Business Development Manager - Industry Growth x3

We are looking for x3 Business Development Managers (Industry Growth) to join our Business Development Team based in Coventry.

The purpose of this role is to accelerate sales growth within our Industry Growth team sector.  In order to achieve this, a results-driven mindset is required, aligned to a hunger for developing new and existing relationships in pursuit of profitable and impactful outcomes. 

The primary focus of the role is to develop opportunities related to ‘collaborative research & development’ (CR&D) programmes, developing consortium partnerships, leading on competitive bid activity, and developing relationships with consortium members to unlock industrial commercially funded project opportunities.  Ultimately the focus is on delivering high impact manufacturing transformation for individual organisations, industry sectors and UK Plc.

Duties and responsibilities

The main duties of the Business Development Manager will be to:

• Identify and lead on CR&D opportunities that are aligned to the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s (MTC’s) strategy
• Support the development of consortium partners for CR&D applications
• Proactively own, maintain and expand key customer / prospect relationships from within our CR&D consortiums
• Developing relationships with consortium members to unlock industrial commercially funded project opportunities.
• Deliver profitable sales and revenue growth within the Industry Growth sector, secured from £50m+ turnover organisations, with an average sale price in excess of £50k
• Delivery of a commercial order intake target of £1.5m
• Understand customer’s technology and strategic roadmaps, needs and requirements
• Work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to provide world class outcomes
• Lead generation, pipeline management and reporting through the phases of opportunity identification, validation, qualification and closing – via continual upkeep of CRM system

​Person Specification

Essential Skills/Qualifications/Experience

• Demonstrable experience of leading competitive CR&D applications, and winning business from this type of activity
• Proven capability of networking across CR&D consortiums to identify and qualify commercial opportunities
• Significant and demonstrable experience developing relationships with manufacturing organisations with turnover in excess of £50m
• Proven record of building and closing multi-million-pound sales pipelines, where average sales value exceeds £50,000
• Consultative / Solution selling experience with an ability to articulate compelling value propositions to multiple decision-makers and translate complex customer aspirations into realised outcomes
• Advocacy of for use and exploitation of internal CRM systems
• Adept at managing customers’ expectations in line with agreed project deliverables
• An agile mind with a passion for innovation, transformation, and growth
• Financially literate with ability to interpret P&L / Balance Sheet information
• Ability to engage with internal stakeholders, particularly engineers, to gain and credibly communicate an understanding of technology and engineering opportunities
• Willing and able to conduct regular business travel to partner locations - nationally
• Requisite levels of gravitas and emotional intelligence
• Passion for delivering customer excellence and positive societal impact

Desirable Skills/Qualifications/Experience

• Proficient with Miller Heiman (Korn Ferry Sell) Sales Methodology
• Knowledge of engineering, manufacturing techniques and change management challenges
• A degree (in Business or Engineering), MBA preferred
• Ability to innovatively identify and resolve issues using a strong analytical approach
• Experience of working in an innovation, research and development environment
• Experience of working collaboratively with both public and private partners