Services Engagement Manager

Who are we?

At Finastra, we’re a global leader in financial services software, dedicated to expanding access to financial services and shaping what’s next for the industry. Our technology powers mission-critical solutions across Lending, Payments and Universal Banking, supporting over 7,000 customers, including 80% of the world’s top 50 banks, in more than 110 countries.

Role summary

The Services Sales Engagement Manager is a professional services pre-sales specialist who partners with account executives and delivery teams to create commercially and operationally sound Statements of Work (SOWs), delivery plans, and pricing for opportunities where Professional Services (PS) are being sold.

This role owns the SOW and services-commercial construct for deals, ensuring scope, effort, risk and pricing are correct and that deals are deliverable and profitable.

Crucially, this is a PS-focused engagement role - not a general sales or account ownership role. The Services Sales Engagement Manager does not own quota generation, ongoing account management, or traditional selling activities.

Primary responsibilities

SOW and proposal development:

• Draft, iterate and finalize Statements of Work, implementation plans, SOW appendices and professional services schedules aligned to the commercial terms agreed by the Account Manager.

• Define deliverables, milestones, acceptance criteria, dependencies, assumptions, resource requirements and delivery timelines.

Commercial and pricing design:

• Build services pricing models and cost estimates that align with company margin targets and customer expectations.

• Apply pricing levers (fixed-price, time & materials, milestone-based, outcome-based) and recommend the optimal engagement model.

Opportunity support and deal governance:

• Act as PS subject-matter partner in deal meetings; translate customer requirements into scoped solutions and SOWs.

• Maintain version control and audit trail for SOWs; ensure compliance with company contracting standards.

• Coordinate approvals with finance, legal, delivery leadership and sales operations for deal sign-off.

Risk management and delivery handover:

• Identify and surface delivery risks, pre-requisites and change-control points in the proposal stage.

• Execute structured handover to delivery teams after contract signature: resource alignment, knowledge transfer, kick-off artifacts.

Process, templates and enablement:

• Create and maintain SOW templates, pricing calculators, checklists and deal playbooks for scalable, repeatable PS quoting.

• Train and advise sales and delivery stakeholders on PS scoping best-practices and the SOW process.

Measurement, reporting and continuous improvement:

• Track estimate-to-actual variance, SOW cycle time, margins and post-delivery outcomes to continuously improve scoping and pricing accuracy.

Navigate the professional services organisation:

• Identify the right people and roles that need to support opportunities from the broader PS organisation.

• Matrix management of pre-sales teams

Measures

KPI's:

• Bookings: Meet or Exceed PS Bookings Target.

• Margin: Average Margin on PS Bookings

OKR's:

• SOW cycle time: Average time from initial scoping brief to signed SOW.

• Conversion rate: Percentage of opportunities with a PS SOW that convert to signed deals.

• Estimate accuracy: Variance between proposed PS effort/cost and actual delivered effort/cost.

• On-time handover: Percentage of projects handed over to delivery on schedule and with complete artifacts.

• Compliance / quality: Number of SOWs requiring rework due to contractual or compliance issues.

• Customer/delivery satisfaction: Post-kickoff satisfaction or early delivery NPS relevant to scoping accuracy.

Required experience, skills & attributes

Experience:

• Solid experience in professional services pre-sales, PS engagement management, solutions engineering for services, or PS delivery leadership supporting sales - software industry preferred.

• Demonstrated experience drafting and negotiating SOWs, fixed-price and T&M engagements, resource scoping and pricing for software/implementation projects.

• Experience working with sales teams and delivery organizations; familiarity with contracting, legal and finance review processes.

Technical & commercial skills:

• Strong commercial acumen: pricing models, margin management, ROI and TCO basics.

• Excellent written and verbal communication - can convert business requirements into clear SOW language and pricing rationale.

• Comfortable using CRM/PSA tools (e.g., Salesforce, PSA/time entry tools), Excel-based pricing models and document version control.

Behavioral attributes:

• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to keep complex deal artifacts aligned across stakeholders.

• Collaborative, persuasive and able to maintain neutrality between sales ambitions and delivery constraints.

• Pragmatic problem-solver who can push back constructively to protect delivery feasibility and company risk.

Education & certifications (preferred):

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science or related field.

• Certifications in project management (PMP, Prince2) or commercial negotiation are a plus.

We are proud to offer a range of incentives to our employees worldwide. These benefits are available to everyone, regardless of grade, and reflect the values we uphold:

· Flexibility: Enjoy unlimited vacation, based on your location and business priorities. Hybrid working arrangements, and inclusive policies such as paid time off for voting, bereavement, and sick leave.

· Well-being: Access Confidential one-on-one therapy through our Employee Assistance Program, find support from our network of Wellbeing Champions and Gather Groups, and a calendar of monthly events and initiatives designed to help you thrive - Inside and Outside of work.

· Medical, life & disability insurance, retirement plan, lifestyle and other benefits*

· Sustainability: Benefit from paid time off for volunteering and donation matching.

· DEI: Participate in multiple DE&I groups for open involvement (e.g., Count Me In, Culture@Finastra, Proud@Finastra, Disabilities@Finastra, Women@Finastra).

· Career Development: Access online learning and accredited courses through our Skills & Career Navigator tool.

· Recognition: Be part of our global recognition program, Finastra Celebrates, and contribute to regular employee surveys to help shape Finastra and foster a culture where everyone is engaged and empowered to perform at their best.

*Specific benefits may vary by location.

At Finastra, each individual is unique, bringing their own ideas, thoughts, cultural beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences together. We learn from one another, embrace and celebrate our differences, and create an environment where everyone feels safe to be themselves.

Be unique, be exceptional, and help us make a difference at Finastra!