Associate Director - Global Sales Support

Job Description

Taylor & Francis is seeking an experienced operations leader to take ownership of global sales support services across all regions. As Associate Director, Global Sales Support, you will be accountable for building a consistent, efficient, and well-controlled quote-to-invoice process, driving data accuracy across regional commercial records, and preparing our support function for readiness under the new Unified Commercial (UC) model. You will lead the four Regional Sales Operations Managers and, through them, the regional support teams who keep our commercial engine running smoothly every day. 

This is a pivotal leadership role sitting within Commercial Strategy & Operations, working as a peer to the Global Sales Operations Lead and the Global Systems & Data Lead to ensure our sales support infrastructure scales with the business. 

What You'll Be Doing:

Global Service Delivery & People Leadership 

• Lead and develop the four Regional Sales Support Managers, setting shared objectives, capacity priorities, performance standards, and development plans. 
• Define service levels and establish a regular operating cadence covering backlog management, turnaround times, quality, escalations, and process adherence. 
• Harmonize processes globally while accommodating documented local requirements, and scale best practices across regions. 
• Manage cross-regional escalations and provide strong support to Sales and Inside Sales teams, without assuming ownership of the Inside Sales function itself. 

Quote-to-Invoice & Commercial Transaction Execution 

• Own the sales-support operating process from quote preparation and approval through to accurate order and invoicing handoffs, working closely with Finance and order-management owners to agree clear boundaries. 
• Ensure commercial terms, customer details, and approved pricing/discount conditions are captured correctly, applying rules set by the Global Pricing Director and escalating exceptions as needed. 
• Reduce rework and errors at transaction handoffs by defining clear controls, ownership, and resolution paths for common issues. 
• Translate changes arising from the UC model into standardized workflows, training needs, and operational acceptance criteria. 

Data Capture & Operational Controls 

• Own the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of information entered by regional teams into account, opportunity, and other commercial records. 
• Implement front-line validation, exception handling, and remediation routines, aligned with data definitions and standards owned by Systems & Data. 
• Ensure data captured at source properly supports forecasting, invoicing, reporting, and incentive calculations, resolving regional input issues promptly. 

Partnership & Continuous Improvement 

• Partner with Sales Operations on forecast inputs, deal status, territory changes, and recurring data defects. 
• Work with Systems & Data to specify usability needs, test process changes, and manage adoption (while Technology retains technical build ownership). 
• Collaborate with Global Enablement to maintain practical instructions, playbooks, and training materials for regional support users. 

Decision Rights & Role Boundaries 

• Sales Support owns frontline data entry and transaction execution; Systems & Data owns data structures, standards, and CRM business governance. 
• Sales Operations owns forecasts, performance metrics, and incentive reporting; Sales Support supplies correct and timely regional inputs. 
• Pricing owns price and discount policy; Finance and billing functions retain their designated accounting, invoicing, and cash-control responsibilities. 
• Inside Sales remains a separate commercial sales capability unless an explicit reporting-line decision changes this. 

What Success Looks Like:

• Consistent quote-to-invoice workflows with documented exceptions across all regions. 
• Agreed service levels consistently met, with visible improvement in turnaround time, backlog reduction, and first-time-right processing. 
• Measurable improvement in the completeness and accuracy of commercial data at the point of entry. 
• The four Regional Sales Operations Managers operating with clear accountabilities, resource plans, and performance routines. 
• UC process changes implemented smoothly, with a stable support service and minimal disruption. 

Qualifications

What We're Looking For:

Experience & Knowledge 

• Proven multi-region people leadership and change management capability. 
• Strong understanding of quote-to-invoice and institutional/subscription sales processes. 
• Experience in service operations, capacity planning, and process standardization. 
• Working knowledge of CRM systems and a strong commercial data discipline. 
• Excellent judgment, escalation management skills, and confident stakeholder communication. 

Relevant Experience 

• Proven experience in sales support, sales operations, or commercial operations. 
• Demonstrated experience leading managers or distributed teams. 
• A track record of setting service levels and standardizing processes across multiple regions or units. 
• Experience with institutional, academic, subscription, journals, or eBook business models, along with system transitions, is highly desirable. 

Key Working Relationships 

Regional Sales Leaders; Finance; Global Pricing; Commercial Strategy; Global Enablement; Technology; and the other two Commercial Operations leads - all with clearly defined ownership and escalation paths

Additional Information

Closing date: Monday 23rd November 2026

You must have the right to reside and work in the United Kingdom

Location: We believe that great things happen when people connect face-to-face. That's why we work in-person with each other, or with customers and partners, three days a week or more. When you’re not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces – like at conference – you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely. The successful candidate will be able to utilise our balanced working model. We ask that candidates live within a commutable distance of the Milton Park Abingdon office to ensure that as a balanced worker they can make it to our office location 3 days per week.

Please note, our Milton Park office will be relocating to Oxford city centre in late 2027 / early 2028, offering an exciting new workplace in the heart of the city.

What we offer in return: 

• A competitive salary + bonus
• An excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture
• 25 days annual leave
• 3 additional discretionary days off during the holiday season at the end of the year
• 4 volunteering days annually
• Day off for your birthday
• Company funded single cover private medical insurance  
• Employee assistance programme – offering 24/7 well-being support 
• Share Match – Plan that matches every share purchased with two free shares. 
• Pension scheme 
• Life assurance, plus optical and medical care

If you’re excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge, we invite you to apply even if your existing skills and experience don’t fit every item listed above. At Taylor & Francis, we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and make a contribution regardless of their identity or background. As a colleague, you will have the opportunity to further innovate and develop in areas that you are passionate about. Our goal is to empower you with the resources, incentives, and flexibility you need to enjoy success at work and to live a healthy, balanced life. 

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves. Taylor & Francis recruits, develops, and retains colleagues without regard to any protected personal characteristics or other non-merit based factor. 

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you are able to show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format, more time for questions, or anything else – please ask us, we are happy to be flexible! Please contact [email protected]