Summary

As part of the APAC Guidewire Solution Advisory Team, the Japan Solution Director will lead and manage a small but dynamic team of Solution consultants and help shape the direction of the team in Japan.

The Solution Director influences, determines, and executes the sales evaluation strategy for strategic prospects. This is a customer-facing and high-profile position.

The Solution Director will be directly involved with senior business and technology leaders in our customers and prospects to deliver point-of-view perspectives and build confidence that successful transformation projects with Guidewire should be undertaken “now” rather than “later”.

This role requires a vision and supporting strategy, informed by industry trends and competitive realities.

Job Description

The successful candidate will have a track record of displaying the following professional qualities:

Think Exponentially:  Align to evolving Guidewire and industry best practices, enable change in customer organisation, and deliver on the business value insurers are targeting. Includes:

Helping insurers design their market selection activities when considering core system changes

Providing influential inputs, perceived as peer-to-peer advice, for customer executives needing to undertake internal budget and approval processes for modernisation of core systems

Engagement with external Advisory firms and other parties of influence to persuade them to recommend Guidewire to their clients

Act decisively:  Recognize and make room for consensus building and debate.  Instinctual understanding when to cut off debate, make a decision, and take action.  Know who to include in a decision and how to enroll them.  Recognize when to revisit and revise prior decisions.  Examples include:

Drive strategic discipline into sales opportunities in support of exceptional quarterly and annual ABC sales achievement.

Become a cutting-edge expert with Guidewire Cloud Platform, the product, value proposition, Guidewire organization, and other products so you can effectively demonstrate solutions, speak with customers, prioritize opportunities, and provide account strategy.

Work with the Regional Managing Director and Sales Director to prioritize opportunities.

Provide feedback to product managers on product gaps and priorities for the local Japan Market.

Product packaging and pricing

Customer issues/objections (especially complex where historical precedent is lacking)

Manage holistically and pragmatically:  Work effectively in a large, matrixed organization.  Achieve goals by building consensus, enrolling internal partners, celebrating collective success.

Recognising opportunities for, and coordinating, Solution Advisory, Value Consulting, Professional Services, Customer Success, SI Partner and Solution Partner joint contributions during sales cycles

Act as a trusted advisor to Guidewire Sales Executives who lead our selling efforts

Lead Solution Advisory team colleagues and Sales Executives to design approaches for engagements in customer/prospect buying cycles that convincingly demonstrate the superiority of our solutions, the specific value proposition for the insurer and the case for change

This role will be integral in driving success for our sales teams and will enable successful transformations for our customers, through both individual efforts and enablement / mentoring of the Japan Solution Consulting and Japan Sales team in APAC. 

Profile of candidate :

The Solution Director will have held a senior roles or transformational leadership position in a P&C insurer, including involvement with internal business case preparation, persuasion and influence to SLT, SteerCo &/or Board and have been part of the core decision making team in an insurer.  Ideally with experience in more than one insurer, or additional experience obtained by a related role in a major Systems Integrator or advisory firm, the Solution Director will be adaptable and credible when dealing with senior leadership teams in insurers who are evaluating options for core system replacement. Willingness to travel to attend prospect/customer meetings and internal meetings.

About Guidewire

Guidewire is the platform P&C insurers trust to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver our platform as a cloud service. More than 540+ insurers in 40 countries, from new ventures to the largest and most complex in the world, run on Guidewire.

As a partner to our customers, we continually evolve to enable their success. We are proud of our unparalleled implementation track record with 1600+ successful projects, supported by the largest R&D team and partner ecosystem in the industry. Our Marketplace provides hundreds of applications that accelerate integration, localization, and innovation.

For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com and follow us on Twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.

Guidewire Software, Inc. is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to an inclusive workplace, and believe that a diversity of perspectives, abilities, and cultures is a key to our success. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability. All offers are contingent upon passing a criminal history and other background checks where it's applicable to the position.