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About the company
Client provides software consulting and development services to companies that develop network communications products for network infrastructure, media systems and security, addressing the need of the technological shift to the cloud paradigm.
Scope of position
Based in Ottawa or Boston, the VP Business Development will report to the President while working closely with the Co-Founder that has, until this point, been responsible for the business development efforts for the new Switching Division. This entrepreneur and self-starter will be responsible for developing the go to market strategy while leveraging the early success Client has already achieved in this space. This entrepreneurial sales and business development leader will have to quickly determine a plan of action, leveraging the company’s recent success, and see this assignment as if it is his/her own business.
The ideal candidate will have to be a technical leader who can clearly understand the value proposition and articulate it to a technical buyer. This person will also be required to be totally committed to the organization where strategic thoughts and valuable ideas can be shared at any time and where execution is critical to the successes of the business. Although a sales process exists, this new initiative may require a unique approach and the establishment of specific best in class sales processes for the recently established new division. Once success is achieved, the VP Business Development will establish a sales/business development team to support the business growth.
This strategic thinking sales leader will be responsible for establishing the sales plan that ensures customer success and revenue potential before executing on a direct sales campaign with new customers. Time is of the essence so determining the appropriate effort for maximum return will be very important because the potential customer base is truly global, China, Israel, Russia, and NA; focus will be the key to his/her success.
The VP Business Development will need to have successfully grown a business from nothing to north of $10M and have a proven track record of selling globally. This is likely a person that spent their early career in a large enterprise and found the environment challenging and frustrating and has since joined smaller high growth companies and leveraged the understanding of how those large companies operate to establish a track record of success selling to those customers.
While this new member of the team works directly for the President he/she will work closely and take business development guidance from the Boston based co-founder. The VP Business Development will establish a strong working relationship with the corporate office and embrace the support of the functional operation to ensure success. This operations group will provide the necessary support and guidance while the VP Business Development establishes the Switching Division market, the customer base and most importantly drives revenue. He/she will grow to rely on the depth of operational talent and the collaborative style of the Canadian based team and become a strong advocate for their capability.
Competency Profile
Commercial Acumen (Business Knowledge)
Applies appropriate commercial and financial principles; Understands situations in terms of costs, profits, added-value and return on investment; Appreciates the commercial impact of own work on the organization’s total expenses and revenues.
Results Orientation (Revenue with targets) (Drive)
Focuses strongly on achieving agreed upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met; Has a reputation for execution and delivery; Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure; Aims to improve upon past performance; Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve/exceed them.
Industry & Market Awareness (Customer intimacy)
Seeks to anticipate and respond to industry and market changes/challenges by understanding key characteristics, issues and the factors driving them; Aware of competitor’s products, services, and position; Is rigorous in researching data related to target markets.
Customer/Client Orientation
Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service; Listen and understands customer/client needs and conveys then back to the organization to take appropriate action; Quickly follows up on customer/client concerns and deals with them in a professional and efficient manner; Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction
Leading Change (Service offering leadership)
Recognizes when change is necessary; Challenges the status quo and champions new initiatives; Acts as a catalyst to change and stimulates others to change; Develops an effective action plan to implement change and monitors results.
Strategic Approach
Develops a strategic plan to realize the vision; Revises strategy in light of changing circumstances; Takes a long-term view of organizational success; Works to clarify long term organizational goals; Able to stand back from immediate problems in order to focus on more far reaching ideas.
Functional Tasks
- Develop and execute Business Plans and commutate the plans to the executive and Board.
- Create and sustain a viable organizational structure to make optimum use of human resources, technology, and systems.
- Manage the ongoing sales activity including pipeline activity, proposal preparation along with the support of global sales.
- Contributes leadership through helping to drive the development and communication of strategic plans, and the creation, execution, and evaluation of corresponding operational plans.
- Enhance existing sales processes & reporting capabilities to support the sales efforts while enabling the management team to have clear visibility of pipeline and backlog.
- Provide leadership in securing new customers and strategic partners, assume responsibilities for selected customers and partners and nurture those relationships to grow revenues and develop new revenue-generating opportunities in the existing market.
- Participate as an active member of the senior management team and foster an environment of collaboration, innovation, and co-operation.
Preferred Experience and Education
The following indicates specific industry, academic and functional experience/qualifications that are important to the successful achievement of the identified responsibilities and performance deliverables:
- A degree in or the equivalent to B.SC Computer Science, MBA an asset.
- Experience in senior management roles in the telecom industry.
- Has grown business unit revenue from zero to $10M and beyond.
- Multi-functional expertise – especially in sales and market development but also contract negotiations, finance, and project management.
- Knowledge of software product creation within a creative environment would also be viewed as an asset
- Proven track record of success in expanding into new verticals and markets while leveraging the existing customer base.
- Experience developing strategies for winning in technology niche markets.
- Self-motivated with good interpersonal skills and ability to work in a dynamic, team-oriented environment.
- Outstanding verbal and written communications skills and strong negotiation capability.
- Able to make quick sound decisions even in the absence of concrete data.
- Participate as an active member of the senior management team providing input into the company’s overall objectives, goals, and strategic direction
Remuneration and Benefits
Salary will be commensurate with experience and will have a variable component linked to individual and corporate performance. There is also a comprehensive benefits package.