Sales Director

Mercia, part of Wilmington plc, is seeking a highly professional and strategically minded Director of Sales to lead commercial growth across our expanding portfolio.

We are looking for someone who comes from a professional, regulated financial environment ideally accounting, audit, tax, or banking with a proven ability to win, grow and develop new business within a modern B2B sales operation.

You will oversee a team of 15, form a key part of the Senior Leadership Team, and play a central role in driving sustainable growth.

We are looking for a calm, considerate and rational leader who brings credibility, strong commercial judgement, and a sophisticated approach to relationship-led sales.

This is an exciting opportunity for a seasoned commercial leader or a Commercial Director ready to step up into a broader strategic role. You must also bring an awareness of AI advancements and a willingness to adopt new technologies to enhance sales capability and client engagement.

• →Developing, implementing and managing the sales strategy and ensure a consistent corporate image across all channels
• →Leading, motivating and developing a sales team of 15, ensuring high performance, collaboration and accountability
• →Defining and driving a modern, ethical and consultative sales culture aligned with professional services markets
• →Identifying client needs and co‑create tailored commercial solutions across Mercia’s Promote, Support and Train offerings
• →Driving new business acquisition, secure major wins, and expand strategic accounts
• →Leading forecasting, pipeline management, sector targeting and performance goal‑setting to grow market share
• →Planning and optimising sales lead‑generation campaigns and measure performance
• →Preparing and presenting commercial reports, including sales results and growth opportunities
• →Analysing sales performance against targets to determine effectiveness and adjust strategies accordingly and maintain strong senior-level relationships with key accounts
• →Acting as an escalation point for major client discussions, ensuring exceptional standards of service
• →Providing client insights to product teams to support continuous product and service improvements
• →Championing the use of Salesforce to enhance targeting, pipeline management and sales execution
• →Managing the sales and marketing cost budgets responsibly
• →Representing Mercia professionally at senior client meetings and industry events
• →Driving modernisation within the sales function, including adoption of AI‑enabled tools and emerging technologies

This role gives you direct influence over Mercia’s commercial strategy and growth trajectory.

You’ll guide a talented sales team, shape our approach to client engagement, and play a key part in driving the success of a market‑leading professional services brand. It’s a role with significant autonomy, visibility and real impact.

You will be expected to deliver strong results quickly while simultaneously embedding a more modern, data‑led and client‑centric sales approach.

Balancing strategic leadership, team development, new business acquisition and stakeholder management requires a calm, structured and commercially astute leader.

• Strong B2B sales leadership experience within accounting, tax, audit, or banking/finance
• Demonstrable success in winning, growing, and developing new business
• Experience leading high-performing teams and influencing at SLT level
• Ability to operate strategically while driving day‑to‑day performance
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to build strong relationships across internal and external stakeholders
• A modern, analytical and client‑centric approach to sales, with strong numeracy and resilience
• A leadership style that is professional, calm, considerate and rational
• Awareness of AI developments and openness to using technology to enhance performance

• Experience selling into professional services, ideally the accountancy marketplace
• Understanding of regulatory environments affecting finance, audit and tax teams
• Ability to use data and analytics to shape sales decisions
• Confidence representing the business at senior meetings and industry events
• A collaborative, cross-functional mindset

We know it’s not a skill, but the successful candidate must have permission to work in the role’s location by the start of their employment.

Mercia, part of Wilmington plc, is a leading provider of training, compliance, and support services to the UK accountancy profession.

Our focus is on helping accountants stay ahead of regulatory change and technical updates while supporting their development through practical learning resources.

At Wilmington plc, we help global customers to do the right business in the right way - providing trusted data, insights, and education to navigate the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) landscape.

When you join us, you’ll not only make a real difference for our customers, you’ll also enjoy flexibility through hybrid working and benefit from a wide range of learning, career, and development opportunities.

Whether you're just starting out, returning to work after a break, or looking to take your next step, you’ll be doing work with meaning.

Join us and make a real difference. Click on “APPLY” today!

The statements above are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this role. Statements are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and skills required for this position.

*Please note that this role may remain advertised until an offer of employment has been made.

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