SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Benchling is seeking an Account Management Leader to lead and develop a team of Account Managers focused on renewals and expansion within the Life Sciences enterprise SaaS space. This is a hands-on leadership role combining team management with strategic customer engagement.
You will manage and mentor a team of experienced Account Managers, fostering a commercially-minded culture that drives renewal, retention, and net revenue retention outcomes. You'll develop deep expertise in Benchling's solutions and guide your team in building strategic renewal plans, proactively identifying and mitigating customer risk, and uncovering upsell and expansion opportunities across the customer portfolio.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead, hire, and develop the AM team, ensuring they are highly enabled on Benchling's renewal playbook and can execute consistently.
- Coach AMs on building strategic renewal plans and delivering renewal-focused business reviews that reinforce value and secure executive buy-in.
- Drive renewal, retention, and net revenue retention targets through strategic guidance and operational excellence, with particular focus on identifying contraction and churn risk early.
- Use data and analytics to identify at-risk accounts, renewal timing, and expansion signals, developing account-specific plans in collaboration with sales.
- Provide predictable renewal forecasts backed by leading indicators, surfacing risk and expansion signals early to inform accurate projections.
- Collaborate cross-functionally (CS, Sales, Finance, Legal, Deal Desk) on renewal strategy, pricing, and deal structure.
- Implement best practices for tracking renewal pipeline and standardizing risk mitigation processes across the book.
- Partner with CX Operations to eliminate AM toil through AI tools, automation, and improved workflows.
- Serve as a senior point of contact for complex or high-stakes renewal negotiations, supporting AMs in navigating contraction requests and competitive threats.
- Champion customer voice within Benchling, providing feedback to inform pricing, packaging, and product decisions.
- Guide AMs in navigating complex customer organizations to build multi-threaded relationships and drive consensus on renewal and expansion decisions.
About Benchling: Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D, used by over 200,000 scientists globally, including more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma companies. The company is rebuilding biotech for the AI era, enabling scientists to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents directly in their workflows.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Business, or a related field
- 5+ years of experience in Account Management, Renewals, Sales, or a related commercial function within SaaS
- 3+ years in a management role
- Strong understanding of Life Sciences R&D, process development, or related scientific domains
- Proven ability to lead and develop a high-performing commercial team
- Excellent negotiation and communication skills, able to build relationships across technical, commercial, and executive stakeholders
- Self-motivated, adaptable, and thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
- Experience leveraging a modern CS/Sales tech stack, including CRM (e.g., Salesforce), customer success platforms (e.g., Gainsight), data/analytics tools (e.g., Mode, Sigma), and AI-assisted productivity tools (e.g., Claude)
- Ability to travel up to 20% based on team and customer needs
Preferred:
- Experience working with or supporting the Benchling platform
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams through complex renewal negotiations, contraction mitigation, and expansion/upsell motions
