WHAT DOES A KEY ACCOUNT DIRECTOR DO?

Published: Dec 30, 2025 - The Key Account Director drives revenue growth within existing accounts by identifying new sales opportunities and guiding them through the contracting process. This role involves conducting consultative meetings with senior executives, negotiating renewals and expansions, and collaborating with Customer Success to maximize client satisfaction and performance using the Bluecore platform. The director also ensures accurate Salesforce forecasting, leverages platform data to uncover strategic growth opportunities, and coordinates effectively across stakeholders to deliver measurable client success.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Key Account Director

1. Key Account Director Overview

  • Account Management: Manage and profitably grow existing customers in the Beverage and Starch markets to achieve or exceed annual sales targets.
  • Sales Forecasting: Responsible for sales forecasting and pricing implementation across all market segments.
  • NBD Support: Support the development of NBD programs.
  • Strategic Partnerships: Identify, establish, and develop multi-level new business opportunities and relationships with strategic and key accounts in the industry.
  • Product Strategy: Participate in developing strategies for different product categories.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with BRAIN Group companies' R&D and technical departments to explore new market opportunities.
  • Integrated Marketing: Support and further expand cross-group activities in sales and business development, particularly in marketing and communication, including social media.
  • Client Presentations: Prepare client-specific presentations.
  • Portfolio Promotion: Present and promote BRAIN's portfolio and expertise to diverse audiences, including customers, the scientific community, and other stakeholders.
  • Industry Representation: Attend and represent the BRAIN Group at trade shows and scientific conferences.
  • Business Development: Generate business intelligence and market analysis reports, assess customer and market needs, develop strategies, and execute business development initiatives to close new client business.

2. Key Account Director Functions

  • Client Needs Analysis: Understand key clients' needs and business objectives.
  • Client Prioritization: Prioritise and manage clients' expectations across all digital projects.
  • Client Relationship Management: Drive and deliver flawless client service by maintaining exceptional relationships with key decision makers.
  • Internal Communication: Responsible for effective and efficient internal communication to deliver quality outcomes and client happiness.
  • Stakeholder Liaison: Serve as the link of communication between key customers and internal teams.
  • Growth Planning: Deliver a yearly growth and attack plan based on targets.
  • Opportunity Development: Research and pursue opportunities for client growth.
  • Issue Resolution: Resolve issues and problems faced by customers and handle complaints to maintain trust.
  • Reporting Forecasting: Prepare regular reports of progress and forecasts for internal and external stakeholders.
  • Team Leadership: Manage a team with diverse expertise to service the client in the best way possible.

3. Key Account Director Accountabilities

  • Global Account Management: Responsible for managing and supporting French Global Accounts in their project development worldwide.
  • Customer Relationship Management: Develop the Customer Relationship Management in the global account.
  • Strategic Sales Planning: Set a strategic action plan to develop sales within the Global account.
  • Partnership Development: Develop partnership projects with Customers and their partners, and help define new business.
  • Customer Satisfaction: Ensure testing site performance, breakthrough results, and customer satisfaction.
  • Sales Operations Management: Manage and monitor the sales, delivery operations, and customer relationship exploration.
  • Brand Strategy Execution: Successfully execute a brand and messaging strategy that positions Huawei as an industry leader in the alternative energy industry.
  • International Team Leadership: Federate the internal international project team to successfully support the Global Account Projects.
  • Team Development: Build the team and ensure the transfer of Huawei's core values and the continuous improvement of work skills.

4. Key Account Director General Responsibilities

  • Account Strategy Leadership: Drive vital activities including early engagement, prospecting, strategy, marketing, account planning, and fostering customer partnerships to maximise business opportunities within the RTS product line and beyond.
  • Opportunity Identification: Identify Early Engagement and Must-Win opportunities for the global key account, ensuring their visibility to Global and Regional HQ teams to meet financial targets and business objectives.
  • Customer Intimacy Building: Shape customer intimacy to position Baker Hughes favourably as a partner of choice on a local and global scale.
  • Customer Needs Analysis: Gain clarity of customers' business needs and objectives, early, near and long term.
  • Value Creation: Create opportunities and demonstrate value from partnering with BH to deliver solutions and results.
  • Strategic Discovery: Discover customers' strategic needs and communicate these effectively.
  • Solution Translation: Translate into outcome and value-based solutions that rely on Baker Hughes solutions.
  • Executive Engagement: Create customer-facing initiatives such as executive briefings and workshops.
  • Stakeholder Alignment: Identify and communicate the clients' strategy and direction to management and the stakeholder community.
  • Cross-Functional Communication: Communicate between the client's technical services/R&D groups and business segment groups to seek out collaboration and joint projects.

5. Key Account Director Responsibilities

  • Sales Growth: Fulfill sales targets by growing existing business, and win new business with existing and new KA.
  • Key Account Management: Develop and maintain a stable interaction with KA.
  • Strategic Planning: Understand KA demands, marketing challenges, and the competition map, and develop a mid to long-term KA strategy plan.
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Drive sales growth with KA by collaborating and organising efforts with various teams within ADM, including commercial, technical, supply chain, and marketing teams.
  • Contract Negotiation: Manage contract and agreement negotiation with KA.
  • Forecast Management: Manage accurate forecasts and maintain the supply chain with support from other internal departments.
  • Issue Resolution: Troubleshoot, solve customer issues, and define unmet needs.
  • Technical Advisory: Act as advisor to the KA on technical solutions.

