Senior Sales Manager

Job content

An exciting opportunity to join the Maritime and Land (M&L) Weapons Business Development (BD) team.

The ideal candidate will have an Intimate knowledge of the UK Weapons portfolio with strong relationships in the Weapons community. They will also have the ability to support international Business development with a proven business winning (closing) background in industry working effectively across the Air, Maritime and Land domains.

Role Purpose:
Own an annual order intake of c£15M+ and collaborate with business units across a 3-5 year timeline to deliver growth.

Dynamic, agile and pro-active the person will take ownership of the opportunity – leading the development and implementation of a clear capture strategy against deadlines to innovate and transform the order intake portfolio and build new business.

Leading by example, the person will uphold the values of teamwork, loyalty and integrity to collaborate and drive continual improvement both in sales and wider team performance.

Convincing, clear and concise the sales lead will clearly articulate the customers issues at a the highest level and will deliver the solution as part of a wider and enduring strategy exploiting our competitive advantage.

The person will deliver direction in sales and support the business strategy. Using feedback and tools such as Shipley, PESTEL, pwin/PTW, SWOT/TOWs to support IRAD/business cases and achieve sales close to budget.

Previous demonstrable experience in the maritime, land and weapons domain would be a distinct advantage.

Key Accountabilities:
Lead the generation of business, translating business opportunities into profitable and VFM solutions

Own the delivery of the orders, ‘as bid’ margin and cash/mobilisation targets associated with the business area

Accurately forecast orders and the associated revenue

Provide timely market intelligence

Network with customers and strategic partners to foster relationships that will assure the delivery of the sales orders target and future growth as declared in the business plan

Work internally with others in the rest of QinetiQ to define the sales strategy and build larger sales opportunities

Ensure bids released are timely, have been competitively priced and all risks to delivery are thoroughly understood and mitigated with all relevant stakeholders satisfied

Ensure that the appropriate assurance of bid proposals (technical, financial, business & commercial) is undertaken

Ensure that staff members within group are competent and appropriately qualified to carry out their duties

Ensure that the day-to-day operation of the Foundation Sales area is properly and tightly managed

Ensure effective communication with stakeholders to ensure resources and facilities are aligned to customer requirements

Ensure compliance and adherence to legal and QinetiQ processes, with auditable visibility

Key Capabilities/Knowledge:
Broad Thinking - Thinks broadly and creatively about the industry and customer landscape, effectively considering wider factors and identifying longer-term opportunities that fit with QinetiQ’s core capabilities

Looks at a new policy and identifies opportunities to translate into an offer

Draws clear linkages between issues and extracts key data relevant for the short and longer term

Has a clear understanding of what to sell and where to sell it in international or adjacent markets

Takes a longer term view of the pipeline and the market

Draws upon information from a range of sources to arrive at conclusions

Takes a creative approach, focusing on solutions that benefit the longer term

Relationship Building - Actively seeks to build and maintains trusting relationships with a wide network of relevant people in the industry, customer and QinetiQ, leveraging these relationships appropriately.

Has the network to bring together a team quickly and get the best people from across the business to work on an opportunity

Invests time and effort in continuing to build and maintain a wide range of industry contacts

Leverages different contacts and relationships to connect key people

Develops a stakeholder map and plan to maximise effective use of network

Strikes up rapport quickly to have an open and frank conversation

Sets a focus on ensuring relationships are built on trust and transparency

Customer Focus - Ensures they understand the customer’s perspective and needs - both professionally and personally - focusing on what will deliver value to them

Translates customer needs into bespoke solution offerings aligned to capabilities

Manages customer’s expectations throughout the engagement process

Asks the difficult questions challenging the customer’s thinking whilst maintaining a tactful approach

Creates a value proposition that is aligned to customer needs and meets business goals

Manages expectations – signposts to customer that any bad news may be on the way

Checks in at regular intervals with customers along the way throughout opportunity

Commerciality - Evaluates issues and situations in terms of what will optimise growth and profitability for QinetiQ over the medium and long-term, taking into account the wider commercial landscape

Advises on commercial decisions, evaluating pros and cons of proposed course of action

Finds a balance between QinetiQ’s interests and customer loyalties or bonds

Has a clear understanding of QinetiQ’s competitive strengths and weaknesses

Develops value-based propositions – doesn’t use a cost plus model for everything

Understands the risks associated with the proposed course of action

Considers consequences and whether a quick win is the right thing for the longer-term

