Business Development Manager (South)
Home based contract with significant travel across London and the South of England. Flexibility on advertised location can be offered.
Salary: £50,000 per annum plus target related bonus
Reporting to the Strategic Partnerships Director you will be responsible for ensuring that the commercial set up of new Kedleston Group schools and children's care homes within the London region are a success, achieving high levels of occupancy and positive, enduring relationships with Local Authorities.
In addition to managing existing Local Authority relationships and acting as first point of contact for the placement of children and young people into our current portfolio of schools and homes, you will lead LA sales and development, creating new relationships, proactively targeting and influencing key LA stakeholders to refer / place into both current and new schools and homes.
Partnering the Group Marketing Manager and Head Teachers/ Registered Managers, you will proactively market schools and care homes to drive referral activity and ensure there is consistently high demand from Local Authorities for the services we provide, ensuring clarity across the Company around service delivery targets needed to satisfy the ever changing requirements of our customers.
Alongside the Strategic Partnerships Director, Group Marketing and Central Referrals Managers and key stakeholders in our schools and care homes, you will develop strategic business growth and marketing plans to drive new business which instil a culture of best practice and ensure the best outcomes are delivered to our customers.
You will support LAs in their understanding of the Kedleston brand, philosophy and ethos and will innovate and diversify the Group's referral base with Local Authorities to ensure breadth and minimise risk across our portfolio or partnerships.
Through regular visits to our schools and homes you will develop your understanding of each settings' service offering and use this to develop marketing collateral which you will share through online and offline channels to positively promote our services to LAs, ensure understanding of the services we deliver and ultimately create, negotiate and close commercial deals.
Your work will also require you to collaborate with colleagues to generate and report on occupancy activity, support on tender processes as well as be a proficient user of our CRM, Pipedrive.
You will stay abreast of developments and changes in local and central government as well as within the arena of Special Education and the Care of Children and Young People to influence our service delivery and model of care.
Requirements
Educated to degree level or equivalent and with a minimum of 3 years' experience in a similar or related role, you will be an excellent communicator and highly skilled in building and nurturing effective working relationships with internal colleagues as well as external local authority contacts. Demonstrable sales and project management skills are essential as well as an ability to maintain a calm approach whilst juggling multiple tasks in order to effectively prioritise your workload. Strong presentation and report writing skills are also critical for this role. You may previously have worked in one of the following sectors - marketing, sales, charity, business, advertising, banking.
You will be able to demonstrate solid IT and administrative skills as well as a good understanding of how business can be effectively promoted and developed through web based and social media communications in addition to more traditional channels. You will have demonstrable experience of using CRMs and of analysing and translating data into meaningful insights for relevant stakeholders.
You will demonstrate an awareness of and belief in the independent SEMH / ASC school sector and children's home market as well as an understanding of the issues regarding placements into schools and the relevance of those in a commercial and competitive environment. You will preferably have gained some experience working in the independent / SEMH education sector.
Kedleston Group is an independent provider of SEMH and ASC day and residential schools as well as children's homes across England. We look for people who have the creativity and enthusiasm needed to deliver the best outcomes for the children and young people we support. We offer staff a comprehensive induction programme and ongoing training to ensure everyone is provided with the best possible start to their employment. Kedleston welcome and nurture staff through the organisation's training provision and seek staff and leaders who are motivated and focused in their delivery of the best education and care support.
Kedleston Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and requires all staff to act in the best interests of our pupils at all times. Successful candidates will be asked to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service.