Team Leader Key Account Management
Name: Corina Ledergerber
Age: 32
Degree: Master of Arts in Economics
Profession: Team Leader, Key Account Management
Employer: Renera AG
Describe your job in one sentence:
I work as an “energy transition maker” in a consulting and planning office for renewable energies and energy efficiency, where I lead a small team that looks after our most important B2B customers in the real estate sector.
What are the three main tasks in your job?
Primarily, it is personnel responsibility and team leadership: working with my team, setting goals, planning strategic measures, and keeping track of our goal achievement. I also look after my own customers, answer their questions, prepare offers, and coordinate our services for my customers (stakeholder management). I am currently also working on a project in which we are supporting a lake water heating network in the city of Zurich in acquiring heating customers.
What do you think is the best/most exciting thing about this job?
I work a lot with people and do something that is meaningful to me, contribute to climate protection, and, I hope, I can also give my employees something to take with them on their career path. When I win new customers, it's for a good cause. I believe in and support our services 100%: The focus is on benefiting our customers and the environment; projects need to be profitable in several respects to be implemented.
My job is very varied, no two days are the same, which I really enjoy. Over the last seven years, I have been able to take on a wide range of different tasks, learn new things, take on responsibility and pass it on. Another important aspect for me is the team. I appreciate our team spirit, the shared lunches, and the good conversations with my great colleagues in the office.
What is the biggest challenge in this job?
In sales, it's often the numbers, the turnover, and new contracts that count in the end. When things aren't going so well, sales quickly comes under pressure. But in my opinion, it's harder to achieve good results when you're under (sales) pressure. Of course, the numbers are very important to us too, but we try to put people first. For example, if employees are satisfied and motivated, they are much more likely to achieve their goals – and customers can sense that too.
Of course, there are also some challenges in human resources management. It is not always possible to support our own employees as desired. Some employees benefit more from a demanding attitude, while others benefit more from greater freedom and personal responsibility.
Negotiations with customers are also always challenging—how do you find solutions that are good for both sides?
What does it take to enter this profession or be successful in it?
In my opinion, important qualities include strong communication skills and quick comprehension, so that you can listen well, identify needs, and explain difficult concepts in a simple way. This applies to both human resources management and key account management. You also need to be independent, take responsibility, enjoy and be enthusiastic about your work, and be willing to learn new things all the time.
What opportunities for advancement/further development are there?
There is the classic career path, from intern to project manager to team leader and, if applicable, member of the management board, but there are also various opportunities for further development in terms of content. During my studies, I would not have thought that the stage of the life-cycle an industry is in would have such a big influence on opportunities for advancement/further development: The energy and sustainability industry has grown significantly in recent years, so there have been constant new challenges and opportunities for development. In the meantime, I worked as an assistant to the management and helped set up our subsidiary in Germany, both of which were very valuable experiences for me personally.
What would you have liked to know about this profession as a graduate?
As a graduate, I had no idea about the energy or real estate industries. In my opinion, both are extremely exciting industries in which you can make a big difference. I also never thought I would end up working in sales. As a graduate, I imagined key account management to be a classic sales role with pressure to generate revenue. However, in our company, this position involves providing comprehensive advice, good people skills, a lot of specialist knowledge, analytical thinking, and good listening skills.
What advice would you give to students who are interested in this job?
Good question! I would say: start somewhere, show commitment and motivation, don't be afraid to do simple work, work for the team, take responsibility, say what you think, and be open to new things and change.
Looking back on your career, is there anything you would do differently? Why?
My career path was not at all conventional or straightforward, and yet I can't think of anything I would do differently in retrospect. I learned something new with every task.
Is there anything else you would like to share with current students?
Enjoy your time at university, the flexibility, the long semester breaks—you can work for a long time afterwards. Take the subjects that interest you: in your career, you won't necessarily need the content you learned at university, but rather the skills to organize yourself, learn new things, and think analytically.
As of March 2026