This role is designed for a high‑performing commercial leader with deep experience selling consultancy services into large central government departments and their Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs). You will be responsible for driving growth, building trusted senior relationships, shaping multi‑year opportunities, and winning complex consulting engagements.
The ideal candidate brings a strong mix of strategic thinking, commercial acumen, proactive planning, and an authentic, personable approach that resonates with government buyers. This is a hands‑on leadership role requiring credibility, self‑sufficiency, and a relentless focus on excellence.
Role Overview:
As a senior leader, you will:
- Drive customer acquisition and overall revenue performance across central government.
- Open new accounts, expand existing ones, and lead the win strategy across multi‑year deals.
- Build trust quickly with senior civil servants by being quietly confident and credible.
- Work closely with consulting, delivery, commercial, and account teams to ensure successful delivery and long‑term client satisfaction.
- Shape deals early, plan several steps ahead, and take a daring but grounded approach to recommending multi‑year plans, roadmaps, and strategic proposals.
- You will have a proven track record of winning £5m+ annually and demonstrable success in consultancy‑focused sales.
Key Responsibilities:
Market Expansion & New Account Growth
- Lead the strategy to break into new central government clients.
- Build immediate credibility through trust‑based engagement, reliability, and attention to detail.
- Understand government landscapes, priorities, decision‑making structures, and procurement behaviours.
- Create and execute strategic account plans that reflect client realities and future‑looking opportunities.
Opportunity Shaping & Sales Execution
- Identify, shape, and secure new opportunities that align with organisational capabilities.
- Think and plan five steps ahead, developing follow‑on and multi‑year opportunities early.
- Develop compelling, value‑driven proposals that address client pain points and deliver measurable outcomes.
- Ensure priced proposals follow governance, confidentiality, and ethical‑wall requirements.
- Proactively synthesise input from technical and delivery teams into complete, high‑quality written responses.
- Negotiate and close opportunities with support from commercial and delivery colleagues.
Client Relationship Management
- Build long‑standing relationships across government departments and ALBs.
- Maintain regular touchpoints to monitor shifts in client priorities and emerging needs.
- Ensure consistently high levels of client satisfaction, aiming for best‑in‑class CSAT / NPS.
- Demonstrate multi‑channel sales skill (direct, via prime suppliers, and through partner ecosystems).
Delivery Alignment & Internal Collaboration
- Maintain ownership and accountability for successful engagement delivery within your accounts.
- Work with Account and Delivery Leads to ensure alignment between sales commitments and delivery execution.
- Adopt a consultative approach with internal teams, shaping solutions independently while respecting their expertise.
- Lead the bid process, manage content, and write responses with minimal pre‑sales support.
- Champion continuous improvement, structured governance, and lessons learned.
Governance, Planning & Reporting
- Lead monthly reporting cycles on pipeline, revenue forecasts, risks, and account performance.
- Drive monthly planning for opportunities, resource needs, and milestone tracking.
- Contribute to wider business planning, strategy refinement, and go‑to‑market development.
Essential Experience:
- Significant experience selling technical consultancy services to UK public sector bodies
- Sales experience into major central government departments and their ALBs.
- Proven track record of winning multi‑million‑pound, multi‑year consulting engagements.
- Demonstrable £5m+ per year personal sales achievement.
- Deep understanding of public sector procurement, including CCS frameworks and DPS routes.
- Experience leading accounts end‑to‑end, from new business to delivery oversight.
- Strong, long‑term stakeholder‑relationship building within government sectors.
Flexible Criteria:
- Experience across small, medium, or large consultancies.
- Industry specialisms are flexible provided the candidate brings strong public‑sector consulting sales experience.
Skills & Knowledge:
- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
- Strong written communication skills for persuasive proposals.
- Ability to work collaboratively within a matrix team structure.
- Understanding of government challenges, motivations, pressures, and procurement behaviours.
Location:
Hybrid working model:
2-3 days per week in office locations (London or Cheltenham) or on client site, as required.
Security Requirements:
Must be eligible for SC clearance, requiring:
- British citizenship, and
- 5 years' continuous UK residency.
