Strategic Account Director, Retail

Job Description

Join us at Zendesk, where we’re on a mission to power exceptional service for every person on the planet. We’re building products rooted in AI, automation, and intelligent customer experiences, because behind every interaction lies an opportunity to make a human connection.

We’re looking for a Strategic Account Director, Retail New Business to create and close durable net-new business in large retail and consumer brands.You’ll build trusted relationships with executive buyers, connect their priorities to Zendesk’s service and AI solutions, and guide complex opportunities from first conversation through close. You’ll help grow our enterprise customer base and make a clear, thoughtful handoff to the post-sale team.

What you’ll be doing

• Build and manage qualified pipeline through targeted prospecting, inbound opportunities, partner relationships, and territory planning.
• Lead complex sales from discovery and qualification through business case, proposal, negotiation, and close.
• Connect customer goals and service challenges to a credible Zendesk platform and AI solution, with measurable outcomes.
• Build relationships across executive, business, technical, finance, security, and procurement teams.
• Own pursuit strategy, deal progression, and commercial decisions within approved guidelines.
• Bring together Solution Engineers, Product Specialists, Marketing, SDR/BDR teams, partners, and leaders to advance opportunities.
• Maintain accurate CRM records and forecasts, surface risks early, and keep buyers aligned on next steps.
• Document customer goals, commitments, and success conditions to support a smooth handoff and share market insights with internal teams.

What you bring to the role

• A strong new-business mindset and the discipline to create demand through thoughtful, consistent prospecting.
• A consultative approach to discovery that uncovers business problems, urgency, stakeholders, and measurable outcomes.
• The ability to earn trust and guide decisions across executive and cross-functional buying groups.
• Commercial judgment to build business cases, manage deal economics, negotiate, and qualify opportunities honestly.
• Strong operating habits: accurate forecasting, clear next steps, early risk visibility, and reliable follow-through.
• Clear communication that makes complex platform and AI value understandable to business and technical audiences.
• A collaborative approach to leading specialists and sharing customer and market insight across teams.

Basic qualifications

• Typically 12+ years of related experience, with demonstrated success in complex retail software sales.
• A record of owning new-business opportunities and delivering measurable commercial outcomes, such as quota attainment, new ARR, or equivalent growth results.
• Experience with prospecting, value-based discovery, executive engagement, and complex deal ownership.
• Ability to discuss AI, automation, and platform value credibly, and to involve specialists when deeper technical expertise is needed.
• Equivalent practical experience is welcome; no specific degree is required.

Preferred qualifications

• Repeated success closing large, complex net-new enterprise deals.
• Experience creating demand and shaping account or market strategy for high-value prospects.
• Strength in ROI storytelling, competitive positioning, and guiding multi-stakeholder buying decisions.
• Experience partnering with channel or ecosystem partners and cross-functional sales teams.
• Familiarity with service operations, customer experience, or AI-enabled business transformation.

AI literacy

You’ll use approved AI tools to improve account research, preparation, follow-through, and synthesis of customer and market signals while protecting confidential information. You should be comfortable discussing AI opportunities in terms of customer outcomes, adoption, security, governance, and implementation readiness—and be clear about where human judgment and specialist expertise matter.

What makes this role distinctive

You’ll help enterprise customers turn service challenges into a clear case for change. The role combines disciplined new-business selling with the judgment to make an AI-powered future state credible to executive buyers.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.