Head of Sales

Location: Reading, United Kingdom

Thales people architect solutions at the heart of the defence-security continuum. Interoperable and secure information and telecommunications systems for defence, security, and civil operators, are based upon innovative use of radiocommunications, networks, and cybersecurity. We are ground breaking new digital technologies such as 4G mobile communications, cryptography, cloud computing and big data for use in physical protection systems, and critical information systems.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, Security and Space. Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

**Position**: Head of Sales - Cyber Security & Trust (CS&T)

**Location**: Can be flexible on Base location (Crawley, Reading, Bristol, Ebbw Vale, Cheadle, Doncaster); but will need to be flexible to travel around the numerous Thales & Customer facilities/locations within the UK.

**Missions & Responsibilities**
- Reporting to the Sales Director SIX UK and part of the Business Growth function.
- Act as the primary point of contact with customers and partners (internal and external) for CS&T, in co-ordination with the Portfolio Leads and Account Managers.

**Order Intake and Pipeline Development**
- Development, generation and agreement of the CS&T order intake pipeline.
- Management and delivery of the agreed annual order intake budget/target.
- Identification, qualification, development and bid of CS&T products and services into the UK markets in co-ordination with the CS&T portfolio teams, functions, Thales UK and Thales France business lines.
- Management of lead generation and opportunity qualification to develop a high quality order intake pipeline.
- Management of appropriate annual performance metrics for lead generation (DWCC) and opportunity conversion (Sales Team) to drive order intake and growth.
- Lead integrated management, development and prioritisation of the order intake pipeline in co-ordination with DWCC, the Sales Team, the Account Managers and Portfolio Leads.
- Support the development and definition of the CS&T product/services offer, discriminators and target markets in co-ordination with DWCC, the Sales Team, Account Managers and Portfolio Leads.

**Capture and Bid Management**
- As appropriate, become the Capture Lead for opportunities.
- Ensure appropriate Capture Reviews and appropriately tailored Gate 0, 1, 2 and 3s are conducted for opportunities and captures.
- Generate credible and timely Price to Win (PTW) targets to drive competitive pricing and higher PWin.
- Ensure capture and bid resource and budget requirements are defined, managed and communication effectively.
- Agree prioritisation of captures and bids to best utilise business resources.

**Stakeholder Management**
- Establish strong, collaborative relationships with customers and industry partners to deliver superior market understanding and drive competitive advantage.
- Establish strong internal collaborative relationships with sister businesses within Thales UK, the Thales GBUs, Business Lines and Thales CBUs to identify, develop and win business opportunities.

**Management of the CS&T Sales Team**
- Support and drive identification, qualification, development and bid of CS&T products and services in the UK market in co-ordination with the CS&T portfolio teams and functions.
- Manage the development and career progression of individual team members as part of the Business Growth function.
- Management of team workload and prioritisation of resources.

**Skills & Experience Required**

**Skills**
- Interpersonal.
- Analytical approach.
- Critical decision making.
- Collaborative working.
- Technical understanding.
- Problem solving, innovative thinking.
- Leadership and communication.
- Deal closure and commercial.

**Experience**
- Closing and winning business across managed service and technology sectors.
- Account/customer management experience within relevant or allied markets.
- Creation and maintenance of trusted working relationships both internally and externally.
- Working to targets/clear objectives and with a demonstrable track record.
- Capture management.
- Contracts and commercial.
- OI pipeline management.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers