Business Development Account Director - MOD Enterprise Lead in Basingstoke

Overview

AECOM has an excellent track record of delivering programmes of critical national importance in defence, positioning the business as a leading professional services consultancy for the UK MOD and with the US DoD across Europe. There is an opportunity for a new Business Development – Account Director to elevate AECOM’s profile as a partner of choice by UK MOD and grow market penetration into the long term. This is a key Defence leadership role. The successful candidate will be a key member of AECOM’s Defence Leadership Team, reporting to the Head of Defence UK, Europe & India and working in partnership with defence sector leaders and across business lines.

Due to the nature of the work, the successful applicant will need to have an active UK Security Clearance or the ability to gain a UK SC level clearance (support will be provided through the application process) and be willing to apply for Developed Vetting clearance if needed. Regular travel to London and other UK offices will be required.

The UK MOD Enterprise Lead role has been created to spearhead strategic business development, building key strategic relationships with targeted clients within the UK MOD Enterprise, pre-positioning AECOM for key strategic major pursuits, leading on capture management with work winning teams and regular stakeholder engagement. The successful candidate will act as the Senior Client Account Manager (CAM) across all UK MOD Accounts, working with a UK Defence Nuclear Enterprise Lead, multiple MOD CAMs and serving as the day-to-day communications focal point between the Defence Leadership Team to identify future UK MOD strategic pursuits.

Responsibilities

• Providing leadership for the UK MOD Enterprise accounts, reporting into the Head of Defence for UK, Europe & India.
• Ensure effective relationships with internal stakeholders to achieve objectives, including business units, end markets, other sectors, CAMs, commercial, work winning and strategic marketing and communications.
• Build effective relationships with counterparts across AECOM’s geographies (e.g. US DoD and input into global Defence equipment programmes).
• Accountable for setting and implementing UK MOD Enterprise account business strategies, objectives and financial outcomes.
• Participates in developing the regional growth and business development defence strategy to define growth targets and prioritise pursuits, best practice and sales leadership, in collaboration with the Defence Leadership Team, Operating Unit Leaders and CAMs across all business lines.
• Contributes to the success and growth of the sector within the region and in collaboration with other regions.
• Responsible for business development and winning of strategic pursuits, excellence in delivery of professional services, and business compliance, in alignment to the Defence growth strategy, working in collaboration with Marketing and Capture Managers.
• Builds, monitors and orchestrates sales pipeline activities across the Defence portfolio to advance, invest in or divest of opportunities.
• Keeps abreast of Defence and Security challenges and leverages this knowledge to focus on sales activities.
• Leads the coordination of forming teams as part of major pursuits and mobilisation.
• Works with regional teams to analyse and understand long, medium and short-term UK MOD Enterprise opportunities to advise strategic planning and pursuit prioritisation.
• Understands breadth and depth of global AECOM capabilities and brings regional and global expertise to major pursuits.
• Brings discipline and rigor to the Go/No Go process and capture management planning phase.
• Works in collaboration with Marketing to develop and execute strategic marketing campaigns that position AECOM around key opportunities.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will be an outstanding leader with extensive and relevant UK MOD experience at a senior level, in a fast-paced and complex commercial environment. You must be highly strategic with outstanding customer engagement, strong business acumen and the emotional intelligence to lead business lines to achieve its full potential while navigating a complex customer ecosystem.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Experience of operating at a senior level within either infrastructure advisory, or a comparable consulting / professional services or engineering business selling into the Defence sector.
• In-depth knowledge of the UK Defence sector; including UK government departments and agencies, government and industry frameworks and major industry OEMs / suppliers to UK MOD.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and securing individual consulting / professional service contract awards / wins in the region of $5m to $20m and experience of operating / servicing the larger CCS / MCF type frameworks favoured by UK MOD as a route to market.
• Connectivity into the UK MOD and wider defence and security sector, including OEM, senior stakeholders. A natural networker, comfortable engaging with Government and global OEMs and speaking at relevant industry events.
• Experience must demonstrate sales production metrics, demonstrated skills in business development strategy, team leadership, client discovery and development of compelling value propositions that meet client’s needs.

Additional Information

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $14.4 billion in fiscal year 2023.

You will have the flexibility you need to do your best work with hybrid work options. Whether you’re working from an AECOM office, remote location or at a client site, you will be working in a dynamic environment where your integrity, entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering mindset are championed.

AECOM provides a wide array of compensation, benefits and well-being programs to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families. We’re the world’s trusted global infrastructure firm, and we’re in this together – your growth and success are ours too.

Join us, and you’ll get all the benefits of being a part of a global, publicly traded firm – access to industry-leading technology and thinking and transformational work with big impact and work flexibility. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person’s potential, and we’ll help you reach yours.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to applicants who have a disability or long-term condition, who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.