Business Development Manager - Public Interest Audit

The UK member firms of Grant Thornton are part of a global network of independent audit, tax and advisory firms, made up of some 76,000 in over 150 countries. We’re a team of independent thinkers who put quality, inclusion and integrity first. All around the world we bring a different experience to our clients. A better experience. One that delivers the expertise they need in a way that goes beyond. Personal, proactive, and agile. That’s Grant Thornton.

This new and exciting role has been created to help our Public Interest (PI) audit team transform our approach to winning new business in the large listed market, and large equivalent privately held companies including major-PE backed groups. You will be a part of a supportive and growing audit Go to Market team, as well as the national Markets and Clients community. This is a really exciting opportunity to help our partners and directors deliver on their ambitious growth targets by ensuring rigour and momentum in their business and client development activities.

You will:

• Transform our approach to winning new business focusing on a proactive, structured and rigorous approach that aligns with the Firm’s Sales and Marketing Cycle.
• Evolve our approach to Business Development by bringing a fresh perspective and insights from previous experience that will drive the right mindset.
• Define, identify and oversee a pipeline of tiered pursuits and tenders, to support the growth of the PI business, introducing a key account management programme and tiering to the targets for resource and investment and achieve an increased conversion rate.
• Fully adopt the new CRM system (Dynamics), acting as a champion for best practice across the PI Audit practice.
• Introduce a key account management programme across the PI Audit practice that supports the clear segmentation and tiering of target accounts that supports the right levels of resourcing and investment to help achieve increased conversion rates.
• Account manage the priority PI targets, working closely with Pursuits team to set a clear relationship and win strategy 2-3 years pre the official RFP, regularly qualify those targets in and out.
• Take responsibility for oversight, reporting and monitoring of KPIs around the sales pipeline.
• Support audit leaders, Head of G2M team and PI partners in the identification and pursuit of new markets and key targets, and help drive BD efforts.
• Hold PI partners to account on their actions and target development, flagging emerging issues or lack of progress.
• Work closely with marketing team to inform our go-to-market plans and ensure they are leveraged by the business.
• Assist in development of propositions for the PI market through collaboration with wider assurance, tax and advisory practices and give insight into relevant hooks for different businesses.
• Liaise with other BD teams as needed eg Large Corporate, Industries, Regional, Advisory and Tax.
• Support building a sales culture and community within PI through regular communication and coordination.
• Identify and deliver BD/sales/account management training needs alongside the rest of the G2M team and the Learning & Innovation team.

Knowing you’re right for us

Joining us as our Business Development Manager the minimum criteria you’ll need is:

• Professional services experience.
• Background in marketing, BD, account management, or sales operations.
• Experience in effective stakeholder management at a senior level.
• Interest or knowledge of Audit beneficial but not critical.

The role is flexible on location but does have a national remit so travel to different offices may be required. It would be great if you had some of the following skills, but don’t worry if you don’t tick every box, we’ll help you develop along the way:

• You’ll have a thorough understanding of lead generation, sales and client management activity.
• You’ll have strong communication and influencing skills.
• Drive and can work on own initiative, with ability to work with ambiguity.
• Experience of CRM systems (Sales Force, Dynamics etc).
• Project management experience.
• Pro-active, can-do attitude.
• Ability to break down siloes, barriers.
• Resilience and tenacity.

Knowing we’re right for you

Embracing uniqueness, the culture at Grant Thornton thrives on the contributions of all our people; we never settle for what is easy, we look beyond to deliver the right thing, for everyone. Building an inclusive culture, where we value difference and respect our colleagues helps our people to perform at the best of their ability and realise their potential. Our open and accessible culture means you’ll interact with leaders who are interested in you and everything you bring to our firm. The things that set you apart, we value them. That’s why we give you the freedom to bring your whole self to work and pursue your passions inside and outside of work.

Beyond the job

Life is more than work. The things you do, and the people you’re with outside of work matter, that’s why we’re happy to look at flexible working options for all our roles, and we’ll always do our best to keep your work and life in balance. The impact you can make here will go far beyond your day job. From secondments, to fundraising for local charities, or investing in entrepreneurs in the developing world, you’ll be giving back to society. It’s that drive to do the right thing that runs through our every move, grounded in our firm’s values – purposefully driven, actively curious and candid but kind. We’re looking for people who want to contribute, spark fresh ideas and go beyond expectations. People who want to be able to proudly do what’s right, for the firm, our clients, our people and themselves. It’s how it should be.