Head of Sales in London

We’re working with a growing technology and transformation consultancy to appoint their first dedicated Head of Sales. The business has an established client base, a diverse portfolio of services and a strong track record of winning complex work. Until now, business development has largely been led by senior consulting leaders who combine winning work with managing client relationships and overseeing delivery.

As the organisation continues to grow, they’re looking for an experienced, hands-on sales leader to take greater ownership of the pipeline, accelerate opportunities through to close and raise the standard of sales execution across the business. This is not a role for someone who wants to manage sales from a distance. The successful candidate will be client-facing, commercially accountable and personally involved in closing deals, carrying their own origination target while helping senior colleagues convert the wider pipeline.

The Head of Sales will take ownership of the sales pipeline across the business, bringing greater focus to which opportunities deserve investment and ensuring viable deals maintain momentum through to close.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Owning and actively managing the sales pipeline across the organisation.
• Driving opportunities from qualification through to close.
• Assessing opportunities objectively, concentrating effort on those most likely to convert and disqualifying weak opportunities quickly.
• Building senior relationships across existing and prospective client accounts.
• Leading and supporting client meetings, ensuring conversations result in clear commercial next steps.
• Working alongside senior consulting leaders to shape, progress and close significant opportunities.
• Identifying opportunities to grow existing accounts.
• Improving forecasting, CRM discipline and visibility of pipeline performance.
• Introducing greater consistency around qualification, close planning and go/no-go decisions.
• Carrying a personal origination target and developing opportunities through their own network, inbound leads and the organisation’s wider propositions.

A significant part of the role will involve improving sales effectiveness across a senior consulting population. The successful candidate will work alongside senior leaders on live opportunities, helping them strengthen qualification, maintain momentum and become more commercially disciplined. This requires someone with the credibility to challenge experienced senior colleagues and, where necessary, make the case that an opportunity is unlikely to convert. Rather than introducing process for its own sake, the emphasis will be on practical improvements that deliver measurable commercial outcomes. Success will be judged through revenue, conversion, sales velocity and deal value.

The organisation operates across a combination of technology solutions, operational and managed services, and consulting and transformation programmes. Its clients include organisations operating in complex and regulated environments across sectors such as defence, public sector, financial services, higher education and healthcare. Engagements range from strategic consulting and operating-model transformation through to technology implementation and longer-term service relationships.

What they’re looking for:

• An experienced sales leader with a strong personal track record of closing complex consulting or technology-services deals.
• A demonstrable track record of carrying and delivering against a significant sales target.
• Experience selling consultancy, transformation or complex technology services.
• Strong personal deal-closing experience, rather than purely managing a sales team.
• Experience improving sales performance and commercial discipline within a growing business.
• The ability to manage multiple opportunities across different propositions and sectors simultaneously.
• Strong, data-led qualification instincts and the confidence to walk away from deals that aren’t real.
• The ability to build credible relationships with senior clients.
• The personal authority to influence and challenge senior colleagues without relying on reporting lines.
• Excellent CRM, pipeline management and forecasting discipline.
• A hands-on approach and a strong bias towards action.
• Experience building sales capability from a relatively small base rather than inheriting a large established function.
• An interest in using data and AI to improve sales effectiveness.
• Experience within defence, financial services, public sector or another regulated market would be advantageous.
• Experience within an investor-backed business and familiarity with framework or bid-led routes to market would also be useful.

This is a chance to become the first dedicated sales leader in an established and growing consultancy, with significant scope to influence how the organisation approaches business development. The foundations are already there: strong propositions, experienced consulting leaders, established client relationships, lead generation activity and an active pipeline. What the business now needs is someone who can bring greater commercial focus and consistency, while continuing to sell personally. For someone who enjoys being in front of clients, progressing complex opportunities and building commercial capability around them, this offers the opportunity to make a visible impact on the next stage of the organisation’s growth.