Head of Sales, Growth & Retentions at LexisNexis South Africa

About the Role

• The Head of Growth & Retention is accountable for delivering net revenue retention, customer expansion, and sustained account value growth across a defined portfolio.
• This is a second-line leadership role, responsible for leading Sales Managers and their teams to execute against clear commercial outcomes. The role owns the performance of the existing customer base as a core revenue engine, ensuring predictable retention and systematic growth.
• The successful candidate will combine strong commercial leadership, analytical rigor, and practical adoption of AI-enabled tools (including Generative AI) to drive performance, productivity, and competitive advantage.
• This is not a relationship management role—it is a commercial leadership role with full accountability for revenue outcomes.

Responsibilities

Commercial Ownership

• Own and deliver retention, renewal, and expansion revenue targets
• Drive net revenue retention (NRR) through disciplined account planning and execution
• Build a predictable, scalable revenue engine within the existing customer base
• Identify, develop, and close growth opportunities within key accounts
• Ensure consistent delivery against forecast and pipeline commitments

Leadership & Team Performance

• Lead and develop Sales Managers (Account Management) and their teams
• Set and enforce clear performance standards aligned to revenue outcomes
• Drive a culture of accountability, ownership, and execution discipline
• Manage organisational design, hiring, performance management, and succession planning
• Coach leaders to move beyond reactive account management to proactive growth leadership

Customer & Account Strategy

• Build and maintain relationships with senior decision-makers and executive stakeholders
• Oversee strategic account planning across the portfolio
• Ensure structured and consistent executive engagement within key accounts
• Strengthen the organisation’s position as a critical partner to customers
• Drive alignment between customer needs and commercial opportunities

Strategic Execution

• Translate business objectives into clear, executable departmental plans
• Implement and scale best-in-class account management methodologies
• Drive a structured approach to account lifecycle management (onboarding → adoption → expansion → renewal)
• Contribute to broader commercial and go-to-market strategy
• Lead continuous improvement of growth and retention frameworks

Operational Excellence

• Establish and enforce operating cadence: pipeline reviews, forecast discipline, account reviews
• Ensure rigorous use of CRM and performance data to drive decisions
• Improve forecast accuracy, visibility, and accountability
• Allocate resources effectively across accounts and teams
• Drive consistency, scalability, and efficiency in execution

Data-Driven & AI-Enabled Leadership

• Lead with a data-first mindset, using insights to drive prioritisation and decision-making
• Leverage analytics to improve performance management, forecasting, and opportunity identification
• Demonstrate practical use of AI and Generative AI tools to enhance productivity and commercial outcomes
• Embed AI-assisted workflows and automation into account management practices
• Build team capability in adopting modern tools and technologies to improve effectiveness at scale

Requirements

• 8–12+ years in account management, client management, or commercial leadership
• Proven experience managing second-line leaders (manager of managers)
• Demonstrated track record of delivering revenue growth within existing customer bases
• Experience managing large, complex, and strategically important accounts
• Strong experience engaging and influencing senior stakeholders (C-suite / executive level)
• Evidence of using data, analytics, and AI-enabled tools to drive commercial performance and team effectiveness