Icertis SVP Sales & RVP DACH

4 Feb

Company Background

Icertis is an enterprise contract management platform in the cloud that solves hard contract management problems on an easy-to-use platform. With Icertis, companies can accelerate business by increasing contract velocity, protect against risk by ensuring regulatory and policy compliance, and optimise commercial relationships by maximising revenue and reducing costs. Icertis was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

SVP Sales Search Background

Icertis was looking to hire an SVP Sales Leader in Europe to support its growth efforts in EMEA.
The hiring manager for this role was the Chief Revenue Officer
Icertis were looking for external assistance and had shortlisted two executive search firms they wanted to work with.
After being highly recommended by their Chief of Staff, our history with hiring for Icertis and our experience and reputation in hiring successful European leaders, Icertis chose to work with Oakstone International.

Oakstone had previously worked with Icertis’s Chief of Staff Larry Sandford when he worked at Coupa as VP of Global Talent Acquisition.

We supported Larry with an RPO for Coupa, whilst we rebuilt their European talent team. We have a long-standing relationship with him, assisting him and his team hire around 80 people globally.

SVP Sales Requirements

Icertis were looking for an experienced sales leader who has taken a disruptive SaaS firm from $100M to $200M and preferably taken a company through a successful IPO.
Experience in selling very large, complex enterprise-focused solutions.
Strong sales leadership acumen
The role was highly sensitive and required an NDA

Our approach and solution

Oakstone created a sizeable list of industry-leading leaders in the SaaS world across the EU, UK, and Germany and contacted them all individually under NDA.
Oakstone positioned Icertis as the industry leader they were, with a heavy emphasis on its future to grow and IPO.
Within two weeks, Oakstone came up with a highly qualified shortlist.
The top 4 candidates were fast-tracked through a rigorous hiring process, and an offer was made and accepted.

Challenges

The caliber of candidate Icertis sought was in the top 2%, with little compromise and extreme urgency.
The company had faced challenges with its reputation, but with the planned hire, they were committed to improving and building a stronger, more positive image.

Results

The team at Icertis were highly impressed by our speed and quality of delivery.
The successful candidate was chosen due to their background in building top-performing go-to-market teams across Europe.
He created a strong personal connection with those he met within Icertis, and his attention to detail in managing every step of the process impressed the hiring team.
The successful candidate is a very people-oriented leader and was the best option to optimise the Icertis culture.

Onboarding and Decision Making

The newly hired SVP Sales identified a window of opportunity to upskill the leadership team in Central Europe. Therefore, he requested our support in his first and arguably one of his most important regional hires.
An RVP Sales, DACH was required.

RVP DACH Requirements

Icertis was looking for someone to come in and manage an existing team of Account Executives in Germany.
Experience in selling a large, complex enterprise solution in SaaS.
They were seeking someone strategic, partner-facing and who thrived in a fast-paced US-centric culture, despite being based in Germany.

Our approach and solution

Due to our extensive network in Germany, we were able to quickly identify and speak to all the primary candidates for the role.
The same approach and solution was applied to the RVP DACH role as the SVP Sales role.
We were able to present a shortlist of 5 candidates within 2 weeks.
Icertis interviewed 3 of the candidates and subsequently hired one.
Total search time to offer – 5 weeks.

Challenges

The same challenges occurred in this role as the SVP Sales.

Results

The successful candidate had tenure in successful SaaS companies doing this exact role.
Track record of building US-based SaaS companies in Central Europe.