Senior Business Development Manager

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

Overview

Do you want to be help enrich the lives of learners worldwide?

At RM, we've been pioneers of education technology since 1973. We provide technology and resources to the education sector supporting over 10 million students around the world. We work with 28,000 schools, nurseries, and education trusts in 115 countries to deliver customer-centric solutions that improve education outcomes worldwide.

What we do helps learners at all stages of their lives, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification, we partner with schools, examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions, to enrich the lives of learners.

Job Purpose

Reporting to the Head of Global Growth Solutions, the Senior Business Development Manager role is key to the execution of the RM Growth strategy across the assessment sectors with a focus on driving potential new customers across market sectors.

At RM our vision is to grow from our current strong position as the leading provider of high stakes eMarking solutions into an organisation that is a major force in the eAssessment arena, and one that is recognised as a thought leader in the market, bringing ideas such as artificial intelligence and adaptive testing into the eAssessment market in new, valuable and innovative ways.

As Senior Business Development Manager you will manage a team of up to 4 Business Development Managers. You will own the sales process and activities carried out by the business development team and support, coach and mentor individuals in the team to enable them to successfully meet their targets and those of RM.

Responsibilities

Main Responsibilities

1.Business Development Opportunities
• Leadership and drive on "deals" for RM Assessment. Accountable for the development of solutions that generate both revenue and growth profit. Deal sizes will range between £500k-£10m in total contract value and seek to have a profitability of greater than 50% margin on all deals.
• Leadership for C-suite level relationships for perspective "deals" customers. Proactively engaging with senior leaders both internally and externally to ensure the deal priorities are well understood and the relevant solutions and proposal from RM more than deliver for the opportunities presented to customers.
• Ensure deep understanding of the winning themes within the priority sectors across the Global Assessment landscape. Ensure RM is ahead of the game for moving dynamics in each sector and market and that this is informing the proposition and investment priorities for all RM Assessment products and services so that RM is best placed to win on the "deals" across the globe.
• Total alignment with relevant business leaders for which the "deals" form part of their growth pipeline. Working collaboratively on strategies for growth, win themes and relationships that will deliver sustained and long term growth success within prospective deal customers. These deals will in turn translate into annual contract values of between £100k-£3m per annum.
• Growth pipeline management and accountability for ensuring the CRM platform is fully informed of all opportunities as they progress so that accurate and appropriate financial planning is always up to date and on point. Working collaboratively with the Head of Growth Enablement to ensure this feeds their pipeline across a 1-3 year period.
• Prospecting new "deals" opportunities within the global market. Proactively seeking events and forums to promote the RM brand and product and service ranges. Striking the appropriate position with prospects globally and working in partnership with the Growth Enablement team to ensure we are engaging and providing relevant solutions for "deal" opportunities.
• Ensuring full collaboration across the RM Assessment business teams at all times. This is a vital part of the role to ensure all parties are fully aligned on opportunities. This will include development, product and delivery for all opportunities to ensure they have been agreed and appropriately costed to ensure RM can be commercially robust and ensure we deliver profitability on "deals" across the full contract term.

2. Financial and Commercial
• Fully accountable for the "deals" customer portfolio and costs associated with tendering for all new opportunities of any size and priority. Working in collaboration with each Head of Business Sector and cost centre owner across RM Assessment.
• Fully accountable for the revenue and profit targets associated with each "deal" regardless of sector or global location.
• Understand financial & commercial risks and opportunities for each opportunity and how they deliver to the overall growth pipeline for each sector. Embed provided frameworks for assessing probability and impact and taking proactive management across the business and with each customer for any matters that require action to improve or deliver upon.
• Pro-actively lead and drive an important level of financial and commercial acumen across the teams that support and deliver for the "deals, through mentoring, coaching and support.
• Maintain a clear view of the financial performance (actual and forecast) of all elements of the "deals" portfolio and be able to lead discussions confidently with the team and stakeholders across the business as required.
• Provide detailed information into the monthly forecasting process for those "deals" within the portfolio, and into the annual budget process for those opportunities. The expectation is that the job holder will lead and be responsible for this only referring to a business partner or Head of Sector for review or to discuss ideas.

