Head of Strategic Development

This is an outstanding opportunity to join and become an instrumental part of the future one of the country’s most innovative business and consumer services groups.

20 years after inception, they continue to lead their unique B2B/B2C market place, delivering an unparalleled and invaluable service whilst working with their clients on a path of continuous improvement.

Even in these unprecedented times, not only has their business activity continued as normal, they have utilised an already present technological infrastructure to enable every member of staff to work as normal and the business’s security to be ensured.

Differentiating themselves by remaining totally independent and providing bespoke solutions through numerous highly qualified and focussed teams to provide swift solutions and resolutions, whilst creating maximum value for their client & consumer bases underpinned by highly principled humility and passion for what they do.

Replicating that human-focus internally, they have created an upbeat, friendly, innovative, and fast-paced environment with, crucially, market-leading opportunity for advancement. But they seek to continue the development of that culture and environment for the personal and professional benefit of all employees.

This is an energised and innovative culture, which every employee works diligently to foster and continually improve. They are an opportunistic growth company that seeks to deliver long-term prosperity to all employees. Career opportunities are as unlimited as any employees’ aspirations and hunger.

Their innovative service has won them huge recognition and an enviable client list within highly regulated environments as well as huge respect amongst the consumer base but all with an underlying reputation for objectivity. Two decades of achievements and award wins set this ground-breaking business apart from their competitors, and with continued demand for their services, an increased capability in their product and service portfolio and their quest to continually strive to innovate and keep both them, and their clients ahead of the curve, their future is as impressive as their history and even more exciting.

A critical element to that future growth and innovation, is the recruitment of a highly strategic Head of Strategic Development; a motivated and strategically experienced commercial and analytical leader, bringing together astute strategic planning with commercial ideation, class-leading external and internal engagement, and working towards a group-wide delivery focus.

This appointee will take an influential role in the newly created Strategy Department, responsible for developing the strategic direction for the groups and its subsidiaries, providing key insight to challenge and inform strategic decision making, assess new growth opportunities and develop optimum products and services.

They will report into the Main Board Strategy Director and work closely with the Group’s energy experts and data specialists with a remit to grow and portfolio of opportunities for the Group.

Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities

• Develop a deep understanding of core markets, particularly Energy to maximise grow opportunities created by the UK and global transition to Net zero
• Develop a robust business development strategy through deep understanding of industry requirements, market trends and customer requirements, recognising the complexity and opportunities of the increasingly fragmented markets we operate in
• Use your commercial acumen and data driven approach to identify, size and develop plans to pursue new opportunities and potential new revenue streams
• Develop essential, cross industry networks that support BAU market and customer development and support the early identification of niche opportunities 
• Working closely with the Director of Strategy to support the assessment and development strategic initiatives, new products and services
• Develop and maintain internal relationships demonstrating how to leverage and utilise data and analytics to improve product and market development, deliver actionable insights and improve customer experience
• Work closely with the Strategy Director to ensure the commercial impact of new opportunities are fully understood, support in the commercial negotiation and led on the development of associated bids and tenders
• Develop customer and competitor insight and strategic profiling framework
• Provision of regular, timely and comprehensive information and analysis to support organisational decision making
• Contributing to ad-hoc projects, initiatives and feasibility studies

Candidate profile and chemistry fit is critical for this pivotal role. Working within a fast-paced, innovative, entrepreneurial environment, attitude is as important as experience. The person is everything. The Head of Strategic Development will be instrumental in adding to the tone, energy and culture for the business as well as being both innovator and commercial planner. The gravity of success is all about having the right attitude, underpinned with demonstrable experience.

Suitable candidates will already be high achieving, commercially experienced strategic leaders with a track record of personal success AND success gained within the Energy sector. They will possess a strong ethos in delivery through strategic planning, an innovative approach, supreme insight and ideation and a ‘do’ not ‘think’ mindset.

The appointee should be people, results and delivery oriented; hands-on and possess the ability to create a sense of mission and attentiveness to current and future requirements and challenges.

They should embrace, and be able to demonstrate the organisation’s Core Values:

• Courage
• Balance
• Empathy
• Openness

Specifics include:

• Strategic experience within the Energy sector (or strong understanding of)
• Demonstrable collaborative approach
• Strong commercial analytical and strategic planning exposure with a skill for ideation
• Commercial mind-set, comfort with ambiguity and love of change and opportunity. Strong ability to manage risk and balance opportunity
• Understand the complexities of such an organisation & its customer

Essential Experience and Technical Qualifications  

• An experienced business development professional able to oversee and deliver the strategic objectives, focused on growth
• Experience of creating and delivering business development plans that maximise core markets grow and identify and deliver on new opportunities
• Experience working in across multiple markets and regulatory landscapes
• Strong strategic, analytical and planning skills
• Ability to execute plans in a way that engages, resonates and delivers results
• Research capability with the talent to spot trends, connections and oddities and ask the right questions
• Business case, bid and tender preparation 

Competencies and Behaviours   

• Outstanding influencer and negotiator aligned with the organisation’s value
• Naturally a good self-starter, curious and passionate
• Able to simplify and communicate the complex using most appropriate format
• Able to build and maintain trust at all levels of the organisation
• Grounded in the practical and can make things happen through great engagement
• Able to engage, influence and quickly build relationships at all levels – both internally and externally

The appointee will constantly strive for excellence and demonstrate personal drive and resilience, with a mature and experienced approach to both growth, and set-backs. They will be self-motivated & able to work on their own initiative whilst putting team and company needs before own and possess the ability to think flexibly and laterally.

The successful candidate will have entrepreneurial ability and desire, and be hugely excited by a very high paced environment, thick with USPs – their operational leadership strength will be underpinned by a real “Just Do It” attitude, and a sense of humour.