Head of Sales

About By Association Only (BAO) BAO is a globally award-winning Platinum Shopify Plus eCommerce agency based in the UK. We’re a senior team of designers, developers, and marketers committed to exceptional standards in eCommerce. We work exclusively with Shopify Plus merchants, specialising in the fashion, cosmetics, and luxury goods sectors, for brands all over the world in competitive global markets. We work in a studio where independence, autonomy, and doing the right thing are at the centre of everything we do. As an agency, we’re on a mission to work with the world’s most ambitious eCommerce brands, and we do this in an environment that is smart, open, fast-paced, fun, and rewarding. Although we're headquartered in Cambridge, we are staffed by around 80% permanently remote employees that are located all over the UK. All of our team members are full-time team members.

Role Overview We are looking for an articulate, commercially astute and highly organised Head of Sales to join BAO’s Commercial Team. This is a pivotal role within the agency. BAO is an agency that puts service first, so white-glove treatment of inbound and outbound sales journeys is crucial. We are not a hard-sales agency, our approach is thoughtful, consultative, well-informed and relationship-led.

The Head of Sales will be responsible for owning and managing BAO’s sales pipeline, from the first review of a new opportunity through to proposal, negotiation, winning the work and briefing the client successfully into the wider team. The role sits within the Commercial Team and reports directly into the Commercial Director. You will work closely with the Commercial Director, Managing Director and Head of Client Services, all of whom are actively involved in BAO’s commercial process and have played a central role in shaping how the agency wins new projects and retainer clients.

Over time, the ambition for this role is that you become the autonomous lead of BAO’s sales process: confidently qualifying opportunities, leading sales conversations, shaping proposals, coordinating scopes with internal specialists and ensuring new clients experience a smooth, considered and professional introduction to the agency.

Alongside managing inbound opportunities, the Head of Sales will help BAO become more structured and intelligent in how we understand, report on and develop our pipeline. This includes capturing pipeline information, maintaining a high-quality sales contact database, supporting carefully targeted outbound activity and working with BAO’s marketing team to connect sales strategy with PR, events, white papers, podcasts and wider agency profile-building activity.

This role would suit someone who combines commercial confidence with maturity, sensitivity and excellent judgement. You will need to be credible with ambitious eCommerce brands, comfortable discussing Shopify Plus projects and retainers, and able to represent BAO clearly and professionally in writing, on calls, in person and, where appropriate, on stage at industry events.

Core Responsibilities

• Sales pipeline ownership: You will own and manage BAO’s sales pipeline, ensuring that inbound enquiries are reviewed, qualified and progressed with clarity and consideration. You will be responsible for understanding which opportunities are right for BAO, which require further discovery and which should be prioritised. You will maintain a clear view of pipeline status, opportunity value, likelihood, timing and potential resourcing requirements, giving the Commercial Director and Managing Director confidence in the state of new business.
• Consultative sales conversations: You will lead sales conversations with prospective clients, often senior stakeholders within ambitious and enterprise grade brands. Your role is to understand the client’s business, their objectives, their current eCommerce setup, their challenges and what they are hoping to achieve. You should be able to ask intelligent questions, identify commercial and technical considerations, and communicate BAO’s value in a way that is confident and collaborative.
• Proposal development and commercial scoping: You will be responsible for developing high-quality proposals that clearly articulate BAO’s understanding of the client’s needs and how we would approach the work. This will involve working closely with members of the Development, Design, Strategy, Solutions, Project Management and Account Management teams to shape scopes of work that are commercially appropriate, operationally realistic and aligned with the client’s objectives.
• Winning projects and retainers: The Head of Sales will play a central role in converting qualified opportunities into new project and retainer clients. This requires confidence, patience and strong commercial judgement. BAO’s sales process is not about aggressive closing; it is about building trust, demonstrating expertise, understanding fit and guiding the client towards the right decision.
• Sales reporting and pipeline intelligence: You will be responsible for ensuring that BAO’s sales pipeline is captured and maintained in a way that is simple, accurate and commercially useful. This means ensuring that the right information is available at the right time: where opportunities are coming from, what stage they are at, what they are worth, how likely they are to close, what type of work they represent, when they may land and what they may require from the wider team.
• Contact database and targeted outbound activity: The Head of Sales will also be responsible for building and maintaining a high-quality sales contact database. This database should support thoughtful, relevant and well-timed outbound activity. BAO is not looking for a volume-led cold sales approach. Instead, we want to build a more considered view of the brands, contacts, partners and opportunities that are genuinely aligned with our positioning, experience and ambitions.
• Sales and marketing collaboration: You will work cross-functionally with BAO’s marketing team to ensure that sales activity and marketing activity support one another. This may include identifying potential clients connected to BAO’s PR calendar, events, white papers, podcasts, thought leadership, partner activity and wider agency profile-building work.
• Agency representation and industry events: The Head of Sales may be expected to represent BAO externally at industry events in the UK and internationally. This could include attending eCommerce events, participating in panels or fireside chats, presenting on stage, contributing to partner-led events and speaking with prospective clients, partners and industry contacts.
• Internal briefing and handover: Winning the work is only part of the responsibility. The Head of Sales must also ensure that new projects and retainers are introduced smoothly to the internal team.

