Software – Vp Professional Services

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About the Client

Client is a leading provider of intelligent IP video solutions and develops analytics software to address Business Intelligence applications. A recognized leader in the delivery of highly-reliable, enterprise-class solutions for several of the world’s largest banks, retail organizations and transportation agencies. The company is an active member of top industry organizations, including ASIS International, the American Public Transportation Association, and the Security Industry Association with specific involvement in the SIA Retail Security Interest Group.

Globally, in 2016, the company has grown its target retail customer base to ~300 organizations globally, has increased its target financial customer base to more than 500 financial institutions which represents system installation in approximately 26,000 retail banking branches. Client’s transit solutions were installed in more than 33,000 buses, trains and subways to help protect 1.6 billion passengers. The company also continues to provide systems to the world’s largest video installation.

As of 2016, their systems were used in more than 70 countries. The company continues to maintain sizeable R&D centers of excellence in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Milan, Italy; and Shenzhen, China, and operates regional sales offices in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Scope of Position

Responsible for all Professional Services on a global basis, including management of technical customer support, customer NOC, customer product training and Client’s managed services offering. Client is transitioning to a SaaS/Cloud based model and will begin to emphasize a customer care approach that will drive the business forward as Client takes its’ next step in the company’s evolution. The VP Professional Services is responsible for the overall Professional Services strategy and support evolution of our current base of global customers and drive new business. The position will also be responsible for the P&L targets for this segment of the business.

Client considers professional services to be a high growth area and mission critical to the company’s revenue growth and success. Appropriately, the company has been searching for a best-in-breed software services executive to assume the challenging and rewarding role of Vice President Professional Services.

The successful candidate will be responsible for Client Professional services organization made up of more than 30 employees responsible for both customer technical support. This group needs to respond to customer requirements with urgency and immediacy while working directly with customers to ensure the product is utilized effectively and efficiently as a revenue driver.

Competencies

Innovation

Generates new ideas; Challenges existing assumptions; Goes beyond the status quo; Recognizes the need for new or modified approaches; Brings various perspectives and approaches together, combining them in a creative fashion to implement effective improvements.

Team Skills

Helps to create a sense of team spirit and harmonious relations through cooperation and support; Balances personal goals with those of the team; Fosters collaboration among team members.

Customer / Client Orientation

Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service; Listen and understands customer/client needs and conveys then back to the organization to take appropriate action; Quickly follows up on customer/client concerns and deals with them in a professional and efficient manner; Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction.

Results Orientation

Focuses strongly on achieving agreed upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met; Has a reputation for execution and delivery; Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure; Aims to improve upon past performance; Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve/exceed them.

Planning and Objective Setting

Systematic in approach to work; Produces action plans in which objectives are defined and steps for achieving them are clearly specified; Plans by breaking down large task into subtasks; Develops plans that anticipate obstacles; Is realistic about time-scales and builds in appropriate checkpoints, milestones and controls in order to ensure that desired results are realized.

Duties and Responsibilities

Translates overall corporate strategic direction into a mission, strategy and plan for the Professional Services team on a global basis.
Participates as an engaged, open and committed member of the Senior Management Team (SMT); contributes to and supports final SMT initiatives and strategies with 100% solidarity.
Build relationship with the Chief Executive Officer, Senior Management Team (SMT), R&D, Sales, Finance, Other Functional Leaders/Departmental Managers, Customers, Vendors.
Every-day tasks are performed within the context of general company policy, procedures, and practices while other tasks may require engaging the CEO and/or other members of the Client management team as appropriate.
Develops a comprehensive portfolio of commercial value added professional services that are complimentary to the Client product set.
Establishes a global capability to deliver and manage these services in order to provide consistency of definition and execution in each of the geographies Client currently operates.
Provide work guidance to Professional Services management/staff in general and to any other employees in the Company seeking his/her input or direction as required.
Ensures these services are well defined and articulated both technically and commercially. This will require establishment of commercial terms and conditions to be developed in partnership with the Legal department.
Communicates and promotes the sales of these services through the utilization of product and sales enablement.
Ensures scalability of these services in scope, geography, and volume by recruiting, developing and retaining high energy, experienced employees.
Collaborates with Product and Sales Management to shift emphasis away from spot solutions in support of our products, to Integrated Business Propositions.
Helps prioritize external and internal client requests and issues and seek out opportunities to delineate and communicate request for resolution.
Establishes arbitration methods to ensure adequate resolution of technical issues while balancing commercial needs of the business.
Develops methods and reporting criteria to report on effective Profit and loss of ALL services that flow through the organization.
Ensures timely and quality resolutions of problems through hardware, workarounds or development of generated fixes.
Enhance the quality of service to the client through innovative practices and team leadership.
Facilitates organizational problem solving when escalations occur and is the decision maker in critical situations.
Proactively assesses big picture issues with professional services team and clients and develops custom solutions development as needed.
Focuses on evaluating, motivating and sustaining the service level of the professional services team by building and maintaining trust.
Ensures processes, policies, procedures and manuals are developed to help professional services team build future capacity.

