Role Summary 

The Manager, Sales Desk leads a team of Internal Sales Specialists who support life insurance and annuity sales activity for National Life Group. This role is accountable for coaching, developing, and directing the team to deliver strong sales support, service quality, and distribution results. 

The position serves as a key connection between the Sales Desk and the field, translating agent, agency, and field leader needs into clear coaching priorities, team development plans, and process improvements. The manager partners closely with Distribution leadership and internal business partners to strengthen field relationships, improve execution, and advance opportunities across the sales process. 

The ideal candidate brings sales leadership experience, strong business judgment, and a market-oriented mindset with the ability to build trust, develop talent, and drive accountability in a fast-paced environment. 

This position currently offers an onsite work schedule, with the expectation that you will be in the office four (4) days per week during onsite core days.  Our current onsite core days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The work schedule type and core days are subject to change with advance notification and manager discretion. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• Lead, coach, and develop Internal Sales Specialists supporting life insurance and annuity sales activity. 

• Set clear performance expectations and provide ongoing feedback, coaching, training, and performance management. 

• Build team capability through quality review, development planning, and continuous learning. 

• Promote a market-connected, distribution-focused mindset that reflects field priorities, agency needs, and competitive dynamics. 

• Partner with external sales teams, field leaders, agencies, and Distribution leadership to align Sales Desk activity with business goals. 

• Gather and synthesize feedback from agents, agencies, field leaders, and sales partners to identify trends, barriers, and opportunities. 

• Translate field and market insights into coaching priorities, team training, sales enablement, and process improvements. 

• Collaborate across Distribution, Operations, Marketing, Product, Technology, and other partners to improve sales execution and the agent and agency experience. 

• Foster a collaborative culture centered on accountability, service excellence, and results. 

• Identify and develop future talent through succession planning, development planning, and career growth support. 

• Use technology, CRM tools, reporting, and operating practices to improve team effectiveness and efficiency. 

• Monitor performance metrics and team output to ensure goals and service standards are met. 

• Travel as needed for training, field engagement, relationship building, and business meetings. 

• Perform other duties as assigned. 

Minimum Qualifications  

• Bachelor's degree. 

• 5 years of sales, sales support, distribution, financial services, or related experience. 

• Demonstrated ability to coach, develop, or influence others in a professional setting. 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills. 

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, changing environment. 

• Up to 10% travel required. 

Preferred Qualifications  

• 2 or more years of people leadership or team leadership experience. 

• Experience leading a sales desk, internal sales team, distribution team, or relationship management function. 

• Knowledge of life insurance, annuity products, financial services distribution, or independent agency models. 

• Experience with CRM tools, including Salesforce.com. 

• Demonstrated ability to use field feedback, business insights, and performance data to improve sales execution and partner experience. 

• Strong ability to build relationships across field sales, internal partners, and leadership teams. 

• Experience developing high-performing teams through coaching, training, accountability, and development planning. 

AI Proficiency Expectations: 

At National Life Group, we view AI as an enabler of human potential. We use AI to help us work smarter, serve more clients, and keep our promises, while remaining a relationship-driven business where our people are our greatest strength. 

All applicants are expected to: 

• Leverage approved AI tools, where appropriate, to improve the efficiency, quality, and impact of their work. 

• Stay curious and open to new AI-enabled ways of working. 

• Exercise sound judgment by reviewing and validating AI-generated content. 

• Maintain accountability for the accuracy, quality, fairness, and integrity of work products by adhering to National Life's AI guiding principles. 

• Use AI responsibly and in accordance with company policies related to confidentiality, data privacy, security, compliance, retention, and intellectual property. 

Additional Expectations for AI-Forward Roles 

Core Competencies 

Cultivates Innovation - Fosters innovation by taking calculated risks; Work cooperatively with others to produce innovative solutions. 

Ensures Accountability - Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments and performance goals. 

Directs Work - Provides direction, delegates, and removes obstacles to get work done. 

Demonstrates Emotional Intelligence - Exhibits the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions and how emotions can influence others; Uses a combination of feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and opportunities. 

Exhibits Critical and Creative Thinking - Engaging thinking skills that focus on logic and reasoning to make decisions (critical) and innovative solutions to solve problems (creative). 

Leads Change - Facilitates change and transition at the individual and team level; Develops strategic goals for aligning with change. 

Develops Talent - Builds team(s) equipped for the future by applying coaching techniques for developing team members to meet their professional/personal goals and the organizational goals; Listens and responds with empathy; Asks thought provoking questions. 

Inspires Others - Motivates and influences others by creating an environment where teams can do their best work; Partners across the organization to achieve results.