Director, Sales Excellence - Commercial Lines

The above represents the full salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay and job title, we'll consider your location, education, experience, and other job-related factors, and will fall within the stated range. Your recruiter can share more information about the specific salary range during the hiring process.

While we prefer a candidate who can work a hybrid or remote schedule and reside near our Columbus, Ohio corporate office, we we will consider candidates who can work remote in any of our listed payroll states.

The position will report to the Senior Vice President, Commercial Lines - Small Business

Are you a Referral?

If you know a current Encova Insurance associate and would like to apply as a referral, please encourage them to submit your referral information before you submit your application. You will receive an email with a direct URL link to the Job Posting of interest. Applying through this URL link will create your referral relationship for our Talent Acquisition Team.

Unique residence requirements are listed in each job posting, please review closely for details.

Encova is only able to employ associates who reside and work within specific U.S. states. Our current policies are based on the laws in states in which we are registered for payroll. Our current footprint includes:

Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

JOB OBJECTIVE:
The Director, Sales Excellence - Commercial Lines is responsible for building and leading Encova's inside sales team and driving profitable growth across small, middle-market, and large commercial agents without an assigned agency manager. This role owns the outbound, virtual sales strategy, execution, and performance for the inside sales team while also serving as the enterprise leader for sales training for Encova's agency managers. The ideal candidate combines deep sales expertise and the ability to elevate sales effectiveness across the organization.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
1. Lead, develop, and scale the Commercial Lines Inside Sales team supporting agents without an assigned agency manager.
2. Define and execute inside sales strategies aligned with company's growth, appetite, and profitability goals.
3. Establish sales targets, KPIs, and production benchmarks for the inside sales team across account sizes and product lines.
4. Drive consistent sales execution, accountability, and pipeline discipline.
5. Partner with agency managers (production underwriters and territory managers) and leaders to support agent growth, engagement, and penetration.
6. Collaborate with agency operations and marketing on new agency onboarding, growth planning, and territory strategies using inside sales resources.
7. Own the design and delivery of sales training programs for all commercial lines underwriters and territory managers.
8. Train teams on consultative selling, coverage positioning, value-based conversations, and objection handling.
9. Develop sales playbooks, talking points, and tools aligned with commercial lines underwriting appetite and growth strategy.
10. Ensure business teams are equipped to effectively influence and support agent sales outcomes.
11. Work closely with underwriting leadership to align sales execution with risk selection and pricing strategy.
12. Partner with product, operations, and marketing teams to support launches, campaigns, and market initiatives.
13. Serve as a key liaison between sales, underwriting, and distribution leadership.
14. Analyze sales performance, submission-to-bind ratios, and pipeline trends for assigned agencies.
15. Leverage CRM and sales analytics to improve forecasting, activity management, and productivity.
16. Identify opportunities to improve speed to quote, close ratios, and agent experience for assigned agencies.
17. Champion sales process improvements, automation, and enablement tools.

OTHER FUNCTIONS:
1. Non-essential functions as assigned.
2. Travel to visit agencies, conduct ride-alongs with agency managers, and train remote associates as needed.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

* Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience preferred
* 4+ years of sales leadership or sales enablement experience required
* Background in sales enablement, training, or learning & development required
* Experience in developing and delivering sales training required
* Experience leading national or multi-regional sales teams strongly preferred
* Strong CRM and sales analytics experience desired
* CPCU, CIC, ARM, or similar professional designation preferred
* Experience supporting independent agency and broker distribution models preferred
* Cross-functional influence (sales, underwriting, distribution)
* Data-driven decision making
* Change leadership and scalability mindset
* Strong presentation and facilitation skills

This position has been evaluated in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Encova Insurance makes every effort to reasonably accommodate disabilities to permit performance of the essential functions and candidates who need such accommodation are encouraged to seek it. This description reflects the nature and level of work performed by associates in this position. It is not an all-inclusive inventory of duties, responsibilities and qualifications required. It provides an accurate overview of the work and skills needed to perform this position. Because job content may change from time to time, Encova Insurance reserves the right to add and/or delete functions from this job as it deems necessary for business reasons.

Ready to join our team?
At Encova Insurance, we firmly believe that our associates drive our company's success by delivering unrivaled service to our customers. With success in mind, we make an ongoing effort to provide an environment that offers challenging, stimulating, and financially rewarding opportunities. Join us to discover a work experience where you can learn and grow to your fullest potential.

What you can expect from us

In addition to a competitive compensation package, we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the well-being and growth of our associates. Available benefits (subject to any policy or plan changes) include, but are not limited to:

• Health, Dental & Vision Insurance

• Company-provided life and income protection plans

• Eligibility to participate in a company incentive bonus program

• 401(k) Retirement Plan - 100% company match up to 7% on annual salary

• Paid Time Off, Paid Holidays, and Floating Holidays

• Flexible Work Arrangements - Hybrid and remote depending on the role

We believe that happy, healthy associates are the foundation of great work. Join us and thrive both professionally and personally.

Encova Insurance is an EOE/E-Verify employer.