Head of Business Development & Sales - BlueBear

Introduction

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.

What you will be part of:

Explore a wealth of possibilities. Take on challenges, create smart inventions, and grow beyond. This is a place for curious minds, brave pioneers, and everyone in between. Together, we achieve the extraordinary, each bringing our unique perspectives. Your part matters.

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.

Saab designs, manufactures and maintains advanced systems in aeronautics, weapons, command and control, sensors and underwater systems. Saab is headquartered in Sweden. It has major operations all over the world and is part of the domestic defence capability of several nations.

The Role:

BlueBear is Saab UK's innovation and rapid prototyping division developing emerging technologies to meet the demanding and ever developing needs of Defence. As Head of Business Development and Sales, you will lead strategic planning and execution to drive business growth, identify new opportunities, build partnerships, and manage a team to achieve revenue goals.

The Head of BD & Sales will understand, articulate and shape the future of BlueBear and enjoy partnering with customers across different Defence facing customer both in the UK and globally.

Line management of the company's Sales Managers and the Bid Team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Identify and generate new sales opportunities through targeted business development
• Establishes formal sales plans and strategies
• Develop new and maintain existing customer relationships
• Facilitate peer-to-peer relationships
• Respond to RFQ's and assist in the generation of commercial/technical proposals
• Attend meetings with prospective customers for contract negotiations
• Carry out product and company presentations
• Work with other members of the sales team to support prospect qualification and creation of a suitable strategy and effective solution for custom proposals
• Make, develop and encourage technical/commercial suggestions or solutions that will enhance the overall competitiveness of company products
• Follow Saab Winning Business (WB) process encompassing CRM
• Participate in bid/contract review and approval in line with the Saab WB process
• Lead the contract handover process
• Support variation orders for existing contracts
• Provide competitor and market intelligence (CMI) in support of bids
• Maintain awareness of market trends
• Represent the company at trade shows and industry events

Qualifications & Experience:

• Experience in a similar BD/Technical Sales Role
• Experience of working with or in the UK MoD
• Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Leadership: Strong leadership, management, and communication skills.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and execute strategic plans.
• Business Acumen: Strong understanding of business principles and market dynamics.
• Relationship Building: Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Problem-Solving: Ability to identify and resolve complex business problems.
• Negotiation: Strong negotiation and persuasion skills.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to analyse data and identify trends.
• Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Industry Knowledge: Deep understanding of the industry and target markets.
• Experience: Proven experience in business development, sales, or a related field.
• Proven experience working on multi-engineering discipline systems (electrical, mechanical, hydraulic)
• Ability to work unsupervised to tight timescales, taking high level direction and determining appropriate actions/activity
• Enthusiasm, drive and ambition

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.

By submitting an application to Saab UK you consent to undertaking workforce screening activities that may include but are not limited to: Baseline Personnel Security checks, National Security Vetting, reference checks, verification of working rights and in all circumstances preferred candidates will be placed through a security interview.