The successful candidate will be responsible for Client’s Professional services organization made up of more than 30 employees responsible for both customer technical supports. This group needs to respond to customer requirements with urgency and immediacy while working directly with customers to ensure the product is utilized effectively and efficiently as a revenue driver.

Duties and Responsibilities

Translates overall corporate strategic direction into a mission, strategy and plan for the Professional Services team on a global basis.
Participates as an engaged, open and committed member of the Senior Management Team (SMT); contributes to and supports final SMT initiatives and strategies with 100% solidarity.
Build relationship with the Chief Executive Officer, Senior Management Team (SMT), R&D, Sales, Finance, Other Functional Leaders/Departmental Managers, Customers, Vendors.
Every-day tasks are performed within the context of general company policy, procedures, and practices while other tasks may require engaging the CEO and/or other members of the Client’s management team as appropriate.
Develops a comprehensive portfolio of commercial value added professional services that are complimentary to the Client’s product set.
Establishes a global capability to deliver and manage these services in order to provide consistency of definition and execution in each of the geographies Client currently operates.
Provide work guidance to Professional Services management/staff in general and to any other employees in the Company seeking his/her input or direction as required.
Ensures these services are well defined and articulated both technically and commercially. This will require establishment of commercial terms and conditions to be developed in partnership with the Legal department.
Communicates and promotes the sales of these services through the utilization of product and sales enablement.
Ensures scalability of these services in scope, geography and volume by recruiting, developing and retaining high energy, experienced employees.
Collaborates with Product and Sales Management to shift emphasis away from spot solutions in support of our products, to Integrated Business Propositions.
Helps prioritize external and internal client requests and issues and seek out opportunities to delineate and communicate request for resolution.
Establishes arbitration methods to ensure adequate resolution of technical issues while balancing commercial needs of the business.
Develops methods and reporting criteria to report on effective Profit and loss of ALL services that flow through the organization.
Ensures timely and quality resolutions of problems through hardware, workarounds or development of generated fixes.
Enhance the quality of service to the client through innovative practices and team leadership.
Facilitates organizational problem solving when escalations occur and is the decision maker in critical situations.
Proactively assesses big picture issues with professional services team and clients and develops custom solutions development as needed.
Focuses on evaluating, motivating and sustaining the service level of the professional services team by building and maintaining trust.
Ensures processes, policies, procedures and manuals are developed to help professional services team build future capacity.

Leadership

Influence decision makers through rational and persuasiveness in a way that encourages movement towards the vision.
Compels team members to act by letting them know how their contributions supports the vision.
Coaches and mentors individuals and actively supports employee development.
Seeks and provides honest, regular feedback from and to employees on both their results and their behaviors.
Involves people in a way that encourages them to take responsibility for their own development.
Strives for sustained personal and career growth through experience and development of new capabilities.

Preferred Experience and Education

A minimum of 10+ years’ experience in senior management roles preferably with software services experience.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, preferably in a technical or engineering discipline Masters degree considered an asset.
Building a team with a focus on customer care, consulting and the ability to gather analytical data as a value added service.
Experience successfully growing P&L of a services organization.
Experience with hosted cloud based services model.
Defining customer business requirements and technology roadmaps.
Contributing member of an Executive Team contributing to and assisting in defining the strategic direction of the company and creating the objectives and metrics that ensure the delivery on the strategic plan.
High competence in web systems, preferably experience in data reporting.
Process/continuous improvement expertise across all areas of the organization.
Multi-functional expertise – especially engineering, delivery and user experience but also contract negotiations, finance and project management.
Passion for customer service, building processes and developing an organization that will exceed customer expectations.
Understanding of retail and banking operations an asset.
Knowledge of software product creation within a creative environment would also be viewed as an asset.
Responding to and supporting large RFIs and RFPs.
People management roles that includes recruitment, selection, hiring coaching, feedback employee engagement and performance management for teams of at least 40 people.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, ability to plan, prioritize and organize effectively and to make sound logical decisions.
Strong commercial awareness having worked in a financially motivated Customer Professional Service role.

Remunerations and Benefits

Base salary with a variable bonus and competitive benefits.

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