3.Senior Relationship Management
• Responsible for the leadership of C-Suite level relationships within "deal" customer opportunities. Engaging RM C-Suite level as appropriate to ensure we maximise relationships to provide support to win each "deal"
• Responsible for the engagement and presentation to the RM Exec team on all "deals". Ensuring the appropriate exec members have sight of all opportunities, including the financials with revenue, costs and profitability.
• Leading the Governance processes with all levels of the RM Assessment team up to and including Exec level.
• Embed the customer experience model through bid, on boarding and delivery for new opportunities within "deal portfolio, to contract close. Meet and exceed the key measures across the customer experience lifecycle.
• Honest and open communication on all "deals" opportunities across the RM Assessment teams.

4. Team Leadership and management
• Line manage a team of up to 4 Business Development Managers
• Manage and allocate work across the team based on regions / fields of play as you choose to drive

successful growth.
• Coach and mentor talent in the team to ensure individuals are set up to achieve individual targets and those of the business.
• Foster a highly motivated team culture that is hungry for growth and success with the talent and tenacity to win.

4.Tender Leadership and management
• Matrix manages a diverse team for the "deals that the role holder has accountability for . Leading with positive engagement across teams to engage a commitment to support the plans outlined within the deal and planning process to ensure all parties are committed to protect and grow the relationship with the customer including investment, and growth.
• Support team members in navigating cross business dimensions and challenges, including any points of conflict.
• Support the team to work within a matrix model, to ensure that functional resource requirements for "deals" are fully understood and agreed to by the relevant stakeholders and cost owners.

5.Process, Controls and Governance
• Be an active member of business unit governance meetings and reporting.
• Embed the business unit governance model for the account portfolio, ensuring adherence.

Experience

Knowledge , skills and experiences

• Experience in successfully leading a diverse and ambitious sales team and fostering a growth mentality.
• Strong experience of leading and delivering with success "deals" that generate total contract value growth of up to £10m and profitability levels of 50% and more.
• Vast experience in managing multimillion pound IT service deals across a sustained time period.
• Proven ability of demonstrating success generating and landing new multi-million sales opportunities globally within the Assessment landscape.
• Proven experience of operating successfully within Assessment/Education Awarding organisations at c-Suite levels. Managing with success a range of role holders with diverse backgrounds that in turn lead on to growth opportunities.
• Proven experience of managing and motivating teams during periods of high pressure and challenge, in a high stakes, high volume, and high quality (ideally regulated) environment, excelling at maintaining a positive customer relationship.
• Experience of delivering, successfully and sustainably, against revenue, order intake, cost/profit, and cash collection/debt targets across a complex range of opportunities
• Strong ability to develop and manage business relationships at all levels both internally and externally.
• Organisational planning, resource mobilisation and problem-solving abilities.
• Creative solutions to customer priorities and objectives
• Ability to work highly effectively under pressure with competing and rapidly changing priorities
• Outstanding communication skills applicable through multiple channels (written, spoken, workshops, presentations)

What's in it for you?

At RM we have "My Work Blend @RM" which provides office-based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working options to suit them. As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations in the UK that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process. We expect how we make best use of hybrid working may continue to adapt as we adjust to our new ways of working.

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, some roles are also eligible for a performance-related bonus. There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign for a health assessment, or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

To better reflect the society that we serve, we're committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. To achieve this, we create teams of talented people from different backgrounds and experiences and strive to be a business where our people can bring their whole selves to work. We also want to make the recruitment process as inclusive as possible for everyone. Should you require additional support with your application or through the interview process, please contact us at recruitment@rm.com.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

What's in it for you?

to follow