Third Factor Looking for Director, Strategic Partnerships & Accounts at Toronto, Ontario, Canada Full Time

Third Factor is seeking a Director of Strategic Partnerships & Accounts. In this role, you’ll grow our revenue and impact by strengthening our network of world-class delivery partners, acting as a trusted advisor to large clients, and identifying and growing new accounts.

About Third Factor

Founded in 1991, Third Factor is a leadership development firm that helps our clients perform, lead and collaborate under pressure. We work across elite sport, business, government, academia and philanthropy to design and deliver speeches, workshops and learning journeys in-person and online. We have supported over 100 Olympic and Paralympic athletes to podium performances, have partnerships with the Queen’s Smith School of Business and UNC Executive Development in Chapel Hill, and work with both blue chip companies and disruptors. For more information, visit www.thirdfactor.com. 

What We Offer

Third Factor is a unique team of corporate veterans, consultants, learning professionals, elite athletes, and ex-coaches. We all worked from home before it was cool – since 1991 actually – while building a strong sense of team through shared projects, regular ‘work together’ days, and quarterly opportunities to connect socially and professionally. Working at Third Factor delivers:

·      Competitive compensation

·      Comprehensive benefits (health + dental)

·      Flexible work location and a high degree of autonomy

·      Extensive coaching and mentoring from top performers

·      Exceptional colleagues (check out our incredible team here)

About the Director, Strategic Partnerships & Accounts Role

For a long time, Third Factor has punched above our weight. Despite being a small firm, we serve many of the world’s largest companies (Starbucks, Bayer, CapitalOne, RBC, etc).

Beyond our direct client relationships, our out-sized impact is enabled by a network of exceptional partners who integrate our services into their offerings and trust us to deliver to their end clients. Our partners include UNC Executive Development (one of the world’s Top 15 executive education providers as ranked by the Financial Times), Queen’s Executive Education (part of the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University), a large global management consulting firm, the Niagara Institute, and others.

In this role, you’ll focus on four main areas:

1. Strengthening and extending our partner network – you’ll work with our CEO to refine our partnership strategy, enhance our relationships with our existing partners, and establish new partnerships that can complement our existing network.
2. Growing key / strategic accounts – you’ll combine your passion for leadership and learning with your sharp commercial instincts to map out account strategy, build relationships, and propose and sell work in our large, strategic accounts.
3. Business development – supported by marketing, you’ll pursue and land new accounts that have growth potential. Our largest source of new leads are people who have previously experienced what we do (at a prior organization, a conference, etc.) and want to bring us in to their team or organization. We also have a marketing calendar that is a mix of thought leadership events that we host and participation in industry conferences.
4. Getting things done – We are a small business – so you need to be comfortable with both the big picture and the details. Your role will encompass strategic discussions on account and partner strategy, and also the day-to-day management of large accounts – managing relationships, writing proposals, navigating contracting, and setting our facilitation team up for success in delivery.

Across all of these areas, you’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO and subject-matter experts to drive growth and find new ways to extend our impact as an organization.

What Will You Need To Be Successful?

Success in the role starts with what motivates and excites you. For you to enjoy this job (and therefore succeed), you need to be someone who:

• Loves the ‘win’. This is a commercial role, and it requires someone who gets fired up by signing the deal or inking the new partnership. For the most part, others will be delivering what you have sold – so you need to get satisfaction from building strong client relationships and landing the deal.
• Is intellectually curious about leadership and human performance. Our ‘product’ is ultimately ideas. Your ability to get partners and clients excited about those ideas starts with your own genuine curiosity and excitement. If you have dog-eared copies of leadership books on your nightstand and HBR articles on resilience bookmarked – that bodes well for this role.
• Wants to build. You will be joining a small business with a strong foundation that is looking to grow. Your portfolio will help define the future of the organization and the work you do to strengthen and extend our partnership network has the potential to be transformative. You will not be joining as a cog in a large machine, but rather as someone who is here to roll up your sleeves to grow the business. This, of course, has both pros and cons.

Beyond What Motivates You, The Successful Candidate Should Have:

• At least five years’ experience selling professional services to large organizations – successful candidates need to have demonstrated experience in selling services into major accounts. This experience could be as an external thought partner (e.g. management consulting, ad agency, law firm, etc.) or as an HR / learning / sales leader within a large organization who has had to sell their ideas to business units or leaders.
• Strong relationship building skills – this is a connector role. You’ll be the hub of the wheel for partners and clients, and your success will hinge on your ability to build long-term relationships that make people want to do business with us, and give you license to be persistent without being irritating.
• Strategic thinking – you will be regularly making decisions on how and where to invest your time. Which partnerships should we pursue? In what order? What is the right strategy for unlocking growth in a dormant account? Which relationships should I invest in and which are not a good use of time? The ability to elevate from the day-to-day and lay out a clear strategy for growth is important.
• Excellent writing skills – your ability to write clearly and compellingly will give Third Factor a huge strategic advantage in approaching new partners, writing proposals, and so much more.
• High attention to detail – contracts, proposals, and project management all live or die by attention to detail. Big picture is important, and at the same time the details are crucial in this role.
• A collaborative personality – strict no asshole rule in place

Location

While you’ll work primarily from your home office, this role requires attendance at in-person client and internal meetings in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) roughly 3-4 times per month on average. You will either need to be located near the GTA or be willing and able to regularly travel to the GTA at your own expense.

Beyond local meetings, this role will require travel several times a year for things like attending conferences, visiting prospective partners or clients, etc.

Timing

Interviews will be held in late January 2024, an offer extended in early February, and a target start date of late February.

Applying

 

To apply, please send the following to [email protected]

Your resume and/or LinkedIn profile

A 3-5 minute face-to-camera video of you answering the following two questions:

• What is a leadership topic or idea that you are really passionate about right now? What excites you about it?
• Talk about a terrific relationship you’ve built with a client or strategic partner. How did you do it? What made it so successful?

Written answers to the following questions:

• What accomplishment are you most proud of in your current or most recent role?
• What support would you need to become successful in this new role?

We will review complete applications only (i.e. those with a resume, video, and answer to the written questions above).

If you are selected to move to the next stage, you’ll be asked to pick a 15 minute slot for an initial phone call with our Founders Peter Jensen and Sandra Stark, which may lead to a 1-day set of interviews. More details will be provided at that time.