Director - Customer Solutions - SLED - VMware - Chicago

Job description
Customer Solutions Director - SLED

1. Background on VMware

VMware (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in cloud infrastructure, delivers customer-proven solutions that significantly reduce IT complexity. VMware accelerates an organization’s transition to cloud computing, while preserving existing IT investments and enabling more efficient, agile service delivery without compromising control. Organizations rely on VMware, its partners, and its industry-leading virtual infrastructure platform to energize their business through IT.

2. Overview of the Role

The Customer Solutions Director (CSD) is a senior-level consultative sales leader. The CSD supports one of VMware’s sales regions/segments and reports to the Sr. Director of Strategy. The CSD works closely with account teams that sell to large, strategic customers. The primary responsibility of the CSD is to help increase VMware’s penetration at strategic customers through Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs) that deliver true business solutions. These solutions go beyond the sale of our core vSphere product and provide a mix of products and services that address well-defined business needs.


The CSD engages with Directors, VPs, and C-level executives, both internally and externally. The CSD provides perspectives and guidance on long-term business/technology strategy, as well as helps counsel business leaders on potential technology investments. He or she should be able to build trust-based relationships that provide an opportunity to advise customers on business innovation that we can help enable through our technology.

The CSD is a strategic role for our VMware’s sales teams. The role combines the competencies of strategy consulting, deal structuring, and project management.

3. Core focus areas and responsibilities

Internal change agent: The CSD’s primary focus area is to drive change in the key sales motions to the field. He or she will do this in close collaboration with our Americas Enablement Team. Key selling motion initiatives:

* Move from point product selling to solution selling

* Move from demand acceleration for vSphere to demand creation for VMware solutions

* Move from a position of selling as the incumbent to selling in the face of competition

* Move from selling to an Infrastructure Director to selling to line of business leaders, as well as VP-level and C-level leaders

Drive best practices in selling Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs): ELAs are strategic deals for us that involve 3+ year commitments from us to our customers. These are highly structure legal agreements. The CSD will play a significant role in helping to enable our field on ELA selling best practices:

* Drive sales teams to understand the ELA process is complex (not transactional) and success requires following a well-defined sales motion

* Drive early engagement and strategic selling around renewal ELAs

* Act as a bridge between the Field, Deal Desk, Finance, and Legal to help facilitate faster and simpler deal structuring

* Work directly with Field selling teams on major opportunities to facilitate deal structuring and effectively negotiate deal closure

Account planning and go-to-market planning: The CSD will help facilitate the process of getting account plans and a clear go-to-market plan in place within his or her sales region:

* Drive account planning process with sales teams and define repeatable account planning methods with Field and Partner representatives

* Drive collaboration across functions in account planning to enable greater solution selling (including identifying new product opportunities)

* Engage with the Accelerate Advisory Services Team to develop transformational strategies for our customers

* Develop the business case for ELA opportunities with sales teams

* Conduct executive presentations

Drive selling behaviors to key metrics: At the end of the day, we are trying to build a culture of sales excellence. This requires that we inspect what we expect. The CSD’s job is to help make this happen:

* Set targets for and manage to higher levels of Services and Solutions attach (beyond vSphere)

* Expand ELA contract value and minimize unnecessary discounting

* Increase ELA deal volume while driving higher process efficiency

4. Experience and background required

* ‘Bachelor’s degree required; MBA desired

* 12+ years sales experience within High Tech and/or consulting

* Record of building strong customer relationships

* Experience developing and growing C-level relationships

* Deep understanding of the financial and technical challenges faced with running modern day IT operations at large corporations

* Consultative selling skills (question based selling, positioning services)

* Ability to communicate complex topics to an audience with various functional knowledge

* Financial and business writing skills (white papers, proposals, competitive responses)

* Financial acumen (financial accounting, ROI, TCO, budget planning)

* Presentation skills including public speaking, meeting facilitation, and white boarding

* Project management experience

* Strong understanding of VMware technology, alternative solutions, and the benefits that can be realized through the application of VMware solutions to customer environments

5. Compensation and benefits

At VMware, your On Target Earnings are real, not virtual. We offer a competitive base salary plus a monthly commission. The CSD’s commission plan is tied directly to your region/segment’s Enterprise License Agreement quota attainment. At VMware’s rate of growth, many of our teams surpass quota and enjoy the benefits of a plan that includes commission accelerators.



Our sales leaders are provided top-of-the-line technology (laptops, devices, and other enablement tools). We offer quick and comprehensive expense reporting and reimbursement. We provide company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision coverage; stock options; 401(K) plans; an employee stock purchase program (ESPP); and vacation time plus holidays for all new employees.

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