Senior Principal Account Executive

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United Kingdom.

📋 Description

• Take charge of the commercial relationship and strategic account plan for a portfolio of significant, intricate UK banking and payments clients.

• Propel retention, growth, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.

• Foster close client relationships and comprehend client ambitions, pressures, culture, and success criteria.

• Analyze client organizational structures, strategies, operating models, technology landscapes, investment priorities, and decision-making processes.

• Establish connections with executive sponsors, business leaders, technology stakeholders, procurement partners, and operational teams.

• Formulate and implement multi-year account strategies that encompass outcomes, growth priorities, competitive positioning, risks, and whitespace opportunities.

• Cultivate value-driven relationships and lead senior client discussions utilizing market insights and constructive challenges.

• Develop lighthouse clients while executing advocacy and referenceability initiatives.

• Recognize, qualify, and advance expansion opportunities across ACI’s payments, card, merchant, fraud, and related solutions.

• Ensure balanced pipelines, accurate forecasts, account updates, risk assessments, and CRM documentation.

• Lead virtual account teams across Solution Consulting, Product Management, Client Delivery, Customer Success, Support, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and executive leadership.

• Oversee executive sponsorship and account governance.

• Transform client feedback and market developments into actionable insights for product strategy, service enhancements, and growth opportunities.

• Anticipate and mitigate commercial, delivery, and relationship risks.

• Steer negotiations for renewals, expansions, and new agreements.

• Represent ACI at client forums and industry events.

• Comply with corporate policies, including the ACI Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field with over 12 years of pertinent experience.

• Extensive executive-level strategic account management or enterprise sales experience in banking, financial services technology, payments, or a closely related industry.

• Proven track record of expanding major, complex accounts through relationship enhancement, cross-selling, opportunity creation, and successful closure of high-value, multi-stakeholder agreements.

• Experience working with Tier 1 banks, processors, merchant acquirers, or similar multinational organizations, including navigating matrixed structures, multiple buying centers, formal governance, and complex procurement processes.

• Demonstrated ability to cultivate trusted relationships with C-suite and senior executive stakeholders, along with business, technology, operations, risk, procurement, and commercial teams.

• Strong strategic account planning skills, including stakeholder mapping, whitespace analysis, opportunity qualification, competitive strategy, account governance, and risk management.

• Commercial insight and the ability to translate client strategy, industry changes, and operational challenges into outcome-focused propositions and measurable business value.

• Familiarity with the banking and payments market, including technology trends, buyer priorities, regulatory influences, and competitive dynamics.

• Capacity to understand and position intricate business and technical solutions for executive, commercial, operational, and technical audiences.

• Exceptional negotiation, influencing, presentation, and written communication abilities.

• Disciplined sales leadership skills, including forecasting, pipeline management, opportunity planning, and customer relationship management tools.

• Ability to lead through influence within a global, cross-functional organization.

• Integrity, customer orientation, commercial judgment, curiosity, courage, collaboration, resilience, and personal accountability.

• Established senior-level network across UK Tier 1 banking, card issuing, merchant acquiring, payment processing, or related sectors.

• In-depth knowledge of account-to-account payments, high-value payments, card processing, merchant payments, fraud management, payment orchestration, or SaaS delivery models.

• Experience managing strategic relationships that span client divisions, brands, legal entities, or international markets.

• Experience in developing executive account governance, joint value plans, or multi-year transformation roadmaps.

• Must currently possess authorization to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

• This position does not provide employment visa or work permit sponsorship.

🏝️ Benefits

• Opportunities for growth.

• Career development.

• Competitive compensation and benefits package.

• Innovative and collaborative work environment.