What Does It Take to Become a Kicksaw Account Manager?

While every role at Kicksaw plays a part in our commitment to putting customers first, perhaps one of the most visible and important roles, particularly from the customer’s perspective, is that of the Account Manager. They’re one of the main points of contact for clients, staying in close communication throughout the engagement and ensuring that the client will thrive once their solution rolls out. 

The Account Manager takes ownership of the portfolio of Kicksaw customers, commits to their success, and relentlessly works to drive relationships both within their organization and cross-functionally within Kicksaw. It’s a fantastic opportunity for a highly strategic, consultative player who loves acting as a business advisor for a variety of clients. And we’re very excited to walk you through what it’s like to be one here at Kicksaw!

If you’ve worked as an Account Manager at a Salesforce consulting firm before, you might assume you know what you’re in for as an Account Manager at Kicksaw. But working for us is not your typical consulting firm experience — we have a unique approach to doing business that really sets us apart from the competition. And this commitment to doing business differently yields a host of real-world benefits for both our customers and our team. For customers, it means better solutions that actually work for them and deliver real value. For the Kicksaw team, it translates to an adaptable strategy that prioritizes employee well-being. 

As an Account Manager at Kicksaw, I get to partner with companies who are usually undergoing fundamental and significant change. Whether they’re implementing a brand new Salesforce instance, improving or updating their processes, reducing costs, or maximizing their use of current technology (or all of the above!), I’m there to ensure we’re supporting their business goals from every angle. And with our deep bench of platform expertise, customers get so much out of choosing Kicksaw, which makes my job really fun. — Erin Healy, Kicksaw Strategic Account Manager

What sets the Account Manager role apart? 

Account Managers are a client’s most loyal advocates — it’s their job to represent the client’s best interest in internal meetings at Kicksaw, communicate throughout all levels of Kicksaw and customer organizations to build consensus and align expectations, and generally be the superhero that our customers need and deserve.

Because Account Managers work with a variety of clients across the organization, one of the real highlights of the role is how closely you get to collaborate with our amazing customers. We work with folks from a variety of industries, all with their own unique business processes, pain points, and personalities. To succeed in this role, you need to really, truly enjoy diving deep into your customers’ businesses, and enjoy advocating for them across departments and teams, including their own.

Kicksaw’s unique business models bring another, very attractive perk for our team members: with utilization off the table, burnout really isn’t a thing here. For real. You’re a human, and we’re going to treat you like one — you are more than a cog in the machine. Yes, you’ll have KPIs, and you’ll frequently find yourself diving headfirst into projects as you use data and analytics to improve client satisfaction, increase product optimization, and sell new products/services. But you bring more to our organization than 40 hours of work a week. You’re a valued, respected member of our team, and we’ll rally around you as we all work together to achieve success for Kicksaw, our customers, and you. 

Curious about what an average day looks like for an Account Manager here at Kicksaw? Expect around six to eight hours of client meetings per week, and about the same for internal meetings. But aside from your scheduled meetings, you’re in charge of what your workday looks like. We trust you to manage your book of business well, and we don’t really care about the exact details of how, when, or where you work. As long as you are adhering to our Account Managers’ North Star, which is to promote existing growth and retention while serving as the voice of the customer, the particulars are up to you.  

Working with clients at a firm as robust and diverse as Kicksaw means a nice variety to your “typical” workdays, but if we had to break it down, the task list for an average day probably looks like this: 

• Attend the daily standup with your Sales and Account Management Team to get the scoop on what’s cookin’, and to connect on issues that are important to the team, our customers, and Kicksaw.
• Manage email correspondence with clients to ensure account success and help clients reach their goals.
• Plan out and conduct calls and check-ins with Kicksaw Executive, Delivery, and Finance team members regarding strategic account health and status.
• Collaborate with Kicksaw Marketing to tell our customer success stories.
• Partner with Salesforce AEs to expand mutual client relationships.
• Plan and conduct customer milestone calls.
• Organize and/or attend in-person meetings with clients and Salesforce AEs. (This is rare — we’re a 100% remote company, but we do occasionally require Account Managers to travel for these types of meetings.)
• Manage existing account pipeline.  

