Associate director, field sales - uk & ireland

About the Role

As the Associate Director, Field Sales, you will lead and inspire the UK & Ireland sales organization, driving sustainable revenue growth, market expansion, and operational excellence across the region. You will be responsible for developing and executing the regional go-to-market strategy, building a high-performance sales culture, and ensuring alignment across commercial, customer success, marketing, and product teams. This role requires a strategic and commercially driven leader with deep healthcare industry expertise and a proven track record of managing and developing successful sales teams.

Key Responsibilities

Sales Leadership & Strategy

• Develop and execute the UK & Ireland go-to-market strategy to accelerate revenue growth and increase market penetration.
• Lead, coach, and develop the UK & Ireland sales organization, including both New Business and Renewal Sales teams.
• Foster a high-performance, customer-centric culture focused on accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Establish clear sales objectives, performance metrics, and development plans for all team members.

Revenue Growth & Customer Acquisition

• Drive the acquisition, retention, and expansion of institutional customers, including hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, universities, research organizations, and government agencies.
• Maintain a robust and predictable sales pipeline capable of achieving and exceeding quarterly and annual revenue targets.
• Provide leadership and executive support on strategic, enterprise, and national-level opportunities to maximize win rates and revenue outcomes.
• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with key stakeholders across healthcare and government sectors.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Customer Experience teams to maximize customer adoption, retention, satisfaction, and growth.
• Collaborate with Marketing to develop and execute targeted demand-generation and market expansion initiatives across the UK & Ireland.
• Provide market intelligence, customer insights, and competitive analysis to Product Management and Marketing teams to influence future product and commercial strategies.

Market & Industry Leadership

• Develop a deep understanding of healthcare market dynamics, customer purchasing behaviours, and industry trends to enhance sales effectiveness.
• Build and maintain relationships with key industry influencers, partners, and strategic accounts.
• Represent Wolters Kluwer at industry conferences, customer events, professional forums, and executive engagements across the UK, Ireland, and internationally as required.
• Support the ongoing development of sales processes, best practices, forecasting methodologies, and operational excellence initiatives.

Talent Development

• Recruit, retain, and develop top sales talent.
• Provide regular coaching, mentoring, and performance management to ensure individual and team success.
• Create succession plans and development opportunities to build long-term organizational capability.

Qualifications & Experience

• Significant experience in sales leadership, team management, and talent development.
• Proven success leading remote and geographically dispersed sales teams.
• Deep understanding of the healthcare technology market, including clinical decision support, digital health, healthcare software, or related solutions.
• Demonstrated success selling complex software, SaaS solutions, or services into healthcare organizations.
• Strong understanding of healthcare procurement, budgeting, and purchasing processes.
• Experience working with major public-sector healthcare organizations, including the NHS, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and national healthcare bodies.
• Established network of senior healthcare stakeholders across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.
• Proven ability to develop and execute growth strategies that expand market share and drive sustainable revenue growth.
• Experience working alongside EHR/EMR vendors, hospital information systems, pharmacy systems, and healthcare interoperability platforms.
• Strong expertise in pipeline management, forecasting, sales analytics, and KPI-driven performance management.
• Track record of coaching and developing high-performing sales professionals.
• Strong business development mindset with a proactive, hands-on approach to customer engagement and opportunity creation.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and professional experience.

Skills & Competencies

• Exceptional leadership, coaching, and people management skills.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and negotiation skills.
• Strategic thinker with strong commercial acumen and problem-solving abilities.
• Highly organized, self-motivated, and results-oriented.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and CRM platforms.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly throughout the UK & Ireland and internationally as required.

Our Interview Practices

To maintain a fair and genuine hiring process, we kindly ask that all candidates participate in interviews without the assistance of AI tools or external prompts. Our interview process is designed to assess your individual skills, experiences, and communication style. We value authenticity and want to ensure we’re getting to know you—not a digital assistant. To help maintain this integrity, we ask to remove virtual backgrounds and include in-person interviews in our hiring process. Please note that use of AI-generated responses or third-party support during interviews will be grounds for disqualification from the recruitment process. Applicants may be required to appear onsite at a Wolters Kluwer office as part of the recruitment process.