Head, Strategic Partnerships & Commercial Growth

Role Overview

This position owns the group's strategic partnership agenda end to end — identifying where alliances can open up new revenue, negotiating the agreements that make them real, and keeping the resulting relationships commercially healthy over time. The holder works shoulder to shoulder with product, finance, legal and executive stakeholders to convert partnership activity into measurable growth, and is the person leadership turns to for a clear read on progress against revenue targets and strategic milestones. Success depends on a leader who can hold the attention of senior counterparts at partner organisations, structure complicated deals, and then stay close enough to the relationship to make sure the value that was promised is actually delivered.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the direction for the partnership function: assess market trends and growth pockets, prioritise the segments worth entering, and define which prospective partners offer the strongest strategic and commercial fit.
• Own a broad portfolio of alliances, building and sustaining relationships at Management Executive level and with other key decision-makers on the partner side.
• Hunt down new business opportunities in their widest sense — acquisitions, expansion into new markets, and sizeable grants or contracts — and drive them from first signal through to a closed outcome.
• Run negotiations and shape the structure of high-impact agreements, pulling in cross-functional colleagues so that the group's interests are protected and every commitment stands up to regulatory scrutiny.
• Monitor the health of the partnership ecosystem through financial reports, KPI dashboards and other performance data, tracking return on investment and intervening where value is slipping.
• Report to EXCO and the Board, switching between short progress notes and full presentations on revenue performance and progress against strategic partnership milestones.
• Cultivate strong working relationships inside the business so that teams across functions actively back the growth of products that flow from partnership arrangements.
• Represent the organisation at industry conferences, networking events and forums to maintain visibility and pick up early signals on market shifts.
• Recruit, coach and lead a high-performing business development and partnerships team, with responsibility for budgets and the allocation of resources across the function.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution.
• Professional qualifications in marketing or in financial/investment analysis would strengthen an application.
• An MBA is considered an added advantage.
• A minimum of eight years of relevant management experience, covering the following areas:
• Commercialising new ventures, taking them from pilot stage through to scale.
• At least eight years of progressively senior business development management.
• A track record of driving business growth through strategic partnerships.
• Hands-on experience structuring deals and leading negotiations.
• Confident engagement with high-level stakeholders.
• Post-deal performance management and realisation of the benefits a deal was meant to deliver.
• Managing, supervising and developing people.