HYBRID / LOCATION (1 - 2 days/week in the office)
SALARY: $125,000 - $135,000 DOE
Eligibility for a performance related bonus as well as commission.
Group Commercial Director, Corporate
Department: Corporate
Location: Hybrid (Washington, DC, USA) with international travel
About the Role
The Group Commercial Director, Corporate leads THE's global Corporate commercial business across Times Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed and Education World Forum. The role has overall responsibility for the performance of the global Corporate Sales, Customer Success and Corporate Marketing functions, ensuring a consistent, solution-led commercial approach that delivers sustainable revenue growth and exceptional client outcomes. The successful candidate will combine strategic commercial leadership with hands-on business development, maintaining a portfolio of strategic global accounts and an individual revenue target while working closely with Consultancy, Editorial, Events and Product teams to maximise commercial opportunities across the wider business.
What You'll Be Responsible For
Commercial Leadership
• Develop and deliver the global commercial strategy for the Corporate division.
• Own revenue planning, forecasting, budgeting and executive reporting.
• Identify new opportunities to accelerate revenue growth, profitability and market share.
• Provide commercial insight to the Executive Leadership Team. Global Sales Leadership
• Lead and develop high-performing international sales teams across multiple regions.
• Drive consistent pipeline generation, forecasting accuracy and sales execution.
• Embed best practice sales processes, coaching and performance management.
• Deliver ambitious revenue growth across sponsorship, consultancy, advertising, content, and data solutions.
Customer Success & Marketing Leadership
• Lead the Customer Success function to maximise client retention and expansion.
• Lead the Corporate Marketing team, ensuring marketing activity supports commercial priorities.
• Align Sales, Customer Success and Marketing to deliver a seamless customer journey.
• Champion business development, account growth and customer advocacy. Strategic Partnerships & Personal Sales
• Personally manage a portfolio of THE's highest value global partnerships.
• Lead executive-level negotiations and complex commercial agreements.
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across corporations NFPs and foundations.
• Maintain and exceed an individual annual sales target alongside overall team performance.
Leadership & People
• Recruit, coach and develop high-performing commercial professionals.
• Build an inclusive, collaborative and accountable culture.
• Develop leadership capability and succession plans across the function.
• Promote continuous learning, innovation and performance excellence.
Additional Responsibilities
• Support the development of new commercial propositions and go-to-market strategies in partnership with Consultancy, Editorial, Events and Product teams.
• Contribute to commercial integration activities relating to acquisitions, new products and organisational change.
• Represent the Corporate business on strategic cross-functional projects and executive initiatives.
• Continually identify opportunities to improve commercial processes, reporting, systems and customer experience.
About You
• Proven experience leading B2B commercial teams.
• Track record of delivering significant revenue growth and managing complex sales organisations.
• Experience leading Sales, Customer Success and/or Commercial Marketing functions.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience of forecasting, budgeting and executive reporting.
• Outstanding relationship-building and negotiation skills with C-suite stakeholders.
• A strategic thinker who is equally comfortable leading from the front whilst maintaining a personal sales target.
• Excellent people leadership, coaching and communication skills.
This is an opportunity to lead one of the most influential commercial teams in global higher education. You will shape partnerships with some of the world's leading universities, governments, foundations and corporations while helping drive the future growth of a globally recognised brand. The role offers significant scope to influence strategy, develop people and create lasting commercial impact across an international portfolio.
Inside Higher Ed provides the latest news, analysis and solutions for the entire higher education community. Inside Higher Ed is owned by Times Higher Education (THE), the world's most authoritative source of data, analysis and information on higher education, with five decades' experience dedicated to the field.
