Business Development & Strategy Director, EMEA Distribution in Westminster

A critical leadership role, sitting centrally within EMEA Distribution that traverses local business management through to strategic development. This includes leadership of the Global Strategic Clients (GSR) programme internally by engaging and enabling global sales teams, alongside business management for the UK Client Groups, as well driving strategic initiatives across EMEA. The role will require strong leadership skills, navigating a fast moving, growth orientated organisation, alongside a talent development mindset, directly leading a small team. This is an opportunity for a highly energetic individual to have a real impact. They should relish the opportunity to bring fresh thinking, perspectives and a drive to deliver growth to the EMEA business through relationship skill, technical expertise and a resilient mindset.

The role is broken down into three core components:

• Directly partner with Head of UK Client Group to enable commercial development and business management activity across Institutional, Insurance and Wholesale.
• Lead the central planning and execution of our priority Global Strategic Relationships, influencing both senior leadership and sales account managers to drive effective global planning, co-ordination and execution.
• Create business cases, stakeholder buy in and lead execution on strategic change, which can range from short-term improvements to medium and long-term business development - centrally and across the full spectrum of EMEA Distribution.

How you'll spend your time... Responsibilities include:

• Sales planning and engagement, ensuring accountability in execution by leveraging available data and tooling to aid Distribution leaders increase sales effectiveness.
• Drive and facilitate core business management activities of EMEA Distribution including highly effective reporting, progress against Plan, and preparing internal presentations on behalf of C-Suite leaders.
• Embed consistency, process and clear roles and responsibilities across the team, while ensuring agility to pivot where demand requires.
• Business Management (annual planning, reporting, business presentations, training) to all levels across the organisation.
• Taking direct leadership and representing the business where appropriate.
• Strategic project work, ranging from product strategy (Liquid through to Alternatives) to developing the EMEA Distribution operating model.
• Leading internal Global Strategic Relationship account planning.
• Leverage the GSR framework for Tier 2 relationships, taking personal ownership in driving sales connectivity, opportunity identification and effective execution.
• Maintain GSR account profiles with clear actions, stakeholder mapping and alignment back to strategic objectives that are set for each account annually.
• Drive actions (and relevant projects) within the business to ensure we deliver for these key clients.

Key skills required:

• Strong knowledge of the Distribution landscape (Global or region specific) with extensive experience in asset management.
• Highly personable, able to engage at all levels of the organisation.
• Collaborative approach with strong focus on client experience.
• Strong commercial acumen and can-do attitude.
• Ability to understand client business models and how this relates to our business to create and define opportunities.
• Change management ability - able to set a vision, define requirements and take stakeholders on the journey to drive business impact.
• Good investment knowledge and ability to work in close partnership across investment teams.
• Leadership strength with a collaborative approach and ability to prioritise across agendas.
• Outstanding ability to network, influence and execute across large, complex organisations.
• In depth understanding of Asset Management and the needs of critical client bases.
• A 'firm first' mindset - meaning the ability to understand what is right for our business and clients.
• Organised and structured, both with strong presentation skills and ability to track progress against key initiatives.
• Able to manage a wide-ranging portfolio of work, with a variety of deadlines.
• A strategic mindset coupled with a strong grasp on the detail; the ability to see areas of opportunity and the boldness to then make it happen.
• Comfortable working closely with (and influencing) senior management.

About the role and company:

Working at Columbia Threadneedle Investments you'll find growth and career opportunities across all of our businesses. We're intentionally built to help you succeed. Our reach is expansive with a global team of 2,500 people working together. Our expertise is diverse with more than 650 investment professionals sharing global perspectives across all major asset classes and markets. Our clients have access to a broad array of investment strategies, and we have the capability to create bespoke solutions matched to clients' specific requirements. Columbia Threadneedle is a people business and we recognise that our success is due to our talented people, who bring diversity of thought, complementary skills and capabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive workplace that supports the diversity of our employees and reflects our broader communities and client-base. We appreciate that work-life balance is an important factor for many when considering their next move so please discuss any flexible working requirements directly with your recruiter.