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Commercial director

We’re looking for a commercial director to help us deliver even greater impact

Hello, we’re Kaleidoscope. We’re an award-winning consultancy of a different kind.

We’re a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides consultancy services to bring people together to improve health and care. We’re looking for a new commercial director to join our team to help us deliver even greater impact for a wider range of clients – in health and care, and beyond.

Since we were established almost eight years ago, we’ve grown from two people in a small room with a large Welsh dresser, to a family of more than 60 staff and associates (we still have the dresser). Although we’ve grown rapidly, we’ve not lost sight of why we were set up. As a social enterprise, all our work seeks to contribute to our mission: to work with others to build a future that is kind, connected and joyful.

We meet this mission by advising clients across public, private and voluntary sectors, primarily in health and care, in our areas of expertise – these span strategy, organisational development, service change, research and evaluation, and effective collaboration.

What we’re looking for

Our first requirement is that you’re kind. Life is too short to work with people who aren’t. Second, you’ve got to be somewhere on our wavelength. We’re not a normal organisation. In fact, we think the basic template of energy-sapping, soul-crushing, computer-says-no, normal organisations is fundamentally broken.

Beyond this, there is no ‘right’ sort of Kaleidoscopian.

We are looking for someone with commercial savvy and expertise to play a significant role in taking our business development efforts to the next level.

You will be responsible for:

  • leading our business development strategy and delivery plan, supporting and motivating client-facing teams in executing it
  • building and maintaining close working relationships with our service offer leads as subject matter experts and communications lead on brand awareness and marketing
  • oversight of and reporting on the business development pipeline and performance, including directing any mitigating actions as required
  • proactively identifying and capitalising on business development opportunities with our existing client base and in exploring new sectors
  • leading the development of high-quality proposal, tender and pitch documents to grow the profitability of the business and diversify the client base – bringing in internal subject matter expertise as needed
  • developing strong senior-level relationships with clients and potential clients – understanding key client needs and ensuring our offer is credible, tailored accordingly and provides high quality, impactful support
  • supporting efforts to track and increase profitability across client projects, ensuring accurate reporting and meeting financial targets.

Your experience

Ideally, you’ll be able to tick some specific boxes of experience:

  • Proven commercial experience in client services and business development within a consultancy or related industry. You will bring a deep understanding of business operations, finances, sales and marketing tactics, and creative thinking partnered with a strategic mindset.
  • Experience in developing and implementing successful business growth strategies. You can apply this experience to further develop and grow our business development efforts, and help identify opportunities for growth and diversification within our current health and care sector and in new sectors.
  • Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and nurture trusting relationships at all levels:
    – Internally: You can inspire and motivate teams for success, building culture and capability in commercial acumen. You can lead, convene and collaborate with our service offer leads as subject matter experts and our communications lead in co-creating and agreeing plans for sales and marketing. You can quickly understand and represent our service offers with clients but also know when to bring content specialists into the conversation.
    – With clients: You are credible with senior leaders. You can quickly understand complex requirements and what clients need for success and communicate these back succinctly and clearly.
  • Bid, proposal and pitch development and presentation skills. Experience of leading the development of new relationships, and developing compelling collateral, proposals and pitches in response to client needs. Having the nous to sniff out new opportunities where we can help potential clients meet their goals.
  • Analytical skills and business acumen. Your strong analytical and numeracy skills enable you to use financial data to inform strategic plans and decision making.
  • Demonstrable ability to think strategically, and then operationalise. You can see the bigger picture, understanding the market now while horizon scanning for the future. You can set aims and objectives to develop and improve the business, ensuring the team are on board, understanding the need for any change and what is required of them.
  • Strong interest in helping to grow and strengthen our own organisation. You want to work for a different sort of organisation for a reason, and have experience and interest in helping organisations develop and grow.
  • Enjoy selling and the process of selling. You get satisfaction from well-oiled sales processes that get results.
  • Understanding of the health and care sector is desirable but not essential.

But I’m afraid if you’re not kind, well, we might as well part company now.

Salary and hours

At Kaleidoscope, pay is decided through a mix of individual decision and whole organisation discussion. When you join, we’ll make you an offer in the range of £65,000 – £75,000 based on your skills and experience.

Within your first year you will “own” your salary decision: we can tell you more about that if we meet.

This is a 12-month fixed term contract. If you’re successful in contributing to a thriving organisation, we would seek to explore making this a permanent position.

This is a full-time (or at least four days per week) position, based at our offices in London SE8 with support for remote working. You will need to be able to come to London on a regular basis and be willing to travel nationally based on client needs.

Diversity and inclusion

We know how important diversity and inclusion is as an organisation and for fulfilling our mission. We are committed to creating a company that ensures a diversity of voices in all parts of our work.

We particularly encourage applications from groups that are currently underrepresented at Kaleidoscope, including people from ethnic minority groups, disabled people, and people with gender diverse identities. We have flexible working policies, and would be happy to discuss flexible working requirements with any candidates.

If you’re reading this wondering ‘is it really for me?’ please get in touch to chat.

How to apply

To apply, we’d like you to share with us up to 800 words on what you would do in your first 100 days, and what you would hope to achieve.

Email your submission to hello@kscopehealth.org.uk by midday Friday 10 May with subject line ‘Commercial director’, along with:

  • a note on your relevant experience, particularly with regard to the specific boxes of desired experience above – this should be a maximum of two sides of A4
  • written confirmation that you have the right to work in the UK
  • where you discovered this job ad.

Please only put your initials and day and month (not year!) of birth at the top of both your submission and work experience. We do not want further information (such as education, hobbies, address) beyond this!

We would be grateful if you could complete our equality and diversity monitoring form to help us understand if we are succeeding in involving a diverse range of people in our work and to change our approaches and practices if some people are underrepresented.

Interview dates

Interviews are likely to be held between 15 and 17 May.

Questions?

What questions do you have? Do look at our website and email us – hello@kscopehealth.org.uk – if you have specific queries we can help with.

Thanks very much – we hope to hear from you.

Join us?