VP, Sales Operations

The Role

The Vice President, Sales Operations is responsible for building the strategy, infrastructure, processes, and capabilities that enable Ascent’s sales organization to scale effectively. Reporting to the Head of Sales, this leader will drive operational excellence, sales enablement, and cross-functional alignment to improve sales performance, client outcomes, and revenue growth. 

The VP will also lead the Client Business Development, Sales Associate, and Marketing teams and partner closely with Credit, Operations, Technology, and Learning & Development. 

This role combines strategy, operations, enablement, people leadership, and change management. Success means creating a high-performing sales organization with the processes, tools, capabilities, and accountability needed to execute consistently and scale with the business. 

What You'll Do 

Sales Strategy & Operations 

• Partner with the Head of Sales to develop and execute the sales operating strategy in support of Ascent’s growth objectives. 

• Build scalable processes and operating disciplines across pipeline management, forecasting, lead management, sales execution, and client engagement. 

• Develop KPIs, dashboards, and reporting that provide actionable insights into sales performance, pipeline health, conversion, and business trends. 

• Improve productivity, conversion, and sales-cycle efficiency by identifying process gaps, bottlenecks, and opportunities for automation. 

• Optimize CRM utilization, workflows, reporting, and data integrity to support effective execution and decision-making. 

• Establish sales operating standards and drive consistent adoption of best practices across teams. 

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives and proactively address operational risks that could impact sales performance or the client experience. 

Sales Enablement & Development 

• Develop and execute a comprehensive sales enablement strategy, including onboarding, product training, sales methodology, and ongoing development. 

• Ensure sales professionals have the knowledge, tools, resources, and certifications required to perform effectively. 

• Develop standardized sales playbooks, messaging, competitive positioning, and client engagement practices. 

• Build role-specific competency models and coaching frameworks to identify skill gaps and strengthen individual and team performance. 

• Develop programs that accelerate new-hire productivity and prepare high-performing sales professionals for future leadership opportunities. 

• Partner with Credit, Marketing, Operations, and Learning & Development to ensure teams remain current on products, lending guidelines, market trends, and competitive intelligence. 

Team Leadership

Lead the Client Business Development, Sales Associate, and Marketing teams by: 

• Establishing clear goals, performance expectations, and accountability. 

• Hiring, coaching, developing, and retaining high-performing leaders and team members. 

• Building career paths, succession plans, and development opportunities that strengthen the internal talent pipeline. 

• Creating a culture of execution, collaboration, continuous improvement, and strong client outcomes. 

Marketing & Client Acquisition 

• Align marketing, lead generation, and demand generation strategies with sales priorities and company growth objectives. 

• Improve lead quality, conversion, and client acquisition through effective segmentation, lead scoring, funnel optimization, and campaign strategies. 

• Establish clear Sales and Marketing SLAs for lead management, handoffs, response times, and follow-up. 

• Define and monitor metrics for campaign effectiveness, pipeline contribution, conversion, and ROI. 

• Ensure consistent positioning and messaging throughout the client journey and continuously optimize marketing investment based on performance. 

Success Measures 

Success will be demonstrated through improvements in: 

• Sales productivity, pipeline health, and conversion 

• Client acquisition and marketing-generated pipeline 

• Sales-cycle efficiency and lead response time 

• New-hire time to productivity and sales capability 

• CRM adoption, data quality, and operating discipline 

• Training and enablement effectiveness 

• Team performance, engagement, and talent development 

• Cross-functional execution and operational scalability 

Qualifications 

Required 

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Commercial Real Estate, or a related field. 

• 7+ years of progressive experience in Sales Operations, Sales Enablement, Revenue Operations, or Sales Leadership, including significant people leadership experience. 

• Proven experience building and scaling sales operations in a growing organization. 

• Demonstrated success improving sales performance through process optimization, sales enablement, operational discipline, and scalable systems. 

• Expertise in pipeline management, forecasting, sales analytics, KPI development, and CRM optimization, preferably Salesforce or HubSpot. 

• Experience developing sales onboarding, training, coaching, and ongoing development programs. 

• Strong analytical and financial acumen with the ability to translate data into actionable business strategies. 

• Strong executive communication and influencing skills with demonstrated ability to drive alignment across functions. 

Preferred 

• Experience in commercial real estate, lending, financial services, or another complex B2B sales environment. 

• Experience supporting distributed sales organizations. 

• Experience leading Marketing or client acquisition functions in partnership with Sales. 

• Experience implementing sales methodologies and enablement technologies. 

The Pay:  Salary for this role is $210,000-225,000 annually plus eligibility for a 25% bonus, DOE

The Work Environment:  This role works on-site from Ascent's Encino office, Monday - Thursday (Fridays are work-from-home).