Enterprise Partnerships Senior Manager

About Be the Business

Be the Business is an independent charity that exists to help business leaders figure out what greater productivity means to them. It has already added £500m to the productivity of the firms it has worked with. We work with the entire business community to share what works for today's best businesses with every company that wants to learn and improve.

"Boosting productivity is the greatest economic challenge of our generation and is the route to economic growth and improved standards of living." - Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chair of Be the Business.

More details about Be the Business can be found on our website .

The Be the Business Team

Join our cross-functional team to deliver and grow new corporate-facing products and programmes, including the Productivity Programme, Inspiring Leaders Programme, and a range of innovation and research offerings. This role focuses on selling large innovation programmes to corporate partners - typically in supply chain management, social value, small business support, or leadership development. Operating like a startup, we rapidly evolve our value proposition and services. You'll lead the full sales journey - from prospecting to pitching to nurturing key accounts - while confidently engaging partners and driving bold sales innovations.

Job Purpose

• Your role will be critical to the organisation - not just by generating income, but by shaping the wider sales direction of the team.
• In this senior role, you'll be expected to input into our overall sales strategy and provide leadership to the wider team to ensure activity meets customer needs.
• You will be expected to exceed your sales target to grow the impact of the team.

Key Responsibilities

Income Generation

• Exceed your sales target - £500,000 revenue in FY25/26 from sales of Innovation Lab products and services - income will be generated from both new and existing customer relationships.
• Work with the CEO and Head of Labs to establish this distinct sales function responsible for the development and commercialisation of our programmes and identify opportunities for sales.
• Develop key customer relationships, identify new buying units and budgets, and wherever possible cross and upsell to build high-value, long-term partnerships with transformational account clients.
• Generate new business by developing a referral strategy across our extensive network as well as prospecting activity and lead generation with marketing support, to reach specific named accounts.
• Play a central role in lead generation planning (with admin resource support to execute this activity).
• Develop a strategic view and personal operating plan, with a 10x return on investment or greater.

Leadership Across the Organisation

• Be self-motivated, self-managing and love the opportunity of being in a senior role where you can drive impact and shape success.
• We are a small team, and bringing tenacity and energy to the sales function is key!
• Keep open communication between the teams (delivery staff) and share market intelligence and customer prospects so that they can be developed in the best part of the organisation.
• Develop the organisation's overall sales framework and methodology, so that prospects can be quickly developed in the best part of the organisation, information can flow easily, and cross-sell opportunities secured.
• Build strong working relationships across the organisation, and especially with contract delivery to ensure proposals are achievable and costed appropriately, and effectively handed over for contracting and ongoing delivery management secured.

Marketing and Sales

• Contribute sales leadership input to marketing activity, providing feedback on messaging, options for refinement, and valuable 'voice of the customer' context.
• Work to create an account-based marketing strategy to amplify and support the development of new opportunities.
• Engage senior leadership, trustees, and directors to support important partnership development opportunities.
• Build key sales assets, including strong pitch decks and proposal documentation with the extended team.

Data and Reporting

• Lead by example in your use of salesforce automation and workflow platforms and following key processes.
• Provide sales forecasts that the team can rely on, run quarterly business reviews shortly after every quarter closing, and present business case requests for investment consideration by the senior team.

What skills does the role require?

• Proven track record of generating sales at this scale, meeting ambitious targets and managing your own sales pipeline.
• Extensive experience managing relationships with high-level external stakeholders with a view to creating lasting, meaningful partner relationships.
• Extensive experience working in a team to meet ambitious targets on demanding deadlines.
• Experience in product/programme/service ideation, innovation and set up - with confidence in proposing, refining and then selling a new proposition.
• Understanding of management of sales outside compensation mechanisms.
• Experience working in the not-for-profit sector beneficial but not essential.
• Ability to work flexibly and responsively whilst still maintaining the highest levels of performance.
• A growth mindset, evidenced by investment in your professional development.
• Alignment with Be the Business's values.

Important Things to Know

When does the job start? We're looking for someone to get stuck in right away.

What is a working week? This is a full-time role (35 hours a week).

What is the contract duration? This is a fixed-term contract until April 2026 with the option to extend.

What is the salary? For this role we're offering a basic salary c. £75,000 per annum, with a commission structure on top of this.

The closing date for applications is midday on Friday 14th March 2025.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early once a successful candidate is appointed.