Overview

Join to apply for the Head of Business Development & Sales role at Saab UK.

Saab in UK is growing rapidly, with over 500 colleagues across eight sites. We bring together Swedish heritage and British expertise to drive innovation in areas such as software engineering, underwater robotics, radars, AI, and armed forces training. Joining Saab in UK means contributing to the security and resilience of society while building a career with real scope for personal and professional growth.

Saab is a leading defence and security company with an enduring mission to help nations keep their people and society safe. Empowered by its 26,000 talented people, Saab constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to create a safer and more sustainable world.

The Role

We are seeking a Head of Business Development (BD) & Sales to join Saab UK's BD team, working closely with Saab UK's Land Systems. This role specifically focuses on Saab's Barracuda and Tactical Support Solutions portfolio. Reporting directly to the Vice President Business Development and working closely with Head of Barracuda UK and the wider BD & Sales team. The Head of BD & Sales Survivability and Infrastructure acts as the Customer Sales Responsible for their prospects.

Stakeholder engagement at all levels within the Ministry of Defence is essential to this role. Therefore, applicants will need to have had prior involvement in running large campaigns and stakeholder management. This role represents Saab\'s continued relationship building with the UK MOD; the individual should have an intricate understanding of land operations and ideally come from a British Army background with a demonstrable understanding of the product portfolio, or of comparable products.

The Head of BD & Sales is responsible for creating the winning strategy and determining the market price, working closely with the Product Sales Responsible. To support this and to build Saab's position within the UK market, the Head of BD & Sales conducts business intelligence as part of the Competitive and Market Intelligence process and performs business development work.

Key Responsibilities

• Win business through product sales for the Barracuda Camouflage and Deployable Infrastructure portfolio of products
• Acquire and maintain relevant product knowledge
• Establish and maintain customer relationships, including key influencers and gatekeepers (for example, with Dstl)
• Establish and maintain relevant Business Unit networks
• Establish and maintain relations with other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) for business-to-business opportunities
• Sales engagement with potential customers and partners, leading opportunity and need identification
• Organise and participate at exhibitions and other customer-facing events in close cooperation with the Saab UK Business Development Event Coordinator
• Support a wide range of events, briefings and demonstrations to expand brand and product awareness, leading to increasing order intake
• Lead the Win Business process, including securing internal-to-Saab approvals and preparing responses to Requests for Quotation and routine proposals
• Maintain, evaluate and manage market networks and consultants
• Identify, prioritise and qualify new business opportunities
• Establish, maintain and update all opportunities in the CRM tool
• Create business-winning strategies for each opportunity
• Collaborate with Saab's sales and product personnel for respective projects
• Participate in and support contract and commercial negotiations, bridging capability requirements and production realities
• Complete routine reporting
• Deliver on Key Performance Indicators in accordance with annual goals from the Individual Performance Management process
• Contribute to Barracuda plans including the Long-Term Order Intake Plan and to lesson identification
• Travel to different customer sites and UK offices as required

Skills and Experience

• Experience and understanding of the UK Defence, acquisition process and budgets
• Leadership and teamwork skills including effective prioritisation and time management
• Experience in marketing and sales or other relevant sectors
• Experience working with Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) or wider acquisition; commercial, business development or sales experience would be desirable
• Experience running large campaigns and stakeholder management
• Experience contributing to a multi-disciplinary team in a fast-paced, high-pressure, deadline-driven environment to achieve KPIs and Objectives, including within a matrix management context
• Excellent communication, negotiation and stakeholder management skills within both defence and industry communities to establish and maintain trusted relationships
• Effective prioritisation and time management
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English
• A UK driving licence

Clearance

As a National Security Vetting clearance is required for this role, applicants will be required to hold National Security Vetting clearance to SC level or have the ability to gain it.

Seniority level

• Director

Employment type

• Contract

Industry

• Defense and Space Manufacturing