Director, Sales Strategy and Planning

About Itential

Itential is the agentic operations platform for infrastructure. Enterprises use it to build, integrate, execute, govern, and operate the AI agents and workflows that take real action on production systems, all under one governance model. Itential is trusted by global carriers, leading financial institutions, and U.S. federal agencies to run mission-critical infrastructure operations at scale.

About the Role

Itential is seeking a Director of Sales Strategy & Planning to serve as the CSO’s operating partner across our North America and EMEA sales teams. You will help the CSO and the field see where the business is heading, understand what is driving performance, and act before a risk becomes a missed quarter.

You will own the weekly forecast and pipeline review rhythm, build an independent view of the number, lead sales planning analysis, and prepare the performance narrative for executive and board discussions. You will work directly with account executives and partner with channel sales and BDR leadership to strengthen pipeline creation, conversion, and execution across the sales motion.

This is a senior individual contributor role. Sales reps report to the CSO, but you will have the CSO’s trust and delegated authority to run operating reviews, coach reps, give candid feedback, follow up on commitments, and represent agreed priorities. You will bring the CSO evidence-based feedback on rep performance; the CSO retains final personnel and performance decisions. You should become someone the field trusts for clear answers, useful coaching, and help moving work forward.

You must know Sales Operations deeply and be willing to work in the details. You will inspect CRM data, build models, test forecast assumptions, review calls, and diagnose process and capability gaps yourself. You will partner closely with Revenue Enablement and the Sales & GTM Operations Manager to turn what you learn into better coaching, programs, systems, and seller workflows.

What You Will Do

As Director of Sales Strategy & Planning, you will run the sales operating rhythm, help sellers and pipeline leaders execute, strengthen sales capability with Revenue Enablement, and turn sales data into plans and decisions the CSO can act on. This includes:

Own the sales operating rhythm

• Run weekly forecast and pipeline reviews across North America and EMEA. Set the agenda, prepare the analysis, challenge assumptions, document decisions, and drive action items to closure.
• Maintain an independent, data-driven forecast alongside rep submissions. Explain differences between the two views and what would change the outlook.
• Monitor pipeline coverage for the current quarter and the next two quarters. Build path-to-plan scenarios that show what must happen to reach the number and the effect of key deals slipping.
• Lead the analytical preparation and follow-through for quarterly business reviews and other sales leadership discussions.
• Prepare the CSO for executive and board conversations with a clear performance narrative, defensible numbers, likely questions, risks, and recommended actions.

Work with sellers and pipeline leaders

• Build trusted relationships with reps across North America and EMEA so you understand what is happening in accounts and deals beyond what appears in a dashboard.
• Inspect opportunity quality, close plans, next steps, deal aging, and forecast categories with reps. Coach stronger deal, pipeline, and forecast habits.
• Partner with channel sales and BDR leadership to inspect partner-sourced, partner-influenced, and BDR-created pipeline; identify gaps in coverage, handoffs, conversion, and follow-through.
• Work across Sales, Channels, BDR, Marketing, Product, Finance, and Customer Success when pipeline or deal issues cross team boundaries.
• Help resolve operating issues that slow deals or create confusion about account ownership, approvals, handoffs, or priorities, working with the appropriate functional owner on the fix.

Strengthen sales capability with Revenue Enablement

• Partner with Revenue Enablement to identify skill gaps using deal inspection, call reviews, win/loss findings, conversion data, and feedback from the field.
• Help design focused programs that close those gaps, including certifications, practice sessions, call review routines, and coaching tied to live opportunities.
• Participate in call reviews and provide direct, actionable feedback to reps on discovery, qualification, deal strategy, and next steps.
• Help the CSO reinforce consistent expectations for sales execution, while giving Revenue Enablement the field evidence needed to improve onboarding and ongoing programs.
• Measure whether programs change seller behavior and improve deal quality, conversion, ramp, or other relevant outcomes.

Build the plan and explain performance

• Partner with the CSO and Finance on annual and quarterly sales planning, including capacity, hiring and ramp assumptions, coverage, territories, quota scenarios, and pipeline requirements.
• Analyze pipeline creation, conversion, win rates, sales cycles, renewals, partner contribution, and productivity by region, segment, product, and seller group.
• Lead win/loss and competitive analysis with Product and Marketing. Explain what the findings mean for targeting, deal strategy, and the sales plan.
• Evaluate whether quota and compensation structures are driving the intended behavior. Build scenarios and recommendations with Finance and the CSO.
• Analyze discounting, pricing exceptions, and deal desk trends to identify commercial risks and opportunities.
• Turn approved decisions into clear requirements for Sales Operations, RevOps, Finance, Marketing, and Revenue Enablement to implement.

Bring operational and AI fluency

• Work directly in Salesforce reports, sales data, call intelligence, and planning models to validate what the business is being told.
• Understand stages, forecast categories, territories, quotas, compensation, and sales processes well enough to identify when a metric or workflow is misleading.
• Build practical AI fluency within Sales. Work with the CSO, Revenue Enablement, and Sales Operations to identify useful applications in account preparation, call review, coaching, deal inspection, forecasting, and sales planning.
• Set clear expectations for the quality and appropriate use of AI-assisted work. Test whether it improves judgment and execution, then help successful practices become part of the sales rhythm.
• Partner with the Sales & GTM Operations Manager on data definitions, dashboards, CRM improvements, and seller workflows. Sales Operations owns tool implementation and day-to-day seller technology adoption.

What Success Looks Like

• The CSO has a credible view of where each region and the combined business are likely to land, what could change the outcome, and what to do now.
• Forecast and pipeline reviews produce decisions, owners, and follow-through.
• Reps trust this person to understand deal reality, give useful coaching, and help remove obstacles.
• Channel and BDR pipeline is visible, inspected, and connected to account executive execution.
• Revenue Enablement programs address observed gaps and produce measurable changes in seller behavior.
• AI becomes a practical, well-understood part of sales preparation, coaching, inspection, and planning.