Core Account Manager - Sub Saharan Africa

Core Account Manager - Sub Saharan Africa

Times Higher Education is the data provider underpinning university excellence in every continent across the world. As the company behind the world’s most influential university ranking, and with almost five decades of experience as a source of analysis and insight on higher education, we have unparalleled expertise on the trends underpinning university performance globally. Our data and benchmarking tools are used by many of the world’s most prestigious universities to help them achieve their strategic goals and our events series act as the home of higher education thought leadership around the world.

About the role

The Core Account Manager is responsible for maximising each institution's engagement with Times Higher Education by increasing product adoption, expanding stakeholder relationships, identifying new use cases, and ensuring customers continue to derive value from their partnership with THE. The role exists to retain and grow revenue within an assigned portfolio of higher education institutions.

You will own the commercial relationship with each institution in your portfolio, leading renewals and expansion conversations and working closely with Business Development, Marketing and Product colleagues. Where Business Development focuses on engaging new institutions, the Core Account Manager is accountable for what happens after the first sale: ensuring value, protecting and compounding that revenue over time.

Key responsibilities

Portfolio ownership & retention

• Own commercial relationships across an assigned portfolio of institutions, retaining existing revenue through proactive account management and engagement.

• Monitor account health (product usage, engagement and satisfaction) to spot churn-risk signals early and put mitigation plans in place.

• Lead commercial discussions on renewals, expansions and product adoption, including contract and pricing negotiations.

• Start renewal planning well ahead of contract end dates, timed to each institution's budget-setting and procurement cycle.

• Communicate annual price adjustments to clients clearly and consistently, in line with THE's pricing policy.

Growth & expansion

• Identify opportunities and new use cases to expand institutions' use of THE products and services. • Develop a growth plan for each institution, aligned to its strategic objectives.

Stakeholder engagement

• Build relationships with senior leadership operational and departmental stakeholders, increasing the number of active contacts and engaged users within each account.

• Act as a trusted adviser, helping institutions connect THE's data and insight to their own strategic priorities.

Planning, forecasting & reporting

• Maintain accurate account maps, forecasts and opportunity pipelines in the CRM.

• Deliver account plans and quarterly business reviews (QBRs).

Account Orchestration

• Own the client relationship and coordinate delivery across THE, working closely with Business Development, Marketing, Product and each delivery unit.

• Services (Consultancy, Events, Branding): own overall client management and high-level comms, including project updates, and coordinate how each unit's outputs feed into other project areas; delivery units run project planning, events and campaign execution.

• Solutions (Data, Hiring, Content): own all client engagement and request back-end set-up from the Manila fulfilment team; for Data, lead client-facing onboarding, securing users and peers and delivering training.

• Onboard new clients cleanly, introducing the delivery lead(s) with a strong brief within 3 days of close, then maintain oversight through regular internal syncs and client check-ins.

• Use Manila usage reports and campaign insights to spot renewal and upsell signals, and co-deliver end-of campaign reports with the Campaign Manager; share client feedback with Product.

Experience and skills background

• Proven experience (typically 3–5 years) in account management, renewals or client-facing sales within a subscription, SaaS or data/information business.

• Experience managing relationships with universities or research institutions is strongly preferred.

• A track record of meeting or exceeding retention and expansion targets across a multi-account portfolio.

• Strong consultative selling and negotiation skills, including multi-year and multi-product renewals.

• Confident CRM user (e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot) with disciplined pipeline and forecast management.

• Data-literate: comfortable analysing usage data and turning it into a clear value story for clients.

• Able to engage credibly with senior university leaders as well as day-to-day users; confident presenting QBRs.

• Experience working across international markets and cultures; additional languages an advantage.

• Willingness to travel to client sites and sector events as required.

You do You
You do You. With colleagues located around the world, we know that our individuality and diversity of experiences are our greatest strengths. That’s why we want THE to be a place where you are welcome to be who you want to be at work; where you can share whatever part of your life or self-identity you want, without obligation or facing discrimination; and where all abilities and perspectives are recognised and accommodated.