Strategic Account Director (South of England)

About Us

At Resonate, we're on a mission to embed intelligent, connected technology into the operational fabric of railway operations, driving performance, efficiency, and innovation across the network.

Our vision is bold but clear: to be the trusted partner, leading the modernisation of railway operations through purposeful innovation. We're not just building technology; we're building the future of how railways run.

We measure our success by the "Resonate Test", the moment when every Route and Operations Team says, "We couldn't run the railway without Resonate" and "Have you asked Resonate?" becomes the go-to question for technology solutions. That's the impact we're striving for, and we're looking for talented individuals who share our passion for making it happen.

If you're ready to be part of something transformative, where your work directly enables safer, smarter, and more efficient rail operations, we'd love to hear from you.

Overview of the Role

Reporting to the Sales Director, the Strategic Account Director owns the growth of Resonate's business across Southern, Western and Wales, and Anglia, with clear accountability for developing strategic customer relationships, originating and converting new opportunities, expanding Resonate's footprint and delivering sustainable revenue growth.

This is not simply an account-management role. The Strategic Account Director is expected to create demand by developing a deep understanding of customer strategy, operational challenges and investment priorities, connecting these with Resonate's products and capabilities, and shaping commercially viable opportunities before they enter formal procurement.

The role operates across the wider rail ecosystem, building influence not only with Network Rail but also with train operators, emerging Great British Railways organisations, government and industry bodies, delivery partners and other stakeholders who shape investment, policy and operational priorities. Internally, the Strategic Account Director orchestrates sales, product, service delivery, technical and leadership resources behind a unified growth strategy.

Operating in accordance with the Resonate Sales Playbook and established sales governance framework, the Strategic Account Director drives disciplined opportunity creation, qualification, pipeline development, conversion and forecasting. The role owns the creation, governance and delivery of Strategic Account Plans and is accountable for building credible multi-year pipelines of strategic, multi-million-pound opportunities.

Success will be measured through:

• Revenue and order intake against agreed account targets.
• Qualified pipeline creation and conversion.
• Growth of recurring and product revenues.
• Expansion into new customers, stakeholders and use cases.
• Strength and breadth of senior customer relationships.
• Delivery of agreed Strategic Account Plan objectives.

Key Accountabilities

1. Strategic Account Leadership

• Own the growth strategy and strategic relationships across Southern, Western and Wales, and Anglia, including customers and stakeholders beyond Network Rail.
• Act as the single point of accountability for revenue growth, order intake, qualified pipeline creation, conversion and senior relationship development.
• Create and execute Executive-approved Strategic Account Plans that define ambitious short, medium and long-term growth objectives.
• Connect customer strategy, operational challenges and investment priorities with Resonate's products and capabilities to create commercially viable opportunities.

2. Strategic Account Planning & Governance

• Lead the development of Strategic Account Plans that identify customer priorities, investment programmes, funding routes, stakeholder landscapes, whitespace and new markets for Resonate.
• Present Strategic Account Plans for Executive approval and provide regular progress updates against agreed objectives, milestones and outcomes.
• Maintain clear visibility of strategic risks, opportunities, dependencies, competitive threats and actions required to accelerate growth.
• Ensure account activity remains focused on demand creation, opportunity conversion, footprint expansion and agreed commercial outcomes.

3. Executive Stakeholder Engagement

• Build a broad network of senior relationships across Network Rail, train operators, Great British Railways organisations, government and industry bodies, delivery partners and other influencers.
• Develop and execute stakeholder engagement plans that create access, strengthen influence and open new areas where Resonate has limited presence.
• Represent Resonate at senior customer forums, steering groups and executive meetings.
• Proactively identify and cultivate new executive and operational relationships that unlock investment, sponsorship and routes to market.

3. Opportunity Development & Account Growth

• Originate, qualify and convert new business and expansion opportunities, with a clear bias towards proactive hunting rather than responding only to established demand.
• Create demand ahead of procurement by influencing customer strategies, investment roadmaps, business priorities and the definition of operational problems.
• Lead product-led opportunity development: understand the problem, connect it to Resonate's products and capabilities, shape the solution, build the business case and establish a commercially viable route to delivery.
• Build and convert a credible multi-year pipeline of strategic, multi-million-pound opportunities, delivering revenue and order intake in line with agreed account targets.

4. Cross-Business Leadership & Orchestration

• Act as the conductor of cross-functional account teams, coordinating resources across sales, service delivery, product, engineering, subject matter experts and executive leadership.
• Mobilise cross-functional pursuit teams around priority growth opportunities, with clear ownership, milestones and commercial outcomes.
• Translate customer insight and market intelligence into product priorities, propositions and repeatable growth opportunities.
• Drive pace and accountability across functions to move opportunities from insight and demand creation through qualification, business case and conversion.

