When you’re passionate about what you do and where you work, the rest comes easy. That’s the culture at Central 1 Credit Union, and that’s precisely what we’re looking for from you. Supporting nearly 150 member credit unions across British Columbia and Ontario, we’re the backbone of the credit union system in both provinces – taking care of everything from online services and product development, to payment processing, trade association services and more.

Our team of over 600 employees represent some of the most innovative, passionate individuals you’ll ever meet; people who honestly care about the organization, its members and each other. In other words, people who love what they do.

The Strategic Relationship Director’s primary focus is to lead the relationship with strategic accounts and provide proactive client contact to maintain business, improve client satisfaction and expand usage of Central 1’s Direct Banking and Payments products and services.

You’ll be primarily responsible for:

Client Liaison to enhance Client Satisfaction

• Building, maintaining and enhancing relationships with key executives at assigned clients, understanding their needs and developing new business opportunities, growing the breadth and depth of Central 1 Technology and Payment services.
• Establishing a single point of contact to ensure client’s expectations are understood and managed and subsequently products and services are delivered within these expectations providing ongoing value.
• Acting as the internal client advocate, he/she will maintain regular contact with key clients to increase awareness of delivery capabilities and product and service offerings for Direct Banking and Payment services.
• As the client escalation point and conflict resolution front person, this position will be responsible for leading and maintaining a detailed understanding of assigned clients, their particular business, profile and culture, internal politics landscape and the ability to articulate those particulars to ensure communication lines respect them.
• Maintaining a high level of visibility and client presence by effective communications and relations with current and potential clients.

Operations Support

• Liaising internally to champion change and innovation within Central 1 with the objective of enhancing client satisfaction and maintaining existing business.
• Providing support to department teams in product development, incident management resolution and ongoing client initiatives. Understanding and communicating client strategic future channel initiatives and support focus group meetings as required.
• Monitoring competitors’ product and service offerings and pricing and identifying changes and enhancements that may be required to maintain competitive position.
• Liaising with Manager of Projects and Service Delivery and project teams to understand workload prioritization and throughput capacity with the objective of balancing workload and client expectations.

Business Development

• Leading the process to identify, qualify, pursue and win opportunities with assigned clients.
• Leveraging client relationships to infiltrate and influence decision makers at the highest levels of client organizations to win opportunities.
• Maintaining a sound understanding of the features and benefits of Central 1 direct banking and payments products and services.
• Leading the development, preparation, presentation, and negotiation of proposals (including RFP’s & RFI’s) for assigned clients.
• Working collaboratively with the Product Management and Marketing teams to provide consultation, analysis, and perspective on product design, branding, and marketing initiatives to ensure alignment with client business needs and objectives, while ensuring that Central 1 is professionally represented and our brand is managed within the marketplace.

• You have a post-secondary education or equivalent in work-related experience. You are a seasoned professional with proven accomplishment at a senior level with a focus on IT, project management, relationship management, sales and marketing of technology and payment services.
• Possessing an entrepreneurial spirit with a track record of building strong client relationships, you are passionate for being a leader in a “client centric” organization.
• You have the ability of creating and influencing mutually beneficial outcomes at a senior level through excellent communication skills (written & oral), facilitation skills, presentation skills and conflict resolution skills.
• Self-motivated with a high degree of problem solving/analytic skills, you are able to take initiative and apply the right pressure to get the job done on behalf of the clients. Having extensive contact with clients will assist you to develop and secure interaction with all levels that increase account penetration and leads to increased revenue opportunities with existing clients.
• Diplomacy, tactfulness, accuracy of information, time management and the flexibility to meet the diversity of clients are all essential skills to succeed in this role.
• Extended working hours and traveling within Canada will be required to attend meetings, conferences and client related events.

Preference will be given for candidates the with knowledge of the Credit Union system in the Prairie Region.

As much as we believe in working hard, we also believe in personal growth and taking time for ourselves. Accordingly, our total rewards philosophy amounts to one of the best compensation and benefits packages in the industry – from performance-based incentives and extended benefits, to training and education reimbursements and ample vacation time.

Reporting to: Director, Strategic Relationships
Grade: I

Date Posted: March 10, 2017

Internal Applicants must apply by: March 17, 2017

Central 1 is committed to diversity and inclusion. If you have a request for a disability-related  accommodation, we will work with you to meet your needs.

*Unsolicited resumes from vendors will not be accepted for this or any position at Central 1*

**If you have issues or questions about the application process, please email humanresources @central1.com with description of your problem**