Personal Impact - Adapts their approach to communicate clearly, credibly and positively when engaging different stakeholders, focusing on earning trust and getting buy-in

Deliberately uses effective and positive non-verbal behaviours to make their case and message all the more compelling

Makes the subject under discussion important to others through exuding passion and conviction

Uses analogy to help people grasp complexity

Enthuses others through own energy and positivity; talks with energy and passion

Takes complex ideas and puts them succinctly and clearly

Reflects back and clarifies to show understanding and drive conversation forward effectively

Resilience - Maintains a positive and ‘can do’ approach in difficult situations and over a long period of time; delivers difficult messages constructively when required

Does not rely on existing and tested methods but is open and adapts fast to new approaches

Retains focus on key tasks at hand and does not get distracted by occurring pressures, driving things forward

Thrives in changing and demanding environments, finding ways to overcome difficulties

Has a calm demeanour and retains composure in emotive situations and when working through change

Relishes ambiguity and a clean sheet – rather than just coping

Is willing to take the lead and deliver difficult messages in a calm and focused way

Takes Ownership - Takes accountability for organising themselves and others to deliver for the customer and QinetiQ; consistently takes the initiative and ownership to drive outcomes

Guides a proposal through the system by keeping in touch with the customer through the process

Doesn’t get bogged down in detail, understands the need to focus on wider issues

Prioritises time effectively in the face of competing demands

Retains sense of responsibility for progress of a bid through the QinetiQ system and sets clear expectations for those involved

Exercises authority on behalf of QinetiQ

Strikes the right balance between control and influence: sets clear expectations while allowing autonomy

Collaborates Across Boundaries - Drives and facilitates effective working across organisational boundaries to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes

Involves functional experts early in order to arrive at right solution and encourage engagement

Demonstrates flexibility and willingness to change assumptions/views when being challenged by others

Plans interactions and meetings carefully; sets the agenda, structure and topics around mutually beneficial outcomes

Takes a collaborative approach even when structures and rewards may not reward it immediately

Improves quality of output by subjecting it to scrutiny from appropriate colleagues

Identifies and then passes opportunities to colleagues and sets them up for success

Experience & Qualifications:
Previous demonstrable experience in a sales/business development role at a management level in a commercial environment

A leading advocate and practitioner of winning business, liaising with customers at a senior level, structuring propositions and overseeing the creation of proposals and bids

Comprehensive understanding of concepts and principles within sales and an understanding of the technological disciplines and project delivery

Experience of leading a team of professionals

Thorough understanding of sales competencies and tools, best practice and current thinking regarding effective and commercially sound sales strategies

Highly skilled at managing relationships and conflicting priorities at a senior level

Strong coaching, facilitation and consultancy skills with a proven track record of being able to influence at all levels

Knowledge of challenges and changes in the sector and how they may relate to QQ

Ability use multiple sources of information to evaluate situations to drive the best possible outcome.

#LI-QQ #LI-REMOTE

Why Join QinetiQ?

As we continue to grow into new markets around the world, there’s never been a more exciting time to join QinetiQ. The formula for success is our appetite for innovation, courage to take on a wide variety of complex challenges.

You’ll experience a unique working environment where teams from different backgrounds, disciplines and experience enjoy collaborating widely and openly as we undertake this exciting and rewarding journey. Through effective teamwork, and pulling together, you’ll get to experience what happens when we all share different perspectives, blend disciplines, and link technologies; constantly discovering new ways of solving complex problems in an diverse and inclusive environment where you can be authentic, feel valued and realise your full potential. Read more about our diverse and inclusive workplace culture here.

Joining QinetiQ offers you an opportunity to work on a broad range of interesting defence-based projects with vast career progression across a global organisation in addition to competitive personal and professional benefits. You’ll receive highly competitive salary and benefits package: our basic salaries are very attractive as we constantly review what’s happening in the market. The range of benefits that we offer include, flexible working, generous holiday entitlements, Health Cash Plan, Private Medical Insurance and Dental Insurance and much more.

About QinetiQ

As a company of over 6,000 dedicated professionals, we are a world-centre of excellence in research and development and act as a catalyst for fast-track innovation, offering outstanding experimentation facilities, and technical, engineering and scientific expertise. QinetiQ is made up of dedicated experts in defence, aerospace, security and related markets, all working together to explore new ways of protecting what matters most. Being part of QinetiQ means being central to the safety and security of the world around us. Partnering with our customers, we help to save lives; reduce risks to society; and maintain the global infrastructure on which we all depend. Come and find out how you can play a role.