Job Description

Job title:                                   Business Development Associate

Responsible to:                       Youth Card Project Officer

Application Deadline:            on or before 30th November 2020

Are you a good fit?

You want to work with a highly respected and aspirational brand, at the heart of a network of many of the UK’s leading figures and employers. 

You know that technology has a significant role to play but that human interaction and relationships are of even greater importance.

You want to feel like a valued member of a growing team, in an organisation which recognises that its people are its greatest asset and part of an extended family, working together to support each other to meet organisational and not just individual goals.

Ideal candidates will be looking for a demanding role in a fast-moving entrepreneurial charity. This is an exciting time to join our team as we take Speakers for Schools to the next level. Multi-tasking ability a must.

You should be sociable and confident and happy building and maintaining relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders

What is Speakers for Schools?

Founded by ITV Political Editor Robert Peston (Trustee), and chaired by Andrew Law (Caxton Associates), Speakers for Schools was created to help level the playing field for UK state schools and their students by giving them the same access to the UK’s leading figures from politics, business, science, sport, the arts and more, as that enjoyed by private schools.

Bill Gates, Baroness (Martha) Lane Fox, Professor Brian Cox, David Dein, David Cameron, Natalie Bennett, Ed Balls, Naomi Campbell and over two thousand other influential, eminent and inspirational people, have been kind enough to volunteer their time to speak with Speakers for Schools. Almost a million Young People have attended a Speakers for Schools talk.

In 2016, we launched our Experience Programme. Experience works with our outstanding network of speakers and partner employers, to offer young people, amazing work experience opportunities, which would often be out of reach to them.

Our Experience Programme has more than trebled in impact since September as employers such as the Bank of England, M&C Saatchi, Disney, Spotify, Santander, Morgan Sindal, BA, BP, Cisco and others offer placements to thousands of Young People. In March we launched a ground-breaking virtual work experience programme in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The main purpose of the role

This role reports to the Youth Card Project Officer to support the launch, management and growth of the Youth Card programme which is an app to help young people across the UK access meaningful discounts and life preparing opportunities. The programme is coordinated with other National Charities, however, Speakers for Schools is leading the programme. We are looking for a focused business development professional to help us win a flow of exciting “perks” that help young people get a positive start into their lives.

You’ll be identifying and engaging organisations up and down the country to give perks, training partners on their portal service, support the customer services for our partners and contributing to planning and strategy for the programme. Speakers for Schools is a fast scaling Edtech Charity much like a tech start-up, if you like bringing new ideas into the world and building programmes from the ground up then please apply.

Main duties/responsibilities

• Pitching products and/or services
• Developing and maintaining a portfolio of partners
• Cultivate new leads and work towards KPI’s
• Manage multiple accounts simultaneously
• Maintain records of all sales leads and/or partner accounts in CRM system
• Represent the brand during all partner and prospect interactions
• Educate partners on how products or services can benefit them
• Manage the Youth Card partnership CMS platform
• Monitor competitors, new products, and market conditions
• High energy communicator with consistency, character and care, ensuring all you reach feel motivated to work with you
• Comfortable managing end to end sales cycles
• The ability to handle pressure and meet deadlines
• Attention to detail
• Passionate about making a positive difference
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• An open and likeable personality, with honesty and integrity
• Autonomous approach with a positive ‘can-do’ attitude
• Systems driven including Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word) and CRM Software (Salesforce)

General Duties and Responsibilities

• From time to time, the post holder may be required to work at any of the Charity’s sites in line with organisational needs.
• All staff must ensure the confidentiality and security of information dealt with in the course of performing their duties. They must comply with and keep up to date with Charity policies and legislation on confidentiality, data protection, freedom of information and computer misuse.
• All staff are required to adhere to and act consistently with all relevant health and safety legislation and Charity policies and procedures in order to ensure that their own and the health, safety and security of others is maintained.
• Staff will actively promote the Charity’s commitment to equality and diversity by treating everyone with dignity and respect.
• All employees should take a proactive approach to personal development in order to ensure that skillsets are aligned to the demands of the role as it evolves and develops to meet the organisation’s changing needs.
• All employees have a responsibility for protecting, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
• It is the responsibility of all employees to conduct all business in an honest and ethical manner.
• Staff should uphold and demonstrate the Charity’s values (respectfulness, accountability, integrity, support and evolution).
• All staff should be aware of their responsibilities to protect the reputation of the charity e.g. social media and behaviour.
• Staff should be willing to undertake any activity as deemed appropriate by the charity that is in line with skills, experience and knowledge.

Your Experience 

Experience 

Essential 

• 3+ years full-time sales, business development and/or partnerships, including lead generation
• Proven track record in new business development
• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment 
• Proven negotiation and presentation skills
• Track record of delivering results and working towards sales targets

Knowledge and Skills

​Essential

• Office (Word, excel/csv, pdf, editor, collaborative docs, PowerPoint) 
• CRM systems
• Developing and managing sales pipelines and key messaging 

Desirable 

• Salesforce
• Mailchimp to create and schedule email campaigns 
• WordPress cms management

Personal qualities 

Essential 

• Able to communicate and respect diverse teams 
• A natural leadership style, able to gain respect and work as a team player with a range of people
• Genuine, down to earth nature
• Strong organisational skills and a collaborative approach
• Positive, hands-on approach, highly motivated with drive to achieve success
• High degree of ethics and professional standards
• Passionate about supporting young people to achieve their full potential

Applying 

Please apply as soon as possible, submitting your CV and a covering letter which outlines your specific interest and ability to successfully fill this role, as well as your salary expectations.

Please note if you do not provide a covering letter your application will not be considered.

Appointees are subject to a successful DBS check, as contact with young people is likely.

The Journey to joining Speakers for Schools

Interviews will be scheduled as applications are received, before the closing date, and will take place over Microsoft Teams. We may appoint before this date depending on applications.

We will be closing this on or before: Monday 30th November

Our new team member will start: November/December 2020