Sales Specialist

At IBM Global Sales, we bring together innovation, collaboration, and expertise to help clients solve their most complex business challenges. Working across industries and geographies, you’ll partner with colleagues, clients, and partners to co-create solutions that drive digital transformation and lasting impact.Success in Global Sales is built on curiosity, empathy, and collaboration. You’ll connect technical understanding with strong people skills, building trusted relationships and shaping solutions that improve business and society. With world-class onboarding, continuous learning, and a supportive culture, IBM offers the tools and opportunities to grow your career. Join us and be part of a global team that’s passionate about driving innovation and making a difference. Your role and responsibilities Confluent is seeking a highly motivated and results-oriented Sales Executive to drive revenue growth globally for Data Streaming Platform (DSP) workloads. This role focuses on acquiring, building and managing strategic partnerships with first line AE/SEs, Product Management, Partners, and Marketing. The successful candidate will be a proven sales professional with a strong track record of building revenue streams and business value, specifically within the data infrastructure space. What You Will Do: Develop & Drive DSP Sales Motion: Develop and execute a regional go-to-market strategy to identify key personas and a GTM Motion for each that align with Confluent's strategic goals and focus on capturing DSP workloads from Data Lake, Data Warehouse, and ETL/Reverse ETL vendors (Shift Left) and preparing AI-Ready data. Define Clear Objectives: Target segments, and key performance indicators (KPIs), and create targeted sales campaigns utilizing direct sales, digital marketing, and partner channels to drive awareness and interest in Confluent's DSP solutions. Execute and Land New Streaming Projects: Engage with key stakeholders within target organizations and internally to understand their pain points and business objectives, presenting tailored solutions that demonstrate the value of using Confluent's platform for processing raw (bronze) data into more meaningful data for operational, AI, and analytics use cases. Hunt for New Opportunities: Proactively prospect and develop a robust sales pipeline. Identify and qualify potential partners based on their market reach, technical capabilities, and alignment with Confluent's strategic objectives. Build Strategic Partnerships: Cultivate strong, long-term relationships with key decision-makers within target accounts and ecosystem. Evangelize mutually beneficial partnership agreements that drive revenue growth for both organizations. Evangelize Confluent's DSP Capabilities: Clearly articulate the value proposition of Confluent's streaming platform to technical and business audiences within partner organizations. Showcase the benefits of using Kafka and Confluent for DSP workloads. Develop Compelling Sales Presentations: Create and deliver persuasive presentations that highlight the revenue-generating potential of partnering with Confluent. Tailor presentations to the specific needs and priorities of each potential partner. Collaborate with Partners: Work closely with partner organizations to develop joint go-to-market plans, co-marketing initiatives, and sales enablement programs. Stay Ahead of the Curve: Maintain a deep understanding of the evolving data streaming landscape, emerging technologies, and competitive dynamics. Required education Bachelor's Degree Preferred education Master's Degree Required technical and professional expertise Proven Data Analytics Sales Experience: Demonstrated success in selling analytics software solutions, ideally within the data infrastructure, database, open source, messaging, or big data space. Hunter Mentality: A proactive and results-oriented approach to sales with a proven ability to identify, qualify, and close new business opportunities. Strong Technical Acumen: A solid understanding of data streaming concepts, Kafka, and the Confluent platform. Ability to effectively communicate technical value to both technical and business audiences. Executive Presence: Confidence and credibility to engage with senior-level executives within partner organizations. Excellent Communication and Presentation Skills: Ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts and deliver compelling sales presentations. Strong Business Value Skills: Proven ability to justify favorable agreements that align with Confluent's business objectives. Experience in a High-Growth Environment: Prior experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic startup or high-growth technology company. Preferred technical and professional experience Acquisition Agreement Knowledge: Deep understanding of acquisition and integration agreements, including terms and conditions, to inform strategic decision-making. Incentive Plan Optimization: Experience in analyzing and optimizing incentive plans to meet business objectives, ensuring alignment with organizational goals. Stakeholder Relationship Building: Ability to develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders to facilitate successful integration and seamless transition of technical capabilities. Years of Experience: 10-15 ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT IBM has a global presence, operating in more than 175 countries with a broad-based geographic distribution of revenue. The company’s Global Markets organization is a strategic sales business unit that manages IBM’s global footprint, working closely with dedicated country-based operating units to serve clients locally. These country teams have client relationship managers who lead integrated teams of consultants, solution specialists and delivery professionals to enable clients’ growth and innovation. By complementing local expertise with global experience and digital capabilities, IBM builds deep and broad-based client relationships. This local management focus fosters speed in supporting clients, addressing new markets and making investments in emerging opportunities. Additionally, the Global Markets organization serves clients with expertise in their industry as well as through the products and services that IBM and partners supply. IBM is also expanding its reach to new and existing clients through digital marketplaces. 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