Job title: Business Development Manager
Location: Edinburgh office although travel and hybrid-working expected
Travel required: Significant amount of time meeting prospective and existing customers across the UK
Position type: Full time
Closing date: 29 November 2024
Apply: [email protected] 

Criterion is a well-established business, with ambitions to grow and take our standards and governance proposition to a wider client base. To grow the business, we need an experienced, dedicated, and tenacious Business Development Manager to help us drive this growth and maintain the strong relations we have with our customers.

The key requirements for this pivotal role are to deliver new business growth and manage strong relations with our existing customers. The successful candidate will be directly responsible for growing Criterion’s business through developing and closing new business opportunities to meet, and exceed, the revenue growth set out in the business strategy. A competitive basic salary is on offer, plus bonus potential with a generous flexible benefits package. Whilst Criterion is based in Edinburgh city centre, the role will involve considerable contact with prospects and customers at their offices around the UK, meaning a significant amount of UK travel.

Role and Responsibilities include

  • Drive sales and develop the sales pipeline, nurturing both existing and new contacts.
  • Ensure Criterion wins new customers and grows the business by meeting, and then exceeding, revenue targets.
  • Negotiate commercial contracts with new and existing customers. 
  • Work closely with, and as part of, the marketing team to ensure that all marketing activity supports the sales drive.
  • Retain customers and run an effective stakeholder management programme.
  • Provide company and industry insight for each licence holder displaying overall view of each customer. 
  • Lead presentations/meetings (delivering demonstrations of Criterion’s capability) with prospects.
  • Be an ambassador for Criterion, attending and exhibiting at key industry events and conferences.
  • Plan, do and review – reporting regularly on progress stakeholders, including the leadership team and Criterion Board.
  • Undertake other duties relevant to the company’s activities commensurate with the level of the post and as directed by the line manager.

Experience

  • The candidate will have a strong track record of working as a high-performing operator in a business development/sales function within financial services and have strong, demonstrable sales generation and delivery experience.  
  • The candidate will have a proven track record of strong negotiation skills and commercial acumen in both securing new business and retaining customers.  
  • The candidate needs to be a proven self-starter, able to generate sales ideas/strategies and be able to work with colleagues to position our products to customer’s needs, 
  • A proven team player, the candidate should be able to demonstrate an ability to work closely with a variety of colleagues, bringing the ‘customer view’ into the organisation and helping shape our propositions and broader market strategy.  
  • Experience in the UK financial services market, especially life insurance, pensions, SIPPs, platforms and third-party administration services is highly desirable.

Skills & Behaviours

Business Development and Sales 

  • Demonstrative sales drive - delivering new business sales from new and existing customers and closing new business opportunities. 
  • Proven track record in stakeholder management and customer retention. 
  • Strong commercial acumen and negotiation skills. 
  • Be customer focussed.

Market Knowledge

  • Strong understanding/experience of the UK financial services market, especially life insurance, pensions, SIPPs, platforms and third-party administration services. 
  • Knowledge of financial services technology landscape desirable.

Communication                          

  • Excellent communication (verbal, written, presentation) to be clear, and compelling for the audience.

Planning and Organisation    

  • Be self-starting and able to meet deadlines/desired outcomes - often based outside the office and travelling around the UK in major industry hubs (e.g. London, York, Bristol, Manchester).

Teamwork

  • Work with colleagues as required to progress developments.
  • Able to perform at a high level independently but be very much a team player.

Initiative

  • Bring new ideas to the team and think through business issues and solutions.

Commitment

  • Demonstrate a tenacious, positive, can-do attitude internally and externally.

Marketing

  • Assist in the development of the proposition and promotion of Standards, as an integral part of the commercial and marketing team.
  • Undertake market analysis and apply internally as appropriate. 

Salary and Benefits Package

Salary commensurate with experience and comprehensive benefits package on offer, which includes:

  • Holiday plus bank holiday entitlement
  • Pension
  • Private Medical Insurance
  • Life Assurance
  • Critical Illness
  • Income Protection
  • Employee Assistance Programme
  • Flexible Benefits

About Criterion

Inspiring businesses to be better connected and more productive through nurturing greater collaboration, increasing process efficiencies and driving standardisation.

Criterion delivers professional standards and governance services for the UK’s financial services industry and its customers. It is uniquely positioned to facilitate and drive cross-industry engagement, helping organisations achieve higher levels of collaboration, reduce costs, and achieve better outcomes for their customers. Criterion was launched in 2017, but its has been delivering professional standards and governance since 1989. Criterion's board, leadership and team delivers broad industry representation and expertise, to drive through the collaborative work necessary to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving industry.

Criterion operates as a not-for-profit but is commercially driven. It is funded by the industry through its shareholders, and annual licence fees to use standards and access governance. Criterion is embedded across the financial services industry and is trusted to work on huge pieces of cross-industry collaboration, as an independent body. This key role in the industry means working on significant projects, with the regulator and a wide range of industry bodies.

Key Areas of Industry Involvement

  • Life protection and health insurance
  • Family and income protection 
  • Wealth, savings and investments 
  • Pensions and retirement 
  • Occupational pensions
  • Fund/asset management