that promotes teamwork, along with an unwavering focus on serving our clients' best interests.