The Account Executive at IRIS Software Group is a pivotal, high-impact role designed to drive the growth of one of the UK's largest privately held software companies. In this position, you are responsible for representing a vast portfolio of business-critical software solutions that span accountancy, payroll, human resources, and education management. Your primary objective is to engage with business leaders, finance directors, and HR executives to understand their operational bottlenecks and demonstrate how IRIS Software Group can streamline their workflows, ensure compliance, and boost productivity.

What makes this role exceptionally dynamic is the strategic diversity of the product suites you will represent. Rather than executing transactional sales, Account Executives at IRIS Software Group act as consultative partners. You will guide prospects through complex digital transformations, helping them migrate from legacy systems or manual processes to highly automated, cloud-based SaaS platforms. Your work directly impacts how thousands of businesses manage their most critical assets—their financial data and their workforce.

To succeed, you must possess a unique blend of commercial drive, active listening, and domain curiosity. Whether you are aligned with specialized accounting suites, HR platforms, or education software, you are the face of the company. You will lead the charge in navigating competitive markets, turning initial interest into long-term strategic partnerships, and directly contributing to the ambitious revenue targets of IRIS Software Group.

The questions you will face during the hiring process are designed to evaluate your sales methodology, domain familiarity, and behavioral resilience. While the exact questions may vary depending on the product division and location, they consistently follow key patterns focused on consultative capability and problem-solving.

Sales Methodology & Strategy

This category tests your understanding of structured sales frameworks and your ability to manage a modern, consultative B2B sales cycle.

• Are you familiar with the SPIN selling framework, and how have you applied its principles in your previous sales roles?
• Walk me through your typical discovery process when engaging with a new mid-market prospect.

Preparing for an Account Executive interview at IRIS Software Group requires a structured approach that balances sales theory with practical application. You should not simply memorize answers; instead, focus on how you can demonstrate the core competencies that the hiring managers value most.

Consultative Selling Mastery – You must prove that you do not rely on aggressive, transactional sales tactics. IRIS Software Group values professionals who can run deep discovery sessions, uncover hidden business pain points, and map software solutions directly to those needs. Be ready to show how you use frameworks like SPIN selling to guide prospects to their own conclusions.

Domain and Financial Literacy – Depending on the division you join, you will be selling to accountants, HR directors, or school business managers. Familiarize yourself with the core challenges of these professions. If you are interviewing for an accounting-focused team, ensure you have a firm grasp of basic accounting principles, ledger management, and financial reporting.

Data-Driven Pipeline Management – Be prepared to talk about your sales numbers with absolute precision. Interviewers will expect you to know your historical average deal sizes, conversion rates, quota attainment percentages, and sales cycle lengths. Demonstrating a structured, analytical approach to your pipeline shows that you view sales as a science.

Resilience and Adaptability – The hiring team looks for candidates who view challenges as opportunities. You should be able to discuss past failures with extreme ownership, highlighting what you learned and how you adapted your approach. Showing that you can maintain high activity levels and positive energy in a competitive market is essential.

The interview process for an Account Executive at IRIS Software Group is highly structured, typically consisting of 2 to 3 stages designed to test both your cultural alignment and your sales capabilities. While there may be slight variations depending on whether you are applying for a UK-based corporate sales team or an international technical sales division, the core evaluation themes remain consistent.

The journey generally begins with an initial screening round. In some regions, this is preceded by a cognitive ability assessment, such as the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT), alongside a personality questionnaire. This initial phase helps the recruitment team gauge your problem-solving speed and baseline behavioral traits. Following this, you will have a casual, virtual conversation with a recruiter to discuss your background, career motivations, and alignment with the company's core values.

The subsequent stages dive deep into practical execution. You will undergo competency-based interviews with hiring managers where your sales metrics, objection-handling techniques, and domain knowledge are thoroughly examined. In many cases, you will also be asked to prepare a short presentation addressing a realistic business challenge or participate in a live role-play scenario. The final round typically involves a strategic discussion with a Sales Director, focusing on your long-term potential, commercial acumen, and business drive.

