Head of US Distribution & Sales

Descartes is hiring a Head of US Distribution and Sales to lead and deliver the US business plan through the development of a world-class sales organization: a focused commercial engine that scales new business across retail brokers and corporate/ public-sector clients, while deepening relationships with existing partners. This role calls for an experienced sales leader with an entrepreneurial, builder's mindset — someone ready to structure, coach, and motivate a high-performing business development team (10+ FTEs). You will bring both the discipline to implement rigorous sales processes and the energy to keep a distributed team engaged, accountable, and moving toward its goals. The US Business Development team is currently spread across 7 states. The successful candidate must be comfortable leading, coaching, and holding a geographically distributed team accountable, largely through structured remote cadences (pipeline reviews, deal coaching, 1:1s), while traveling regularly (~1 week per month) to be in the field with BDs, brokers, and clients.

Responsibilities

Lead/Build a high-performance, entrepreneurial sales culture: set clear expectations, keep a distributed team aligned and energized, hold team accountable to performance standards, and celebrate wins in a way that fits a broker-driven sales environment; Manage a geographically distributed Business Development team: run structured remote pipeline reviews, forecast calls, and 1:1 coaching, and travel regularly to spend real time in the field with BDs, brokers, and clients; Structure and develop a team of high performing business developers: hire, onboard, and coach BDs; ensure succession planning and knowledge sharing within the team; Contribute to the development of the Sales Plan in collaboration with the Head of the Americas and Executive team; Drive Business Development Team performance to achieve the Sales Plan through proactive involvement and coaching; identify and clear blockers; intervene when and where necessary and be a point of escalation to facilitate course correction externally and internally in collaboration with stakeholders; Join meetings involving key partners and clients: support the BD and the business at whatever stage of the sales cycle is required including prospecting, negotiation and closing; Feed and act on market intelligence to leadership; Implement and iterate on the BD Sales Playbook; ensure the execution of repeatable sales process from broker outreach to closing deals; Own CRM and pipeline discipline: drive the forecasting cadence, pipeline hygiene standards, and reporting rhythm expected by global leadership; Apply and refine incentive structures in collaboration with Head of Americas and executive team: manage compensation plans and KPIs for Business Developers that reward both activity and pipeline quality, adjusting as needed for long, broker-mediated sales cycles; Execute the US go-to-market approach: drive prioritized target segments and perils/products, in coordination with global leadership; Collaborate closely with underwriting, translating market needs and broker/client feedback into product and coverage improvements that expand the addressable market; Collaborate with commercial counterparts in other Hubs to maximize business development opportunities and share best practices

Requirements

Proven track record as a sales leader of a team of at least 10 FTEs — must have demonstrated experience coaching and developing top performers with a focus on results; Direct experience managing a geographically distributed/remote sales team, with the discipline to run effective remote pipeline reviews and coaching without relying on daily in-person oversight; Willingness to learn and understand the traditional and specialty insurance landscape and the parametric insurance value proposition; Experience with long, technical, multi-stakeholder B2B sales cycles; Demonstrated ability to enforce sales process discipline, CRM hygiene, and comp/incentive structures with rigor — someone who operationalizes an existing framework; Strong personal ability to engage and influence the outcomes of complex, high-value deals through individual interaction and action, including intervention as needed; Comfort operating with firmness and judgment in a structured, remote-first environment, building, executing and scaling a sales approach

Nice to have

Experience as a sales leader in the corporate insurance or reinsurance industry; Existing network among US corporate insurance brokers, reinsurers, MGAs, or corporate risk managers; Experience working in a scaling company; Experience working in a regional business unit

Benefits

Opportunity to work and learn with teams from the most prestigious schools and research labs in the world; Commitment to continued learning and development; Work in a collaborative & professional environment; Be part of a dynamic international team passionate about diversity; Join a company with a true purpose – help clients be more resilient towards climate risks; Competitive salary, bonus and benefits; Comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance plans; Life and disability insurance; 401k savings plan and matching employer contribution; Generous paid time off; Generous paid parental leave