What Success Looks Like Success in this role means BAO has a clear, well-managed and healthy sales pipeline, with suitable opportunities being progressed confidently and unsuitable opportunities being handled professionally. Over time, we would expect the Head of Sales to:

• Become the day-to-day owner of BAO’s sales process.
• Lead the majority of qualified new business conversations.
• Maintain a clear, accurate and commercially useful sales pipeline.
• Provide weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual sales reporting that supports decision-making.
• Improve BAO’s ability to forecast new business revenue and understand pipeline health.
• Improve the consistency and quality of proposal development.
• Build and maintain a high-quality sales contact database.
• Support selective outbound activity towards relevant, high-fit prospects.
• Work closely with marketing to convert PR, events, podcasts, white papers and thought leadership activity into commercial opportunity.
• Give the Commercial Director and Managing Director clear visibility of pipeline status, opportunity value, probability and timing.
• Represent BAO confidently at meetings, pitches and relevant industry events.
• Increase confidence across the team that new work has been scoped, sold and briefed in properly.
• Help BAO win high-quality project and retainer clients that align with the agency’s positioning, values and capabilities.

About You We are looking for someone with a strong blend of commercial ability, communication skills, eCommerce understanding and personal judgement. You will likely have:

• Proven experience in a sales, commercial or new business role, ideally within an eCommerce, digital, creative or technical agency environment.
• Experience managing a sales pipeline and progressing opportunities from enquiry to close.
• Strong understanding of consultative sales and relationship-led business development.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to lead calls and meetings with confidence, clarity and professionalism.
• Experience creating or contributing to proposals, scopes of work, commercial documents or pitch materials.
• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to identify good-fit and poor-fit opportunities.
• Enough technical understanding to discuss eCommerce requirements credibly with clients and internal specialists.
• Experience maintaining a sales pipeline, CRM or equivalent system with accuracy and commercial discipline.
• Ability to analyse sales information and present clear pipeline updates, forecasts and recommendations.
• Experience building or managing a prospect/contact database.
• Comfortable working with marketing teams to connect campaigns, content, events and thought leadership with commercial opportunity.
• Confidence representing a business externally at client meetings, industry events or partner conversations.
• High standards of personal presentation, whether in writing, on video calls or in person.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• A measured, mature and emotionally intelligent approach to client relationships.
• The ability to work independently while collaborating closely with a senior team.
• UK-based availability, with flexibility to travel for client meetings, pitches and industry events where required.

Desirable Experience The following would be advantageous, but not essential:

• Experience working with Shopify Plus or another major eCommerce platform.
• Experience selling project-based and/or retainer-based agency services.
• Experience working with fashion, beauty, luxury, lifestyle or premium consumer brands.
• Brand-side digital or eCommerce experience.
• Familiarity with eCommerce technology stacks, integrations, migrations and replatforming projects.
• Experience working with designers, developers, strategists, project managers and account managers to shape client recommendations.
• Experience reporting on pipeline performance, lead source, conversion rate, sales cycle, average deal value or revenue forecast.
• Experience working with agency marketing, PR, content or events teams to support lead generation.
• Experience participating in webinars, podcasts, panels, fireside chats or industry events.
• Existing relationships within the Shopify, eCommerce, fashion, beauty, luxury or premium retail ecosystem.

Benefits Highly competitive salary DOE 24 days of annual leave + 8 bank holidays +1 extra day per year served Training budget for courses or online training relevant to your role High-spec Apple equipment Opportunity to travel globally for key eCommerce industry events and client pitches Working with a primarily luxury, innovative and high-profile international client base No micro-management culture Remote working or office-based, or a combination of the two, depending on your location In-person and online social events throughout the year Clear career progression paths and a structured employee review process

Application Process Join us in our quest to shape the future of eCommerce. Our application process is informal, beginning with an initial chat to get to know you. We avoid technical tests, focusing instead on aligning cultural and professional aspirations. Become part of our Carbon Positive workforce. All BAO team members contribute to our carbon-positive initiative, planting trees to offset your carbon footprint, including your home, travel, and more.