Specialist IT sales recruitment across complex technology markets.

Data, Business Intelligence and Analytics

We were recruiting IT salespeople in data before business intelligence was a term, before data lakes existed, and when drawing data from ERP systems into Excel was still considered high tech.

As the data market matured, we grew with it. We recruit IT salespeople for growth vendors, services companies and specialist firms that have data at their core.

We understand the subtle difference between selling data consulting and a BI dashboard.

Using TRACE, we help clients understand where their role fits in the market and the type of IT salespeople who will be successful.

Across this market, we recruit individual contributors, account managers, client directors and sales leaders. The important question is not just the job title, it is whether the candidate’s sales experience fits the market, buyer, product and sales environment.

Automation and Low Code

“Mike, have you ever heard of low code?”

“No.”

“Well, learn about it. You’re recruiting IT salespeople in that market now.”

That was 2017. Since then, we have recruited salespeople for Appian, OutSystems, Mendix, UiPath and Microsoft partners selling Power Platform.

As low-code, workflow automation, RPA and hyperautomation have converged, the market has become harder for outsiders to read. AI has only accelerated that shift, with automation increasingly tied to data, process intelligence and business transformation.

To the inexperienced eye, it can be difficult to know where the strongest sales candidates will come from. The best Account Executives, Business Development Managers and sales leaders are not always sitting under obvious job titles or obvious company names.

That is where market history matters.

We understand how this sector has evolved, which adjacent markets produce transferable salespeople, and what kind of sales experience actually fits the buyer, product and sales environment.

Using TRACE, we help clients identify both the obvious current-market talent and the less obvious candidates whose background gives them the skills to succeed.

ERP and the family of business applications

When we started placing IT salespeople 26 years ago, the market was much smaller.

The main business application markets were ERP, CRM and document management. To put that into context: Microsoft did not sell ERP, Oracle did not sell CRM until it bought Siebel, and Salesforce did not yet exist in Europe.

Since then, the ERP market has exploded. It has created a family of related products across finance, supply chain, procurement, analytics, HCM and operational software. Many of those markets can claim some lineage from ERP.

The distribution model has also become much more complex. Direct sales, partner channels, systems integrators, consulting firms and transformation services now sit around the same core market.

That complexity matters when hiring.

A salesperson who has sold SAP S/4HANA may fit a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management role, but not a Sage X3 role. Another candidate may look less obvious on paper but be a better fit because they understand the buyer, implementation cycle, partner ecosystem and commercial environment.

That is where market knowledge matters.

We have placed IT sales Account Executives, Business Development Managers, Account Managers, Channel Managers and sales leaders across tier-one and tier-two ERP, CRM, supply chain and specialist business application vendors, as well as the services firms that implement and support them.

Using Journey and TRACE, clients get a clearer view of the market, the candidate options and the evidence behind the hiring decision.

Microsoft Business Applications

Microsoft is the world’s biggest software vendor, with one of the broadest product ranges and one of the most complex routes to market.

That complexity matters when hiring salespeople.

The product range covers CRM, ERP, supply chain, content, data, AI, automation, infrastructure, SaaS, IaaS and security.

The route to the end user is also mixed. Microsoft sells directly, but much of the market runs through distributors, resellers, systems integrators, ISVs, consulting firms and specialist partners.

That creates a hiring problem. A salesperson who looks right on paper may not understand the product area, buyer, partner model or sales environment they are moving into.

We have been recruiting IT salespeople in the Microsoft channel for 26 years and have worked with some of the best-known Microsoft partners and business application companies in the UK.

We understand what works where.

Sometimes the right move is obvious: Dynamics Business Central to Dynamics Finance and Supply Chain Management, for example. Sometimes the right candidate comes from an adjacent market: SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite, data, analytics, automation, specialist ERP, consulting or another business applications ecosystem.

Using TRACE, we help clients map the candidate’s skills, market experience and sales environment against the role they are trying to fill. We’ve helped SAP S/4HANA sellers move into Dynamics FSCM roles, and Fabric sellers move into Databricks partner environments.

Sounds complex? It is, without a map. We have the map.

Technology and services consulting

There are more than 84,000 IT salespeople in the UK who, in one capacity or another, sell managed services or digital transformation.

That’s a big number.

The challenge is not finding salespeople. It is finding the few who understand your market, your buyer, your service model and your sales environment.

Journey helps clients narrow that huge market down to the four or five IT salespeople who are genuinely relevant to the role.

How? TRACE, our battle-tested search process, built on 26 years of IT sales recruitment experience.

We understand the difference between hosting and professional services, body shopping and bespoke development, managed services and transformation consulting, and creating a need rather than simply servicing one.

That matters. A salesperson who can sell one kind of technology service may not be able to sell another. The buyer, margin model, delivery risk, sales cycle and level of commercial complexity can be completely different.

Using TRACE, we help clients identify the salespeople whose experience actually matches the role, rather than relying on broad labels like “managed services”, “consulting” or “digital transformation”.

Specialist software

There are an estimated 5,000–7,000 software vendors in the UK. That creates both opportunity and complexity for candidates and clients.

It is very easy to “stick to what you know”. Sometimes that is the right move. Sometimes the better match is more lateral: a different product, a different buyer, or a different market where the sales skills still transfer.

Knowing the difference takes experience, market knowledge and process.

Journey has recruited IT salespeople across specialist software markets as diverse as rail planning software, facilities management software and public sector portal technology.

We help founders, sales leaders and candidates navigate a complex, fragmented and ever-changing software market with clearer judgement and better evidence.

Public sector software and services

Journey recruits IT salespeople for public sector roles. This includes local government, central government, social housing and secondary care.

Some of our clients are pure-play public sector. For others, public sector is one of several verticals into which they sell.

That distinction matters when hiring.

Selling into the public sector is not the same as selling into commercial markets. Procurement frameworks, tender processes, budget cycles, compliance requirements and longer, more structured buying journeys all change what good looks like in a salesperson.

A salesperson who has thrived selling into public sector frameworks may not suit a fast-moving commercial sale, and the reverse is just as true. Equally, a vendor who sells into several verticals needs a salesperson who can move between public sector rigour and commercial pace without losing either.

Using TRACE, we help clients define whether they need a public sector specialist or a multi-vertical seller, and identify the candidates whose experience genuinely fits the buyer, sales cycle and environment.