Manager of Solution Development

The Manager of Solution Development is a key leadership role within Workiva's Growth Solutions team. The Growth Solutions team creates innovative solutions on the Workiva platform, driving commercial growth and customer satisfaction. This team is at the forefront of exploring new markets, designing and refining solutions, and establishing best practices for incubation solutions at Workiva. As the Manager of Solution Development, you will lead a team of Solution Development Consultants and play a pivotal role in their development and performance. You’ll balance leadership responsibilities with technical acumen to influence the incubation and evolution of customer solutions on the Workiva platform—accounting for both customer and market demands. We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in Sustainability or Carbon Accounting software, as these are key areas of focus for our current solutions. Success in this role hinges on both strong people management and the ability to align technical work with strategic business objectives.

What You’ll Do

• Team Leadership & Development: Lead and develop a team of Solution Development Consultants, focusing on career growth, skill development, and high performance. Provide clear direction, coach team members to meet business and personal development goals, and maintain team engagement and motivation, especially in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

• Performance Management: Manage the performance of the team, providing regular feedback and navigating challenges, including aligning employee perceptions of career progression with business expectations. Keep morale high by offering clear communication and support during periods of change or uncertainty.

• Strategic Alignment: Ensure the team’s priorities align with broader Growth team goals and cross-functional stakeholders’ objectives. Drive accountability for high-quality outputs and performance while ensuring the team stays focused and agile, even when priorities shift.

• Team Prioritization & Focus: Guide the team in prioritizing a backlog of activities, ensuring alignment with strategic business objectives. Maintain a balance between strategic objectives and day-to-day execution, ensuring team members are focused and engaged with high-priority initiatives.

• Customer & Partner Engagement: Engage directly with strategic customers and external partners in early-stage solutions, gathering insights on customer needs, particularly in our focus areas of Sustainability or Carbon Accounting solutions.

• Collaboration Across Teams: Work closely with Workiva services, customer success, partner experience, and product teams to ensure seamless communication, enablement strategies, and feedback loops. Leverage your technical and domain knowledge to enhance cross-functional collaboration and solution effectiveness.

• Product Strategy & Feedback: Provide data-driven insights from clients to influence product development and prioritize critical product functionality. Guide the team to fill product gaps with creative solutions, especially in the areas of Sustainability and Carbon Accounting software, where understanding regulatory landscapes and customer needs is crucial.

What You’ll Need
 

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a client-facing role within software implementation, service delivery, management consulting, or similar fields.

• 2+ years of leadership experience managing small to mid-sized teams in a software organization.

• Demonstrated experience in growing and developing team members, including guiding career development and navigating organizational challenges.

• Proven ability to prioritize team activities in alignment with business strategy in fast-changing business environments.

• Familiarity with complex software platforms, SaaS, cloud technologies, and business problem-solving through software solutions.

• Experience managing teams focused on software solution development or initial deployments of new solutions in emerging markets.

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent career experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Sustainability software or Carbon Accounting software is highly preferred. Candidates without this experience must demonstrate a strong ability to learn new domains quickly and effectively.

• Ability to manage feedback loops between product, pre-sales, and implementation teams, helping to shape and guide solution development efforts.

• Strong understanding of organization-wide product roadmaps and how they impact the customer experience and value proposition.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to present complex topics clearly to diverse audiences.

• A proactive mindset with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to drive continuous improvement within the team.

Travel Requirements & Working Conditions

• Up to 25% travel for customer and internal meetings.

• Reliable internet access for periods of remote work.

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