The Learning & Development Specialist – Sales Excellence is a hands-on, individual contributor role responsible for building the sales capability of Vertage's North America Sales and Customer Success teams. Reporting to the Global Head of Learning & Development, you will own the Sales Excellence curriculum end to end – from new-hire onboarding through advanced consultative selling, negotiation and account management.
You will design, facilitate and coach directly. There are no direct reports; your influence comes from credibility with sellers and sales leaders, and from showing that learning moves commercial results.
What you will focus on
Executing the Global L&D strategy for the Sales and Customer Success community, within Vertage's L&D frameworks and governance.
Partnering with sales leaders to design, deliver and embed upskilling that closes specific capability gaps.
Aligning learning content with product, strategy, branding and Business Office stakeholders and the Global Sales Playbook.
Driving consistent use of our sales tools so customer data is clean, centralized and visible across the full customer journey.
Training and coaching managers to forecast deals accurately.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
Curriculum design and delivery
Design, build and refresh the Sales Excellence curriculum: onboarding, core sales skills, consultative and solution selling, negotiation, account management and sales coaching.
Facilitate in-person and virtual workshops, sessions and certification programs for sellers at every level.
Embed recognized sales methodologies (consultative, solution, value-based, challenger) into a single Vertage "way of selling".
Build blended learning journeys that combine live facilitation, digital content, coaching and on-the-job application.
Needs analysis, coaching and capability building
Work with regional and global Sales Leadership to diagnose skill gaps and performance trends, and turn them into targeted interventions.
Coach sales managers to coach their teams, building a lasting coaching culture.
Provide 1:1 and small-group coaching to sellers on deals, pitches and skill development.
Design and manage accreditation and certification pathways that recognize growing capability.
Measurement, technology and continuous improvement
Define and track impact metrics that connect training to conversion rate, win rate, pipeline velocity and revenue per seller.
Use data and feedback to retire what doesn't work and scale what does.
Use AI-enabled learning tools to personalize journeys, scale delivery and keep content current with market, product and competitor changes.
Own the Sales Excellence learning calendar, logistics and content library on KnowHow and other platforms.
Select and manage external content providers, faculty and vendors, ensuring quality and value for money.
Strategic contribution
Contribute Sales Excellence insight to the Global L&D strategy, linking sales capability to onboarding, talent and leadership development.
Embed Sales Excellence learning in the employee lifecycle, from new-hire onboarding to sales career pathways, with HR partners.
Act as a subject-matter expert on sales capability, learning trends and emerging sales technology.
Stakeholder Management
Trusted advisor to the Global Head of L&D on Sales Excellence priorities and progress.
Close partner to North America and global Sales Leadership, keeping learning aligned to commercial priorities.
Works with People & Culture on onboarding, career pathways and succession planning.
Collaborates with Customer Success, Marketing, Strategy & Branding, Product and the Business Office on consistent messaging and product knowledge.
Manages external training providers, content partners and sales methodology licensors.
Communicates learning outcomes and commercial impact clearly to senior, non-L&D audiences.
Leadership Without Authority
Builds credibility as a trusted coach, facilitator and sales capability expert.
Influences sales leaders and commercial stakeholders without direct authority.
Creates a culture of continuous learning, curiosity and accountability in the sales community.
Operates with pace, structure and clarity in a fast-moving commercial environment.
Cultural Alignment
Acts as an ambassador and role model for a high-performance learning culture: pushing boundaries, taking ownership, creating impact and staying human in every interaction, with the success of the sales community ahead of personal interests. Adheres to the Company's Delegation of Authority and drives all work in line with Vertage's vision, mission and strategic priorities.
Experience & Technical Expertise
Experience: Proven track record designing and delivering sales training, enablement or capability programs, ideally in a matrixed, multinational or professional/staffing services environment.
Sales credibility: Background in sales, sales enablement or sales leadership, with first-hand insight into what sellers need.
Methodology: Working knowledge of consultative, solution, value-based and challenger selling, and how to adapt them to a specific commercial context.
Craft: Instructional design and facilitation expertise; a professional qualification (e.g., ATD CPTD or equivalent) is preferred.
Technology: Experience with LMS platforms, virtual facilitation tools and AI-enabled learning technologies.
Measurement: Demonstrated ability to measure training impact and ROI against commercial metrics.
Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Working style: Operates effectively across regions and time zones; limited travel may be required.
Key Capabilities
Sales capability design: turns commercial strategy and methodology into practical learning programs.
Facilitation and coaching: delivers live and virtual training and coaches managers and sellers to apply new skills.
Needs analysis: diagnoses gaps and designs blended journeys that suit a busy sales environment.
Data-driven measurement: links learning to commercial outcomes and prioritizes investment.
Stakeholder influence: builds trusted relationships with Sales Leadership, L&D and Talent Management.
Vendor and content management: sources, evaluates and manages external partners.
Agility: iterates quickly as market, product and competitor conditions shift.
Digital fluency: uses KnowHow, other platforms and AI tools to personalize and scale delivery.