Business Development Manager in Chelmsford

Location: Home-based, anywhere in the UK, with regular travel to customer sites and periodic visits to our Essex head office.

About Hellenic Systems

Founded in 1988, Hellenic Systems Ltd builds the systems that run the factory floor. Our software tells operators what to make and in what order, records what actually happened, and proves it to an auditor afterwards. The industry name for this is Manufacturing Execution Systems, or MES: the layer that sits between a company’s business systems and the machinery and people producing the goods. We design and manufacture the hardware that goes with it as well.

We are UK-based and serve over 130 sites across the UK and Europe. Our roots are in food manufacturing, particularly meat and poultry, and we are now extending into any manufacturer with the same problem to solve. A large share of what we ship is built specifically for one customer, which is why our tagline, Built Around You, is meant literally.

Our three software products are CARCASE, our kill line and livestock system, FOPS, our Factory Order Processing System, and FORMIX, our recipe and formulation management system. Our hardware includes weigh scales, touch screen terminals, outer case marking systems, carcass data capture units and label printers.

Since 2023 we have been part of Vesta Software Group, which sits within Jonas Software, an operating group of Constellation Software Inc. Constellation is one of the largest acquirers of vertical market software businesses in the world.

We are also unusually far along with AI for a business our size. It is embedded in how we build software and how we work day to day, not run as a side project, and we expect everyone here to use it.

The Opportunity

FORMIX, our recipe and formulation management system, has been rebuilt as a new product and is our main new business push. It guides operators through ingredient weigh-up, enforces tolerances, captures batch and operator evidence, and connects to shop floor weighing and labelling hardware. The buyers are food and drink manufacturers who still run weigh-up on paper, spreadsheets or an awkward ERP screen, and who are under real pressure on allergen control, traceability and waste.

This is a new role. It exists to build and convert a new business pipeline that does not depend on our existing account base.

Job Summary

The Business Development Manager owns new business at Hellenic. The role is targeted on winning new named clients and new sites, starting with FORMIX and broadening into our wider software and hardware portfolio as the pipeline develops. It is a hunting role: self-generated prospecting, campaigns and networking, then running the opportunity through demonstration, proposal, negotiation and close, with support from our technical and commercial teams.

The BDM reports to the Head of Commercial and works alongside our Account Managers, who own existing customer relationships. Growth inside existing accounts stays with them. Anything genuinely new belongs to the BDM.

Key Responsibilities

• New Business Generation
  • Win new named clients and new sites, principally for FORMIX in year one, broadening into CARCASE, FOPS, hardware and bespoke development as the pipeline matures.
  • Generate the majority of your own pipeline through outbound prospecting, cold calling, email and LinkedIn campaigns, trade events and industry networking. Marketing and referral leads will supplement this, not replace it.
  • Work the named FORMIX prospect list and the wider addressable market, including manufacturers outside our traditional meat and poultry base, such as bakery, dairy, ready meals, sauces, seasonings, flavourings and beverages.
  • Open the first opportunities in adjacent sectors as we extend the product into adjacent sectors, and feed what you learn back into product and pricing.
  • Qualify hard and early. We would rather have a smaller pipeline we believe in than a large one we do not.
• Selling and Closing
  • Run the full sales cycle: discovery, on-site assessment, demonstration (in person and remote), proposal, commercial negotiation and close.
  • Build the business case in the customer’s language: reduced giveaway and waste, right first time batches, allergen control, audit-ready evidence and labour saved on the weigh-up line.
  • Prepare and present quotations and proposals that reflect our pricing model, including site-level and tiered packaging.
  • Present our solution accurately and never oversell what the product does. Where a requirement needs bespoke development, involve the technical team for scope.
  • Hand over cleanly to Projects and Support at the point of sale, including a written summary of what has been sold and what the customer expects.
• Market, Product and Competitor Knowledge
  • Build and hold working knowledge of the FORMIX proposition and enough of the wider portfolio to spot an opportunity when a customer describes a problem.
  • Know the competition. Be able to explain where we win and where we do not.
  • Gather field intelligence on competitor pricing, bundling and contract terms.
  • Track sector trends, regulation and retailer or certification pressures (for example BRCGS) that create a reason for customers to act.
• Pipeline, CRM and Reporting
  • Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of sufficient size and quality to deliver the agreed targets, with realistic close dates and values.
  • Keep CRM current and accurate. Every opportunity, activity, contact and next step is logged.
  • Report weekly on activity, pipeline movement and forecast, and present your numbers at commercial reviews.
  • Learn and follow the company sales guidelines and standard operating procedures, and help improve our proposal and correspondence templates as you go.
  • Use AI tools in your daily workflow: prospect and account research, first-draft proposals and follow-ups, call preparation and pipeline analysis. We will give you the tools and the training.
• Working With the Team
  • Work with the Account Managers so that new business and account growth do not collide, and pass leads to them where an opportunity sits inside an existing relationship.
  • Work with Development, Projects and Support on solution scoping, demonstrations and delivery expectations.
  • Contribute to campaigns, marketing content, case studies and event planning.
  • Attend training to keep product, sector and sales skills current, and take part in team meetings and reviews.
  • Carry out other reasonable duties related to the promotion, sale and delivery of our products as directed by the management team.

Targets and Measures of Success

You will carry a personal new business target, set annually with the Head of Commercial and reviewed each quarter. It covers new order value, new recurring revenue and a minimum number of genuinely new clients, and it is supported by activity and pipeline coverage measures and by the quality of what you put into the CRM.

The targets are built from our FORMIX commercial plan and are deliberately achievable for someone who prospects properly. We will share the detail, including the numbers and how the commission scheme works against them, at the interview stage.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Proven track record of winning new business in a B2B environment, carrying and hitting a personal new business target.
• Experience selling a considered purchase with a multi-month sales cycle and more than one decision maker, typically operations, quality, engineering, IT and finance.
• Comfortable self-generating pipeline.
• Able to hold a credible conversation on a factory floor and translate an operational problem into a commercial proposal.
• Strong written, verbal and presentation skills, including the ability to write a proposal that stands on its own.
• Strong negotiation and closing skills, with the discipline to protect margin.
• Confident with CRM discipline and accurate forecasting.
• Comfortable using AI tools as part of your working day. You do not need to be technical, but you do need to be someone who reaches for them rather than avoids them.
• Full UK driving licence, and willing to travel across the UK, including overnight stays. Most of our target market sits in a band from the Midlands up through Yorkshire and the Humber into the North West, so a home base within reach of that corridor is an advantage, though we will consider strong candidates anywhere in the UK.

Desirable

• Experience selling into food and drink manufacturing, or into another regulated manufacturing sector.
• Familiarity with MES, ERP, traceability, weighing or labelling systems, or with production and quality processes in a manufacturing plant.
• Experience selling a combined hardware, software and services solution rather than software alone.
• Experience opening a new market or launching a new product into an existing customer base.
• A strong existing network of contacts in food and drink manufacturing, at operations, quality, engineering or director level. If you can open doors on day one, tell us.
• Hands-on experience using AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT in a sales role, for research, drafting, call preparation or pipeline analysis.