Job Description

About First Mile

First Mile is one of the UK’s leading recycling and waste management companies, serving over 30,000 businesses including brands such as Pret A Manger, Netflix and Zara.

We help organisations reduce their environmental impact through smarter waste and recycling services, combining operational delivery with commercial flexibility and service quality.

Our customers range from independent restaurants and retailers through to national hospitality groups, commercial estates, universities and public sector organisations.

As environmental regulation tightens and sustainability becomes a core business priority, demand for scalable, high-quality recycling solutions continues to grow.

We are expanding our commercial capability to win larger, more complex, multi-site customers across the UK.

The Role

This role focuses on winning and converting complex, high-value and tender-led opportunities.

You will lead the commercial approach on enterprise deals, working across multiple stakeholders internally and externally to shape, structure and close contracts that are both operationally deliverable and commercially robust.

Typical opportunities include:

• £100k+ contract value

• Multi-site or national coverage

• Tender-led or procurement-driven processes

• Cross-functional input across operations, supply chain and pricing

You will own the full sales cycle, but with a clear focus on deal strategy, bid quality, pricing discipline and conversion — not just pipeline volume.

Key Responsibilities

Win Complex New Business

• Identify, develop and secure enterprise opportunities across multi-site and operational customers

• Build relationships with senior stakeholders including procurement, estates, operations and facilities leadership

• Lead meetings, site visits and commercial discussions with prospective customers

• Develop tailored solutions aligned to customer requirements and operational realities

• Negotiate pricing, service structure and contract terms to secure profitable agreements

Lead Bid & Tender Opportunities

• Own the commercial strategy for tender-led opportunities

• Work with internal teams (bid, supply chain, operations) to develop high-quality submissions

• Ensure bids are structured, competitive and aligned to customer evaluation criteria

• Avoid reactive, last-minute submissions through clear planning and ownership

Pricing & Commercial Ownership

• Own pricing approach on enterprise deals

• Validate cost inputs and ensure alignment with supply chain and operational delivery

• Apply pricing guardrails and maintain margin discipline

• Make clear trade-offs between price, service and risk

Pipeline Quality & Deal Management

• Build and maintain a credible, qualified pipeline of enterprise opportunities

• Manage all opportunities through Salesforce with clear next steps, values and close plans

• Maintain momentum across multiple complex deals simultaneously

• Rigorously qualify and prioritise opportunities

Conversion & Performance

• Improve win rates on complex and tender-led opportunities

• Take ownership of deal outcomes, including losses

• Continuously refine approach based on performance and feedback

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead coordination across Supply Chain, Operations, Customer Ops and Finance

• Ensure all proposed solutions are feasible, deliverable and commercially sound before submission

• Act as the central point of ownership across the deal lifecycle

Requirements

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for commercially strong operators who can lead and close complex B2B deals, not just generate pipeline.

You are likely to have experience selling contracted, operational services into multi-site or enterprise customers.

Relevant backgrounds include:

• Waste management

• Facilities management

• Energy and utilities

• Property and building services

• Logistics or outsourced services

• Public sector or framework-led environments

You will bring:

• Proven track record winning complex, multi-stakeholder B2B deals

• Experience in tender-led or procurement-driven sales processes

• Strong commercial judgement (price vs margin vs risk)

• Ability to work cross-functionally to shape solutions

• Confidence engaging senior stakeholders

This role is not suited to:

• Volume-focused or purely transactional sales profiles

• Candidates reliant on heavy structure or large support teams

• Individuals focused on revenue without regard for margin or delivery

Skills & Attributes

• Strong commercial and negotiation capability

• High level of ownership and accountability

• Structured approach to deal management and pipeline discipline

• Ability to manage multiple complex opportunities simultaneously

• Clear, confident communication and presentation skills

• Comfortable operating in a performance-driven environment

Benefits

• Competitive base salary with commission structure

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, increasing with service

• Enhanced maternity and paternity scheme

• Monthly wellbeing allowance

• Regular company events and team socials

Why This Role Matters

This role plays a key part in:

• Improving conversion on higher-value opportunities

• Strengthening pricing and margin discipline

• Increasing forecast reliability

• Building a scalable commercial model to support future growth