Diocesan Engagement Account Manager - Hybrid

Position Summary

The Diocesan Engagement Account Manager is responsible for building and nurturing Unbound’s relationship with the Catholic Church and vetting our organization with dioceses to attain attestations from Archbishops, Bishops, Chancellors, Vicar Generals and School Superintendents. This position is responsible for the execution of marketing and public relations strategies related to the weekend parish visit program and school classroom partnerships, as well as other initiatives reaching the Catholic audience.

This US-based role focuses on key religious and lay leaders in the Catholic Church and other affiliated organizations. This individual will be responsible for traveling to major metro areas to connect with prospective partners who represent the Catholic community. This role helps define account-specific development strategies aligned with the mission of the Church and Unbound. This leader collaborates with a team of internal account managers, data analysts and channel leaders to define and achieve short and long-term growth goals. This individual must be able to lead and coordinate a matrix team to deliver on commitments to external partners. The primary work location for this role could be in Unbound’s Kansas City, KS office or in any US city with ready access to a major airport.

The ideal candidate brings strong sales and account management experience and a deep understanding of the structure of the Catholic Church.

Key Accountabilities:

• Relationship Building: Build and nurture Unbound’s relationships with diocesan decision-makers and influencers in the Catholic Church.
• Consultant to Unbound: Advise leadership and staff on strategies to leverage Unbound’s ability to achieve greater impact and identify top trends and relevant opportunities in the Catholic community.
• Sales expertise: Profile top prospects and key client relationships in the target market and leverage strong organizational, communication, and follow-up skills to proactively open doors and initiate contact. Use a consultative selling approach and appropriately customize offerings.

Who We Are

Unbound is an international nonprofit, founded by lay Catholics, answering the Gospel call to put the needs of the marginalized and vulnerable first. We build relationships of mutual respect and support that bridge cultural, religious, and economic divides. We invite all people of goodwill to join us.

Working side by side with people of diverse faith traditions in Africa, Asia and Latin America, we bring people together to challenge poverty in new and innovative ways.

We inspire confidence and offer opportunity and encouragement to children and families living on the margins of society. We create practical and trustworthy means for people to help others and nurture connections that uplift us all.

Our Mission is to walk with the poor and marginalized people of the world.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities - To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Advise leadership and staff on strategies to leverage Unbound’s ability to achieve greater impact within the Catholic community including trends and opportunities.
• Develop mutually beneficial, strategic-level relationships with key decision-makers, influencers, and other leaders within affiliated groups.
• Develop and execute account plans to achieve mutually beneficial relationships with dioceses, parishes, and other affinity/affiliated groups within the Church, with the goal of opening doors for Unbound presentations.
• Expand and maintain access to Catholic audiences in a variety of channels and sub-channels (direct mail, digital, face-to-face, events, etc.).
• Co-create with internal teams to develop value-added programs, content, activities and thought leadership that are relevant and impactful to the Catholic audiences.
• Develop and implement growth plans, budgets, and forecasts to attain strategic goals.
• Coordinate with the internal sales desk (account managers) to ensure all projects and commitments are delivered to the partners as promised.
• Document and monitor results of outreach and sales calls in systems and tools.
• Trouble-shoot issues and address opportunities with excellent follow-up and diligence.
• Lead the initial recruitment efforts/strategies of priest preachers and presenters for Unbound’s Church outreach efforts.
• Co-lead the discernment sessions for potential new preachers including application processing, background vetting, coordinating travel and content sessions.
• Develop and execute crisis communications and plans related to the Catholic Church and serve as spokesperson on Church-related issues.

Personal Characteristics & Competencies – To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies and skills. (Examples)

• Acts as a good steward of the resources entrusted to Unbound and acts with sound business practices.
• Works in a respectful and collaborative manner with partnering groups and conveys mutual respect and strong teamwork aptitude.
• Possess strong organizational, communication and interpersonal skills including adherence to confidentiality.
• Highly self-motivated in consistently setting and meeting deadlines, shifting focus smoothly and quickly among competing priorities and balancing multiple projects.
• Able to demonstrate poise, tact and diplomacy, with a high tolerance for stress, ambiguity, and change.

Qualifications and Experience:

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of success in sales, marketing, and account development. They must have outstanding relationship-building and communication skills and will be expected to travel at least 50% of the time (depending on the location of the individual) and consistently execute a high volume of varied outreach to targeted audiences. They will offer differentiated and relevant value and programming to strategic-level relationships while bringing back market insight and customer feedback to Unbound. Specific qualifications include:

• Ability to travel domestically (50 - 70% of the time) and internationally (up to 2 trips per year).
• Deep experience and familiarity with the Catholic Church structure and culture, and knowledgeable of the social teachings of the universal Catholic Church.
• Bachelor's degree; preferably in marketing, communications, public relations, or theology.
• 8+ years of experience in managing sales and/or operations at the area / national level, national account management and/or interaction preferred.
• 5+ years of progressively responsible strategic relationship development experience in challenging external and internal environments, preferably in a not-for-profit organization.
• Direct experience in parishes, schools and faith-based groups and a strong network of Catholic leaders is highly preferred.
• Passion for servant leadership with a focus on social justice, individual empowerment, and community building.
• Demonstrated strength in customer relationship development and management, strong skills in defusing conflict and coordinating service recovery; focused follow-through with detailed response implementation.
• Technical aptitude as a user of customer relationship management (CRM) tools, virtual communication and teleconferencing platforms, Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Proven history of success in gaining commitment and securing successful new partnerships.
• Proven ability to manage time effectively, respond quickly to changing priorities, and adapt within a fast-paced environment.

Physical Abilities

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

• Required to sit, stand, and walk.
• Use hands to operate and feel objects, tools or controls.
• Reach with hands and arms.
• Required to talk and hear consistently.
• Ability to occasionally lift, carry and/or drag up to fifty (50) pounds if necessary.
• Specific vision abilities required by the role include the ability to distinguish the nature of objects by using the eye.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job; reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.