Head of Sales, Japan

The Head of Sales - Japan is a managing seller responsible for building sales strategies, prospecting and closing sales in GumGum’s Market Leading Contextual and Creative Advertising platform in Japan. Reporting to the Managing Director (MD), this role is responsible for leading and developing a sales team as well as developing key relationships in the Japan region to drive real value for our clients through GumGum products. 

The Head of Sales will have a deep knowledge of the digital advertising and media landscape, the advertising community and have 10+ years of proven advertising and media sales experience.  This person is a self motivated  leader who can work with internal teams and are committed to achieving and exceeding sales goals while growing GumGum’s products in their allocated region.

Note: GumGum currently operates in a ‘work from home’ virtual environment with sporadic opportunities for in-person business and morale events (health guidelines permitting). There will not be any requirement to go into the office on a daily basis moving forward. 

What You'll Achieve

• Drive Revenue for Japan
  • Responsible for a book of business and driving revenue and new business in our Japan region of at least ¥ XB + annually. This role is responsible for partnering with Advertisers and Agencies in Japan to grow business across a variety of accounts in multiple verticals:
    • Drive Sales from Marketing Channels - Identify and qualify opportunities from marketing driven leads
    • Sales Prospecting and Hunting - Expectation to generate a high volume of sales related activity including cold calling, presentations, RFP’s, and out of the box sales solutions
    • Activate and build strong relationships in key categories: Auto, CPG, Entertainment, Retail and Fashion/Beauty, etc.
• Relationship Development
  • Cultivate relationships with brands, agency contacts and clients to gain deep insight into their business and ultimately provide GumGum solutions for their marketing and advertising goals.
• Talent Management
  • Oversee a team of sellers at various levels; building a highly inclusive culture ensuring team members thrive and organizational outcomes are met
  • Drive effective recruitment, onboarding, professional development, performance management and retention of Japan Sales team members
  • Translate regional strategy into individual actionable goals for performance and growth helping to implement organization-wide revenue goal setting and performance management
  • Ensure team members are having the best possible GumGum experience by inspiring team members and delivering meaningful feedback and coaching to the teams, evidenced by regular feedback requests, 1:1’s, quarterly reviews and recognition
• Translate Client Insight to internal Product Team
  • Provide feedback to the company on how to best service clients’ needs
• Internal Collaboration
  •  Work with the Head of Operations, Account Managers and other internal teams to ensure sold proposals are successfully implemented and aligned with client expectations.
• Strategic Sales
  • Support of MD in developing, managing and executing strategic sales opportunities

Skills You'll Bring

• Bachelor's Degree in Media or Marketing/Advertising field
• Ideally 10+ years of selling experience in digital advertising sales (has to be sales in our specific industry whether publisher or ad tech sales)
• Sales management experience with minimum of 2-3 years of experience managing a team of 5+ employees
• Experience managing a large book of business (XM+)
• Must have strong selling experience and track record of hitting or exceeding sales targets demonstrated
• Must demonstrate strategic relationships with major digital leaders from the agency, brand, and/or holding company landscape in Japan
• Must have Programmatic experience 
• Proficient in Japanese and English in a business context
• Proficient in SalesForce (is comfortable logging meetings, calls, pulling reports, etc.)
• PowerPoint, Excel and Word skills a must
• Strong and strategic relationship building with clients
• Quick at problem solving internally and externally while managing stakeholders through the process
• Fundamental understanding of business drivers (P/L, Operating Statement, COGS, Revenue, etc.)
• Outgoing and can build and maintain/grow client relationships at all levels (entertaining is required)
• Flexible and have the ability to adjust quickly to changing demands or strategies

Perks & Benefits

• 20 Days of paid annual leave based on calendar year and start date
• 19 company holidays per year!
• Fitness Reimbursement
• Meal Allowance
• Cell Phone/Work From Home Stipend
• Transportation Allowance
• Modern Family Support and Resources
• Employee Assistance Program
• Stock Incentive Program (role dependent)
• GumGum Gives Back volunteering/social impact opportunities
• Virtual and In-Person Company Events/Celebrations
• Anniversary recognition and awards