Senior Associate Director, Sales in Slough

About the CBI
Founded 60 years ago and representing some of the biggest names in business, household brands and globally traded corporations that employ people in all sectors and across every region and nation of the UK, the CBI is the voice of business. The CBI represents 850 members who themselves comprise 1,100 separate registered companies and 150,000 trade association members. The CBI is committed to ensuring a safe, supportive and inclusive people centric culture where our people can excel to achieve their full potential and be their best authentic selves in an environment where ethical values and respectful behaviours are at the very heart of who we are in our everyday interactions.

This is a permanent role, pay band 3, with a starting salary of £60,000 plus commission. To apply for the role, please send your CV and a short covering letter setting out your suitability for the role to recruit@cbi.org.uk by 9am on Monday, 16th February.

Role Summary
We have a great opportunity for an experienced sales professional to join the UK’s most influential business organisation, in a role which provides an opportunity to have impact in a frontline role liaising with businesses across the UK. This is a critical time for the UK, economically, politically, and for business. With so much on the line, the need for the strongest possible business voice has never been more important. At the CBI, we are here to help to raise the voice of business, cut through the noise, and shape the UK’s future success.

Our new strategy is built around sustainable growth, and through our policy work, we’re focusing on the four big transitions the UK economy needs to achieve to deliver that growth:

• To lead the global race to net zero and help the UK’s economy to decarbonise.
• To respond to the changing nature of the future of work and skills.
• To manage the transformation being driven by the technological & innovation revolution.
• To equip the UK - its nations and regions − to be a globally competitive business environment.

Based at our head office in central London and reporting into the Commercial Operations Director, the Senior Associate Director, Sales, will play a crucial role in driving sales, expanding our membership base, and infusing a strong commercial focus into the role. This includes developing and executing strategies to attract members and identifying opportunities for revenue growth through innovative sales approaches and commercial initiatives.

Key Responsibilities
The jobholder’s main responsibilities will be:

• Lead on the recruitment of large members, demonstrating the ability to close complex, high value sales with senior decision makers and c-level stakeholders.
• Own and shape a strategic sales pipeline, with clear accountability for delivering agreed targets and a focus on maximising impact against priority opportunities.
• Manage an end-to-end sales pipeline, including the generation and qualification of prospect leads, development of bespoke sales pitches and proposals and negotiation of fee levels, operating effectively across multiple opportunities and stakeholders.
• Contribute to and influence business development strategy and target outreach, operating with pace and strong commercial judgement.
• Secure, lead and chair strategic meetings with new target companies to progress membership opportunities, bringing in subject matter experts where appropriate and guiding senior level discussions with confidence.
• Manage inbound leads, including responding to enquiries, qualifying opportunities, hosting initial exploratory discussions and facilitating introductions to relevant colleagues, balancing inbound demand with proactive outreach.
• Produce high quality proposals and pitches that clearly articulate the value proposition of the CBI’s services, tailored to senior audiences and aligned to business priorities.
• Consistently meet weekly and monthly key performance metrics around targeting, meetings and proposals, maintaining a robust and well managed sales pipeline within agreed timeframes.
• Maintain accurate and timely CRM records of engagement activity, ensuring data quality, effective forecasting and clear visibility of pipeline performance.
• Work closely with account managers to successfully onboard new members, ensuring a seamless transition, strong early engagement and a foundation for long-term retention.
• Prepare and deliver concise, insightful briefings for the executive committee and senior colleagues, providing clear recommendations and commercial insight.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation to refine the member proposition and identify, shape and deploy commercial opportunities, navigating complex stakeholder environments.
• Embed commercial thinking and the value of the CBI proposition across the organisation, proactively identifying opportunities to drive membership growth through all activities.
• Design and deliver creative, targeted recruitment campaigns to reach new audiences, with clear objectives and measurable outcomes.
• Lead on one or more target-focused events each year, owning delivery from concept through to conversion and follow up.
• Represent the CBI externally at business and stakeholder events, acting as a credible, confident and trusted ambassador for the organisation.
• Participate in relevant external and internal stakeholder forums, including CBI working groups and committees.

Knowledge & Experience
What an individual must know or understand to be able to fulfil the role’s requirements:

• Proven track record of sales success in a B2B context, with the ability to independently drive the full sales process from plan to close, including managing complex and long sales cycles.
• Experience building relationships and working confidently with senior business leaders, including C-level executives, with evidence of influencing, negotiating and closing at this level.
• Strong commercial acumen and experience in innovative and consultative sales, including diagnosing client needs and shaping solutions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to listen, analyse, persuade and negotiate effectively with senior audiences.
• Strong proposal and pitch writing skills, with the ability to clearly articulate value propositions, commercial outcomes, and return on investment.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously, demonstrating sound judgement on prioritisation, personal capacity management and delivery under pressure.
• Experience working with CRM and other sales applications, ensuring a disciplined, accurate and well managed sales process, including forecasting and reporting.
• Ability to operate effectively and responsively in both line and matrix structures, demonstrating confidence navigating complexity and multiple stakeholders.
• Knowledge of the UK business landscape and a strong understanding of business operations, challenges and decision-making dynamics.
• Sales experience in a professional services environment, membership organisation, or not for profit organisation of a similar size and complexity to the CBI, with exposure to target driven roles and senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work at pace, take ownership and operate with minimal supervision in a target driven environment.

Skills
Additional role-specific skills required to fulfil the role’s requirements include:

• Advanced written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to shape and deliver compelling proposals, briefings and narratives for senior and c-level audiences.
• Strong commercial judgement and problem solving capability, with the ability to diagnose complex business needs and shape tailored membership and commercial solutions.
• Strategic analytical skills, including the ability to interpret pipeline data, market intelligence and commercial insight to inform targeting and decision making.
• Confidence using CRM systems and sales tools to maintain oversight of pipeline performance, forecast effectively and drive commercial outcomes.
• Ability to operate effectively across multiple priorities and stakeholders, maintaining momentum across a complex and fast-paced commercial environment.
• High level of accuracy and attention to quality in commercial documentation, proposals and executive level materials.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship building skills, with the credibility to engage, influence and negotiate with senior external and internal stakeholders.
• Collaborative leadership skills, with the ability to work across teams, bring others with you and embed commercial thinking within wider organisational activity.
• High levels of initiative and ownership, with the confidence to operate autonomously while aligning closely to organisational priorities and objectives.
• Strong digital and presentation skills, including confident use of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams to support senior level engagement and decision making.