6. Key Account Director Duties and Roles

  • Direct Sales Management: Direct sales and key account management responsibility for assigned accounts with a product focus on HMS, SCS, EzRMS, HPO, Sun Financials, dEPM, EAM, and possibly more products from the Infor portfolio.
  • Key Account Growth: Build further key accounts and grow Infor's position in the entire region.
  • Partner Management: Manage partner network, associations, and industry bodies.
  • Sales Leadership: Direct and lead sales with support of pre-sales activities within the region.
  • Team Leadership: Lead a team of Sales professionals.
  • Revenue Performance: Maximise, within Infor's sales rules of engagement, sales performance in the region by meeting and exceeding revenue objectives.
  • Regional Sales Strategy: Develop and implement a regional sales strategy for licenses and Cloud business in line with the global strategy.
  • Profit Growth: Ensure profitable revenue growth for the relevant company products.
  • Sales Campaign Coordination: Coordinate with Marketing and Product Management and take responsibility for strategic planning and coordination of sales campaigns for the region.

7. Key Account Director Roles and Responsibilities

  • Revenue Growth: Drive revenue by working collaboratively with Professional Services, Support and Delivery, Product Development, and Executive Management.
  • Executive Collaboration: Interact with other department leaders on a regular basis.
  • Sales Qualification: Drive the qualification and sales management.
  • Pipeline Development: Ensure new prospects are added to the pipeline on a consistent basis.
  • Global Opportunity Development: Initiate and support cross-geographic business opportunities.
  • Executive Client Relations: Build excellent client relationships with C and VP-level decision makers by offering value-added, insightful, and strategic input to their business and ensuring the successful delivery of products and services.
  • Partner Collaboration: Cooperate with all Infor Partners of the assigned responsibility.
  • People Management: Responsible for recruiting, developing, motivating, and rewarding all direct reports.
  • Problem Resolution: Resolve complex business problems.

8. Key Account Director Details

  • Revenue Growth: Grow revenue within existing accounts by identifying new sales opportunities and successfully seeing them through contracting.
  • Product Expertise: Gain command of the Bluecore message and leverage data in the Bluecore platform.
  • Strategic Growth: Identify strategic growth opportunities to help clients understand and grow their business.
  • Salesforce Management: Maintain exceptional Salesforce hygiene to provide up-to-date and accurate ongoing forecasts.
  • Executive Engagement: Conduct well-informed and consultative meetings with senior-level executives to demonstrate the business value of the Bluecore platform that clearly articulates innovative products.
  • Contract Negotiation: Negotiate renewals and expansions that profit Bluecore while driving client performance.
  • Customer Collaboration: Collaborate with the Customer Success team to help maximise client use, value, and satisfaction of the Bluecore platform.
  • Stakeholder Coordination: Demonstrate a high degree of planning, organising, and coordinating skills to drive client success across multiple internal and external stakeholders.

9. Key Account Director Details and Accountabilities

  • Growth Strategy: Develop and implement a holistic growth strategy for the key accounts within the sector.
  • Solution Sales: Generate sales of the company's Stakeholder Intelligence solution to corporate communications professionals at the large enterprise level.
  • New Logo Acquisition: Responsible for new logo acquisition within Corporate organisations.
  • Sales Forecasting: Accurately develop, forecast, and close business within the assigned territory.
  • Sales Cycle Management: Manage all phases of the sales cycle, including opportunity management, demo, proposal development, and closing.
  • Commercial Collaboration: Work with the wider commercial team, including marketing, to incorporate top-of-funnel prospects into the growth plan.
  • Global Account Development: Develop multiple key contacts across multiple divisions and countries within international pharma and life sciences in a professional concept and service-type sales environment.
  • Client Relationship Building: Develop relationships, gain influence, and generate new business in new areas of clients in a busy project delivery environment.
  • Enterprise Relationship Management: Build relationships across large and complex international organisations and understand their issues and opportunities to develop more business.

10. Key Account Director Essential Functions

  • Strategy Development: Responsible for strategy development and deployment for the chilled packaging business category.
  • Sales Team Leadership: Lead and develop the team of key account managers and sales representatives to drive the profitable growth of the business.
  • Contract Management: Close and sign major contracts to drive growth.
  • Supply Chain Alignment: Ensure strategic alignment with the supply chain to help deliver on goals.
  • Business Performance Management: Ensure sustained business-level results such as revenue size, historical growth, partnership scores, and concrete initiatives to secure strong business growth potential.
  • Market Leadership: Actively contribute as a member of the market company management team, including market strategy, three-year plans, commercial process maturities, and capabilities.
  • Go To Market Strategy: Build a relevant go-to-market strategy aligned with wider company goals and objectives.
  • Opportunity Prioritisation: Responsible for identifying and prioritising opportunities based on clear criteria.
  • Sales Enablement: Tailor pitch documentation to each individual opportunity based on thorough research and analysis.
  • Partnership Development: Create an approach to building partnerships that go beyond a simple transactional relationship by utilising all of OneFootball's products and services.
  • Industry Expertise: Become a trusted industry expert across football, content, video player technology, and user data.