This visual timeline illustrates the typical progression from your initial application through to the final decision. Candidates should use this overview to pace their preparation, ensuring they allocate sufficient time to practice both their interactive role-play scenarios and any required technical or presentation materials. The structured nature of this process ensures that by the time you reach the final stage, you have a clear understanding of the role's expectations and the team dynamics.

To secure an offer, you must demonstrate excellence across several core evaluation areas. Understanding what "strong performance" looks like in each of these segments will allow you to tailor your preparation effectively.

Consultative Selling & SPIN Methodology

This area evaluates your ability to conduct a structured, value-driven sales conversation. IRIS Software Group wants to see that you can diagnose a prospect's business problems before trying to prescribe a software solution.

Be ready to go over:

• Situation and Problem Diagnostics – How to ask targeted questions that reveal the inefficiencies of a prospect's current setup.
• Implication Mapping – Helping the prospect understand the compounding business costs of leaving their problems unresolved.
• Need-Payoff Value Framing – Guiding the prospect to articulate the value of solving their challenges using IRIS software.

Example scenarios:

• "A prospect believes their current manual Excel sheets for HR tracking are 'good enough.' Walk us through how you would uncover the hidden risks and costs of this approach."
• "During a discovery call, a prospect refuses to answer your diagnostic questions and demands to see a product demo immediately. How do you handle this?"

Business & Domain Acumen

To sell effectively to finance and HR professionals, you must speak their language. This evaluation area measures your understanding of the business environments that IRIS products serve.

Be ready to go over:

• Core Financial Principles – A solid understanding of profit and loss mechanics, balance sheets, and cash flow management.
• Compliance and Regulatory Landscapes – Awareness of key business regulations, such as payroll tax compliance, GDPR, or educational reporting standards.
• SaaS Business Models – Understanding how cloud software integrations deliver long-term ROI compared to legacy systems.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Double-entry bookkeeping, Bank Reconciliation Statement (BRS) corrections, and automated ledger syncing.

Example scenarios:

• "Explain how automated payroll software mitigates the risk of compliance penalties for a business with a rapidly growing workforce."
• "Walk us through how you would explain the business value of real-time financial reporting to a Chief Financial Officer."

Presentation & Role-Play Execution

The presentation and role-play stages are where you demonstrate your executive presence, communication clarity, and ability to handle pressure in real-time.

Be ready to go over:

• Structured Pitch Delivery – Organizing a presentation logically, starting with the client's challenge and ending with a clear call to action.
• Interactive Objection Handling – Remaining calm, empathetic, and professional when faced with tough questions or skepticism from the panel.
• Time Management – Delivering a high-impact message within strict time limits without rushing your delivery.

Example scenarios:

• "Deliver a 10-minute presentation proposing an IRIS software suite to a simulated board of directors who are highly concerned about implementation downtime."
• "Participate in a mock sales call where the interviewer role-plays as a distracted, highly skeptical prospect who repeatedly interrupts you."

As an Account Executive at IRIS Software Group, your day-to-day focus is on driving revenue through the acquisition of new customers and the strategic expansion of existing accounts. You will own the sales cycle from post-qualification to close, acting as the primary point of contact for prospects as they evaluate IRIS solutions.

Your routine will involve conducting deep discovery calls to map out client requirements, followed by delivering highly customized product demonstrations. You will not just show product features; instead, you will tell a compelling story of how the software solves specific business pain points. This requires close collaboration with internal teams, including pre-sales engineers, product specialists, and implementation consultants, to ensure that the solutions you propose are technically viable and aligned with the client's onboarding timeline.

Beyond active selling, you are responsible for maintaining a healthy and accurate pipeline within the CRM. This includes regular forecasting, tracking key deal milestones, and strategizing on how to accelerate stalled opportunities. You will also spend time researching market trends, staying updated on regulatory changes that impact your buyers, and participating in continuous sales enablement training to keep your skills sharp.