Head of Commercial (Sales & Marketing)

Responsibilities

Joining us as the Head of Commercial (Sales and Marketing) will see you taking the lead on all demand generation and business development activities across the business.  In particular you’ll be responsible for delivering sustained global revenue growth across all our sectors through effective leadership of our existing Business Development team and our third party Marketing suppliers.

You will lead your team to create, identify and pursue opportunities across each of our sectors. We expect that you’ll be alert to the development of new markets and customer opportunities and will take the lead in determining our annual sales strategy.  Primary responsibilities will be:

• Generate revenue and deliver profit at the P&L sales level.
• Work with the Board of Directors to set and achieve the annual Company Sales & Marketing targets and business plan; develop and deliver sales and marketing strategies to achieve accelerated business growth
• Cultivate and maintain high-level relationships that can be leveraged into sales opportunities, marketing initiatives, and strategic alliance partnerships.
• Monitor Manage and report on the performance of the sales and marketing functions
• Manage the sales-cycle including lead generation, qualification and other deliverables for closing deals while consistently delivering on sales goals by selling innovative solutions to new customers.
• Understand market forces, horizon scan and identify future opportunities for the business in existing and emerging markets. Utilise a variety of data sources to provide competitive intelligence, diligently tracking and analysing the competitive landscape.
• Understand customer needs and identify technical solutions for customer applications; Work collaboratively to prepare, submit and negotiate technical proposals, commercial quotations and contract terms.
• Ownership of the CRM data and sales pipeline, ensuring accurate forecasting information drives business planning
• Act as senior negotiator and escalation point for complex and challenging contract negotiations, ensuring a successful outcome for SMI whilst maintaining good customer relationships.
• Strong understanding of the Client contract; identifying where contract amendments and renewals are required (working with Legal as necessary).
• Own the marketing strategy setting the annual plan, working with third party agencies and partners to deliver appropriate and targeted demand generation activities
• Confidently represent SMI Ltd at the senior level at conferences, meetings, and industry events, cultivating strong relationships with senior Government, military, and industry leaders. networking effectively to gain market intelligence
• Ensure the timely and successful delivery of projects according to customer needs and objectives
• Although this role is predominantly field based, you will be expected to be willing and able to travel to the Andover, Hampshire office on a regular basis.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Bachelor’s Degree in appropriate field of study or equivalent work experience at minimum 2:1
• 5+ years’ experience operating in a senior sales role in an engineering/ manufacturing environment
• Experience selling into Defence procurement processes for technical components and systems
• A track record of shaping and delivering client-focused technical solutions based on unique customer needs for strategic seven figure projects and deals
• Demonstrable achievements against challenging sales targets and against sales cycles lasting in some cases many months
• Significant experience negotiating commercial contract terms on long term, complex projects
• A track record of leading, driving, motivating and developing a team across multiple regions
• Experience in SME/MME organisations [c.£10m-£30m turnover business] and an understanding of the culture, challenges and opportunities for agility that brings
• Demonstrates the values: Agile, Energetic, Collaborative & Ethical
• This role is field based and so you will require your own car and a full UK driving licence.

Desirable:

• Experience/knowledge in the aerospace environment.
• Familiarity with UK security classifications and their application
• Commercial legal knowledge or qualification
• Understanding of sustainability issues and their emerging requirements in government commercial contracting
• Awareness of Export Controls

Please be aware that many roles working for SMI will be subject to security restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors including your nationality, any previous nationalities you have held, and/or your place of birth may limit those roles that you can perform for the organisation.