5. Sales Excellence & Compliance

• Operate in accordance with the Resonate Sales Playbook and established sales governance framework.
• Apply rigorous account planning, opportunity qualification, pipeline management, forecasting and conversion disciplines.
• Maintain accurate CRM visibility of pipeline value, maturity, next steps, risks, commercial progress and forecast confidence.
• Support continuous improvement by providing feedback on market conditions, customer needs and account development practices.

6. Strategic Market Development

• Maintain a strong understanding of the rail industry landscape across Southern, Western and Wales, and Anglia, including customer, regulatory, political, operational and investment drivers.
• Use competitor, customer and market insight to identify whitespace, open new areas and shape demand before formal procurement begins.
• Position Resonate as the partner customers turn to when defining operational problems, developing investment cases and shaping long-term transformation programmes.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Proven experience in complex B2B sales, ideally in technology, SaaS, transport or infrastructure sectors
• Strong track record of proactive new business acquisition, including opening new markets, creating demand ahead of procurement and converting whitespace into qualified pipeline.
• Demonstrated ability to originate, shape and win strategic, multi-million-pound opportunities across complex, long sales cycles, while building credible multi-year pipelines.
• Strong commercial acumen with ability to balance client needs, pricing strategies and delivery constraints
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the gravitas to influence at board level
• CRM and pipeline management capability (e.g. Hubspot or Salesforce)

Desirable:

• Domain understanding of rail, public infrastructure, or operational technology
• Experience in a company providing software, systems integration or managed services
• Experience in public sector procurement or regulated environments
• Strong experience of product-led growth, shaping opportunities alongside product, engineering and delivery teams and converting customer problems into scalable commercial propositions.

Competencies and Behaviours

We are looking for someone who…

• Builds wide, senior-level networks across customers, industry bodies and partners, while using those relationships to create access, influence investment and unlock growth.
• Communicates with clarity, credibility and commercial confidence, adapting their style for different audiences including customers, internal stakeholders and executive decision-makers.
• Proactively finds whitespace, opening doors, creating demand and maintaining pace through complex sales cycles.
• Demonstrates strong judgement when balancing customer needs, delivery capability, commercial risk and wider business priorities.
• Leads product-led growth by connecting customer problems to Resonate's capabilities and mobilising product, delivery, engineering and leadership teams to build compelling, deliverable and commercially viable propositions.
• Shows resilience and persistence through complex sales cycles, maintaining momentum and professionalism even when navigating ambiguity, challenge or competing priorities.
• Uses insight, market awareness and customer intelligence to anticipate demand, challenge assumptions, shape investment priorities and create opportunities before procurement.
• Contributes positively to a high-performance commercial culture by sharing knowledge, supporting colleagues and role-modelling accountable, customer-focused behaviours.

How our Values Show Up in this Role

Our values help shape how we work, make decisions and build relationships, ensuring this role contributes not only to commercial success but also to the culture and long-term impact we want to create at Resonate.

• Customer Centred Impact: Builds account plans and propositions around evidenced customer outcomes, not assumptions or short-term sales activity.
• Long Term Thinking: Develops partnerships and commercial choices that support sustainable customer value, resilient delivery and future growth.
• Courage and Responsibility: Addresses difficult commercial or delivery issues early, gives clear advice and remains accountable for agreed actions.
• Equality and Inclusion: Creates inclusive customer and internal discussions, actively seeking different perspectives before shaping decisions.
• Innovate with Purpose: Connects customer challenges with practical innovation that has a clear operational or business benefit.

Benefits

Work/Life Balance

• 27 days annual leave, in addition to 8 public holidays per year
• 3 discretionary additional days used for shutdown periods (usually over the Christmas/New Year period)
• Family First – provisions and flexible working arrangements to support all colleagues in balancing their responsibilities in and out of work.

Financial

• A competitive salary and pay progression that rewards the value you bring
• Pension plan – currently with Aviva, including matched contributions from 5-8% via salary sacrifice, and access to independent financial advice
• Income protection cover– currently insured for 50% of salary and 10% joint pension contribution in the event of incapacity through illness or injury
• Life assurance cover – currently insured at 6 x annual salary, providing financial peace of mind for those left behind should the unthinkable happen
• Discounted retail vouchers – via two benefits platforms

Wellbeing

• Private health care cover – currently with Bupa, covering you and your immediate dependents on a medical history disregarded basis
• Company sick leave and pay – enhanced provision subject to qualify period of service
• Employee Assistance Programme providing 24/7/365 access to independent and confidential support via an app, web, or helpline to support you with any life challenges