Each day comes with its own unique blend of client problems, questions, and challenges, but that’s all part of the magic for an Account Manager here at Kicksaw. To really thrive in this role, you need to be the sort of person who enjoys taking ownership of projects, communicating across departments and channels, and slapping on that creative thinking cap whenever and wherever a client needs some extra help ironing out a tricky business process (and they usually do at some point in their journey with us). If this all is reading like an entry in your dream job journal, we could be the perfect match!

What does career growth look like for an Account Manager?

There are three tiers for Account Manager at Kicksaw, and we like to break them down this way: 

• Tier 1: Entry — Is learning about rope
• Tier 2: Mid/Developing — Can tie a knot, and participates when others tie complex knots
• Tier 3: Sr./Career — Ties complex knots, calculates rope strength, teaches others how to tie these complex knots, and uses knots strategically

For Account Managers, as with every other role at Kicksaw, employees and managers stay organized via a user-friendly performance-management platform, and performance reviews happen biannually. Anyone at Kicksaw can easily check in on their career-growth goals without contacting HR or scheduling any meetings, thanks to the internal rubric for assessing tiers within each role. Salary range data is also readily accessible.

Every position at Kicksaw follows a well-documented career progression track. While there is a track available for those eyeing managerial roles, there's also a non-management career progression that we call the "individual contributor track." Both paths carry equal importance — managerial positions are not the sole path to achieving career success at Kicksaw.

Self-improvement is very important here. We actively encourage all employees to enhance their skill sets, whether that’s by taking classes, attending conferences such as Dreamforce or other Salesforce events, or participating in other activities that strengthen your professional abilities. Kicksaw supplies educational reimbursement (subject to a cap), an annual tech stipend, access to internal resources facilitating class discovery, and more.

Basically, you can go as far as you see fit as an Account Manager at Kicksaw!

Kicksaw Account Managers have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on our clients. They build relationships that are deeply rooted in an understanding of the clients' businesses and objectives. The role carries a lot of responsibility, but for the right candidate, it's an exhilarating challenge that they can knock out of the park. It's incredibly rewarding to see our Account Managers fully embrace their role and consistently deliver value to our clients.
— Sanford Woodward, Kicksaw Sr Director of Sales & Marketing

How should I prepare for an interview for the Account Manager role?

When reviewing your resumé, our People Ops team is looking for some quality experience in the ISV space, ideally in an equivalent role. You also need to have put in a little time in the saddle with Salesforce itself as well. You certainly don’t need to be a product expert (we’ll bring you up to speed there if need be), but if you’ve never worked with SFDC before, this role is probably not a great fit for you. 

Once you pass your initial HR screening, if there is a mutual fit, you’ll have a series of interviews with the Director of Sales & Marketing, one of our current Account Managers, and, finally, our CEO Kenny Goldman. These conversations will give us some insight into how you approach customer relationships and how you conduct yourself during important conversations, as well as your comfort level with using data and analytics to improve client satisfaction, product optimization, and selling new products/services. But most of all, these conversations give our team the opportunity to meet you, their potential team member! Don’t think of them as interviews so much as the chance to chat with some truly kind folks who are invested in your ultimate success. That’s what interviewing at Kicksaw is like.

Preparing for an interview for the Account Manager role at Kicksaw (or any of our roles) ultimately comes down to one key principle: authenticity. Our "Be You" core value is crucial during the interview process — we're interested in you as an individual, not just your skills and resumé. Personalities and unique points of view influence how people work and collaborate with their colleagues, and that’s really really important to us. Equally important is evidence that you are a natural at embracing all four of our core values, which are Work Together, Be You, Own It, and Keep It Simple.

Kicksaw owes its success to the amazing folks on our team, which is why nurturing our people-centric culture is a top priority. We’ve made significant efforts to build a culture that prioritizes our team members in tangible ways — from our remote-first work philosophy to our extensive and continually expanding list of employee benefits, we are always striving to enhance the Kicksaw experience. This level of commitment, however, means that we are very intentional about only bringing on individuals who will align well with the culture we have worked so hard to cultivate. Demonstrating alignment with our core values and the potential to contribute to our unique culture are key qualities we seek in candidates, regardless of the role.

With that said, please submit your resumé! We know applying for a new role can feel daunting, but rest assured that real people will carefully review your application. The Account Manager role at Kicksaw presents an exciting opportunity for individuals who thrive on building client relationships, excel in strategic problem-solving, are adept at negotiation and account management, and are seeking a rewarding career with a truly distinctive consulting firm.

We look forward to hearing from you!