Strategic Account Manager

Strategic Account ManagerThere is a version of account management where you take the client's request, bring it to engineering, get an answer, and carry that answer back to the client.That is not this job.If engineering hands you a $35,000 proposal, we expect you to understand what is behind it before you present it.Why this equipment? Why this design? Why now? And can you explain the recommendation in a way that makes sense to the person writing the check?You do not need to be the engineer in the room.You do need to be curious enough, technical enough, and confident enough to think critically rather than simply become the messenger.About YouYou are an experienced IT professional who combines technical acumen with strong client relationships and business judgment.You have spent a significant part of your career inside an MSP. Ten to fifteen years is a reasonable picture of the experience we expect because this job benefits from having seen a lot.We mean MSP experience, not VAR experience.You have worked with clients who knew exactly what they wanted and clients who only thought they did. You have seen projects go sideways and engineers miss the larger business context.You have learned when to ask another question, when to listen, when to challenge, and when to escalate.We are interested in facts, not adjectives.The Clients You Will Work WithAndromeda serves different kinds of clients, and this role works with an important group near the top.Some clients primarily need reliable service and straightforward account coordination. At the other end are our largest and most complicated environments, which may require direct involvement from senior leadership.Your clients may need a stronger roadmap, an important initiative moved forward, a deeper relationship with Andromeda, or help evaluating a larger technology decision.These are clients where a strong Strategic Account Manager can materially improve the relationship and the decisions being made inside it.What the Job Actually Looks LikeA significant portion of the job is reactive.You will:Respond when client issues or requests get stuck.Work internally or with the client to move things forward.Bring the right people together when coordination is needed.Escalate when an answer seems wrong, incomplete, or needs another look.Then there is the proactive part of the job.You will:Build practical technology roadmaps based on what the client's business actually needs.Lead client conversations that uncover problems, priorities, risks, and opportunities.Work with engineering and sales to develop solutions you understand well enough to question, explain, and support.Present recommendations in business terms the client can understand.Keep worthwhile initiatives moving.Help clients evaluate larger and longer-term technology decisions when they make sense.The reactive work earns trust. The proactive work creates value.What Success Looks LikeA year from now, we should be able to listen to one of your client conversations and hear that you understand the relationship, the technology, and what the client is trying to accomplish.Your clients should have better roadmaps.Important initiatives should be moving.Problems should get run down rather than passed around.Good accounts should be becoming stronger accounts.And both the client and Andromeda should be able to point to decisions that were better because you were involved.Your TeamYou will work as part of Andromeda's account management team and in close cooperation with our engineering and sales teams.About AndromedaWe are a 30-year-old technology service company headquartered in Lockport, Illinois.Two of our original founders still work in the business day-to-day, and you will work closely with one of them. We have grown to almost forty enthusiastic and dedicated team members.We provide outsourced IT services, but the purpose behind the work is broader: Helping Others SucceedWe apply four Core Values to the way we work:Right Over EasyBe CuriousEmbrace ChangeBelieve in Your WorkCompensation, Benefits, and Extras$95K-$120KBenefitsBlue Cross Blue Shield Health InsuranceDental InsuranceVision InsuranceOptional 401K with company matching up to 2%Optional life and disability coveragePaid holidays, sick days, and vacationExtrasMentorship Program and OpportunitiesAnnual Company Picnic, open to friends and familyLocation and Working ArrangementWe work two days each week from our Lockport, Illinois office, so you must be local to the southwest Chicago suburbs.The Fine PrintWe require background screening for all positions.Many Andromeda positions include a hands-on testing component, so be ready to show as well as tell.It Is Your MoveIf you have spent years inside an MSP, understand both technology and clients, and want a role where your judgment is expected to contribute to better outcomes, we would like to see what you can do.