Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Deal Desk Coordinator

🎯 Role Definition

The Deal Desk Coordinator is a sales-operations–focused role responsible for managing the end-to-end commercial transaction process (quote-to-cash) for a SaaS or technology company. This role partners closely with Sales, Legal, Finance, Product, and Revenue Operations to configure pricing, validate commercial terms, obtain required approvals, process orders, and ensure accurate revenue recognition and contract administration. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, skilled with Salesforce/CPQ and CLM tools, and able to influence cross-functional stakeholders to execute deals efficiently while protecting company margin and compliance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Sales Operations Analyst / Sales Coordinator
Contract Administrator / Contract Specialist
Customer Success Operations or Pricing Analyst

Advancement To:

Deal Desk Manager / Senior Deal Desk Analyst
Revenue Operations Manager / Sales Operations Manager
Commercial Operations Lead

Lateral Moves:

Quote-to-Cash Analyst
Contract Manager / Legal Operations Coordinator
Pricing & Packaging Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Act as the central point of coordination for all commercial deals: intake, validation, pricing configuration, approvals, contract generation, and order submission into the billing system, ensuring timely execution and SLA adherence.
Review sales requests (quotes, discounts, non-standard terms) and perform eligibility checks against pricing policies, discount matrices, approval workflows, and margin thresholds before routing for approvals.
Configure and maintain quotes in Salesforce (and Salesforce CPQ or equivalent CPQ tools), including SKUs, pricing, renewal terms, billing frequency, and multi-year deal logic to ensure accurate downstream billing and revenue recognition.
Draft, edit, and assemble commercial contracts, SOWs, amendments, and master services agreements using CLM platforms and standard templates; ensure commercial terms are accurately reflected and compliant with legal playbook.
Facilitate cross-functional approval workflows (Sales, Legal, Finance, Product, and Security) for non-standard commercial terms, discounts, custom payment schedules, and revenue deferral requests; track approvers and escalate stuck requests to meet deal timelines.
Validate order forms and signed contracts upon receipt, confirm signature authenticity and counterparty details, and complete order entry into the ERP/billing system (e.g., NetSuite, Zuora) to trigger provisioning and invoicing.
Reconcile quotes, proposals, and contracts to ensure no discrepancies between negotiated terms and executed agreements; correct mismatches to prevent billing errors and revenue leakage.
Support complex pricing scenarios (volume/term-based discounts, usage tiers, bundling, split billing) by modeling financial impacts and recommending commercial structure aligned with pricing policy and margin targets.
Maintain and update deal desk playbooks, pricing matrices, standard contract clauses, and approval threshold documentation to scale consistent decision-making and accelerate deal velocity.
Own the deal desk queue: monitor SLAs, manage priorities for time-sensitive renewals and enterprise deals, and provide daily/weekly status reports to Sales Leadership on pending approvals and deal blockers.
Execute ad-hoc deal analysis to quantify financial impact (ACV, TCV, MRR), identify revenue recognition timing implications, and advise Finance on deferrals or recognition treatment.
Provide sales enablement: train and advise sales teams on standard commercial terms, discount request process, CPQ best practices, and how to structure deals for fast approvals.
Maintain accurate deal records and metadata in CRM (Salesforce), including commercial terms, approval history, document links, and deal rationale for auditability and reporting.
Partner with Legal to surface recurring non-standard clause requests and help evolve contract templates that balance customer needs and legal risk mitigation.
Implement and sustain automated workflows and integrations between CRM, CPQ, CLM, and billing systems; validate data transfer integrity and troubleshoot exceptions that impact order-to-cash.
Conduct deal sanity checks for quotes with high complexity, ensuring tax, compliance, export controls, and credit terms are accounted for and that the deal meets company policy.
Manage renewals and upsell/order amendments by coordinating addendums, price adjustments, and term changes while ensuring continuity of service and correct billing treatment.
Participate in cross-functional deal reviews and senior leadership escalations for strategic or high-risk transactions; present deal summaries, recommended approvals, risks, and mitigation options.
Audit closed deals to identify process gaps, recurring errors, and training opportunities; partner with Revenue Operations to implement corrective actions and continuous improvements.
Maintain dashboards and regular metrics (deal velocity, approval times, discount usage, win/loss impact) for leadership to measure deal desk performance, policy adherence, and revenue risk.
Ensure compliance with internal controls, SOX-related processes, and audit requests by documenting deal approvals, evidence of authorization, and retention of signed documents.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory deal analysis to help leadership understand pricing trends and discount erosion.
Contribute to the organization's deal desk strategy and roadmap including automation opportunities and template rationalization.
Collaborate with business units to translate sales and product needs into CPQ, CLM, and billing configuration requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies when implementing deal desk process or tooling improvements.
Serve as a subject-matter expert for billing exceptions, credit memos, and dispute resolution related to deal execution.
Assist with onboarding new product SKUs, add-ons, and regional pricing changes into CPQ and pricing guides.
Prepare quarterly retrospectives and operational playbooks that codify lessons learned and optimize review cadence.
Coordinate third-party approvals (channel partners, resellers) and ensure partner contracts align with master terms and revenue recognition rules.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep knowledge of Salesforce CRM and Salesforce CPQ (or comparable CPQ such as Apttus, Conga, or QuoteWerks) configuration and quote management.
Hands-on experience with contract lifecycle management (CLM) platforms (DocuSign CLM, Ironclad, Conga Contracts) and contract templating.
Familiarity with billing and ERP systems (Zuora, NetSuite, Stripe Billing, or similar) and understanding of quote-to-cash integrations.
Strong Excel and Google Sheets skills (pivot tables, lookup formulas, financial modeling) for pricing scenarios and deal analysis.
Basic SQL or data-querying ability to extract CRM/billing data and prepare ad-hoc reports.
Understanding of revenue recognition principles (ASC 606) and how contract terms affect timing and reporting of revenue.
Experience with approval workflows, ticketing systems, and process automation tools (Process Builder, Flow, Workato, Zapier).
Contract drafting and redlining competency, with the ability to interpret commercial and legal clauses.
Pricing strategy comprehension: discount structures, list vs. net pricing, rebates, and usage-based billing.
Experience building and maintaining dashboards with BI tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI) to monitor deal desk KPIs.

Soft Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication; able to summarize complex deals for executives and legal/finance stakeholders.
Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills; able to influence without direct authority.
High attention to detail and accuracy under tight deadlines; meticulous record-keeping and audit-readiness.
Problem-solving mindset with the ability to triage blockers and propose pragmatic solutions to close deals.
Time management and prioritization skills to juggle high volumes of requests while meeting SLAs.
Customer-oriented approach with a commercial mindset—balancing speed to revenue with margin protection.
Resilience and adaptability in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with evolving processes.
Ethical judgment and compliance orientation when evaluating non-standard requests and approvals.
Training and coaching capability to upskill sales teams on CPQ and contract standards.
Analytical curiosity to identify root causes of recurring issues and drive continuous process improvement.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Information Systems, Legal Studies, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree plus coursework or certifications in Sales Operations, Contract Management, Revenue Operations, or a related discipline. MBA or relevant graduate degree is a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Finance or Accounting
Economics
Legal Studies / Paralegal
Information Systems / Computer Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years in sales operations, revenue operations, deal desk, contract administration, or sales support roles in SaaS/technology companies.

Preferred:

3+ years working with Salesforce and CPQ tools, plus hands-on experience with CLM and billing systems.
Demonstrated experience supporting enterprise commercial transactions, renewals, or complex multi-year deals.
Track record of improving quote-to-cash cycle time and implementing process or tooling enhancements that reduced manual effort and errors.