Department: Business Development
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Location: Sunderland
Our Business
pxFairport (pxF) is a project delivery specialist offering full turnkey EPC and OEM solutions to the bulk material handling and plant processing markets. Our services cover the aggregates, processing, tunnelling, mining, quarrying, alternative fuels, waste-to-energy, ports, and food sectors, globally. With unrivalled industry expertise, pxF manages, specifies, engineers, designs, supplies, installs, operates, and maintains market leading equipment for complex material handling needs, guaranteeing performance excellence, reliability, and optimal operating costs.
The Opportunity
We are now recruiting for a Sales and Proposals Director to join the Sunderland Fairport office.
The Sales & Proposals Director provides leadership and is responsible for the sales pipeline and business development activities, along with proposal management of the bid team to ensure that the generation and active progression of opportunities is significant enough to support and achieve the booking and sales targets.
The role is responsible for developing and implementing tools and processes that aid the progress of business development into new business sectors, manage sales pipeline producing accurate forecasting tools and reports for business planning, highlight and manage risk at the front end of all opportunities, generate accurate costing material that is in conjunction with other departments ensuring high throughput of enquiries and effective and efficient handover. The Sales and Proposals Director must effectively communicate the vision of the Fairport business, driving accountability, ownership, and measured performance. Translating the overarching business deliverables into clearly defined KPIs.
You’ll be supported with personalised on the job training, coaching, mentoring and twice-yearly development and performance reviews to help maintain & develop your contributions and competence.
• Present and chair meetings with senior representatives from all customers to ensure that our offer is well received and understood, giving Px Fairport the best chances of success.
• Accountable for all sales negotiations and discussions with customers, ensuring that risk, commercial and contractual obligations are accounted for and that safeguard the business.
• Accountable for reporting weekly & monthly sales pipeline, forecasting and hot opportunities to the px fairport Managing Director, including agreed metrics, Go/Get probability, close dates, project timings, resource allocation, Cost, Cashflow, Scope, Risk.
• Provide sales direction for the px fairport business through detailed business development and analysis of markets to ensure sustainability.
• Drive best practice techniques within the px fairport sales and proposals teams.
• Accountable for all sales activities to ensure that the business has a healthy pipeline of opportunities supporting the financial targets set.
• Accountable for successfully achieving the sales and booking targets set by group.
• Accountable for the management, governance and reporting of monthly sales and proposals performance to the px fairport Managing Director, including agreed metrics, OTD of bids, forecast reports, pipeline status.
• Ensures 100% compliance and governance with business policy and procedures.
• Contributing to the implementation and then ongoing compliance with quality systems to ISO standards 9001, 14001 and 45001, or equivalent, including planning, preparation, and participation of external audits.
• Drive continuous improvement strategies with the Senior sales and proposals personnel along with other key stakeholders: process improvement, costing sheet progression, cost reductions, sales material, standardisation of conveyors.
• Provide effective support for the Sales and proposals team, ensuring technical and commercial support is available as required to ensure all proposals are sufficiently reviewed, approved and achievable, in line with the proposals process.
• Work with fellow Directors driving collaborative strategies for the group relating to standardisation of policy, process and systems and shared resources.
• Drive strategy for best practice across all areas of the business, providing leadership, mentoring and guidance to the management team.
• Develop the Sales and Proposals teams to be more commercially aware of opportunities for competitive advantages, strategic positioning, high risk potentials so that mitigation or reduction measures can be implemented.
• Degree qualified in a technical or business management discipline
• Experience in a technical sales management role
• Experience in either a technical sales or proposal management position
• Experience of owning sales targets, forecasting and pipeline management
• Critical and analytical thinker, sound decision maker, assertive
• Able to mentor/lead management teams effectively
• Experience and understanding of heavy engineering and/or material handling products/processes
• Strong people management skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and with attention to detail
• Highly organised and able to prioritise workload in a multidisciplinary environment
• Ability to project strategy clearly, setting goals and objectives for Managers/Senior Managers
• Experience of presenting up to board level / senior level clients
• Exceptional leadership, visible, approachable, and with consistency across all business areas
• Adhere to the business’s core values through working relationships, attitude, and behaviour
• Ability to travel to clients’ sites when necessary to add senior leadership support
25 days holiday plus bank holidays
Contribution towards eye test and glasses
Online company discount benefits site including cinema tickets and gym membership discount
Long Service Awards
Employee recognition scheme – ELITE Awards
Employee Assistance Programme
Flexible Benefits Package
Onsite parking
We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.
Please note this role may close early or be extended depending on the volume of applications.
px Group is a fully integrated infrastructure solutions business which delivers net zero and stakeholder success through elite performance in the safety, availability, reliability and efficiency of energy infrastructure, industrial processes and related commercial activities - unlocking value for our customers as a trusted partner. Part of the Ara Partners portfolio of companies, Ara Partners is a private equity firm specialising in industrial decarbonisation investments.
Operating on a 24/7 basis, providing services at this level requires professionalism and competence coupled with a safety and environmentally conscious mind set to deliver operational excellence.
This capability has been shaped by a 25 year history in managing, operating and maintaining some of Europe’s most significant industrial infrastructure including two of the UK’s largest and most strategic gas processing facilities.
px Group also owns Saltend Chemicals Park at the heart of the UK’s Energy Estuary in the Humber, home to several world-leading manufacturing businesses such as Mitsubishi Chemicals, INEOS, and Vivergo Fuels and the location for Equinor’s hydrogen production plant with carbon capture, the anchor project for Zero Carbon Humber. This introduction of hydrogen at our Saltend Park, and our continuous search with all current and new industrial users for further synergies in energy and resource use will help to transform the park into a future proof Green Energy Park.
We are committed to the Energy Transition, and reducing emissions across all our operations, including the sites we manage and operate on behalf of our clients. We are growing internationally and are involved in some of the newest flagship waste-to-fuels projects including ReNew’s plastic recycling plant in Teesside and GIDARA Energy’s advanced biofuels facility in Amsterdam which will convert non-recyclable waste into bio-methanol.
