Pre-Construction Manager in Bassingbourn

Nicholson STS Ltd is an innovative and fast-growing company which designs, manufactures and supplies specialist roofing systems. We supply Tier 1 construction companies, roofing contractors and the solar industry with unique products to help solve specific challenges in the industry, such as waterproofing riser penetrations, and fixing to the structure in a 100% waterproof way.

We aim to be involved in sales projects at the earliest opportunity, so target specifiers and architects. The company was started by two brothers, Paul Boyt and Alan Boyt in 2000. Before this, they were roofing contractors, but quickly realised that there were not the products on the market to solve challenges they were facing, so they began to design and manufacture products. These became the basis of the Nicholson product range, and we’re still innovating today.

Salary: Competitive salary plus bonus, 31 holidays (including bank holidays), 5 sick days on full pay, potential for home working by arrangement, buy or sell holiday scheme, free lunches, birthday voucher, free on-site parking, NEST pension scheme, health insurance scheme, including discounted gym membership and appointment paybacks.

Overall purpose: As Pre-Construction Manager at Nicholson, you’ll play a central role in turning technical enquiries into profitable orders. You’ll own opportunities from first contact through to secured deal, ensuring every solution is both technically robust and commercially viable. Working closely with expert colleagues, you’ll quickly develop in-depth product knowledge and become a trusted advisor to our clients. Your proactive approach, strong communication, and attention to detail will help build client confidence and drive business growth.

With a clear onboarding plan and ongoing support, you’ll help shape winning proposals, solve complex challenges, and directly contribute to Nicholson’s continued success in the specialist roofing sector. Over your first six months you will build deep knowledge of Nicholson’s products, systems and typical project types, working closely with Technical Sales Adviser team, before taking full responsibility for your own portfolio of opportunities.

Top Three Goals for Year One:

• Pass initial training
• Achieve the agreed accuracy and OTIF targets
• Achieve the agreed Client Satisfaction target

Role Responsibilities:

• Deal Progression & Closing: Take ownership of live opportunities in the CRM and drive them through the pre-construction pipeline to closed won. Proactively engage with customers (phone, Teams, email) to move opportunities forward, clarify requirements and address concerns. Negotiate commercial terms (within agreed parameters) to secure orders whilst protecting margin. Identify “stuck” opportunities and lead internal discussions to unblock them. Apply agreed “kill criteria” to disqualify unviable deals and maintain a healthy, realistic pipeline.
• Technical & Commercial Assurance: Work closely with Technical Sales Advisers and Estimators to ensure detailing is correct and solutions are fully compliant with project requirements. Able to take on the design responsibility, to ensure that the custom product strategy is perfect for each location. Review drawings, specifications and quotations to ensure alignment between what has been proposed and what will be supplied. Provide technical clarification to customers where required, drawing on internal technical expertise. Identify and propose up-sell and cross-sell opportunities where a wider product range adds value. Mature in character, able for the heavy contractual responsibilities/liability. Occasional site visits will be required to review project requirements, attend customer meetings and support technical discussions.
• Pipeline Management & CRM Discipline: Keep the CRM (e.g. HubSpot) updated with activities, stage movements, values and probabilities. Monitor pipeline health, ensuring progression in line with agreed timescales and stages. Prepare regular reports on conversion rates, order values and key movements for review.
• Continuous Improvement & “Win-Map” Development: Contribute to the ongoing development of Nicholson’s “win-map” – a systematic, repeatable approach to winning work. Analyse closed-lost opportunities to understand why they were not won and recommend improvements to pricing, positioning, process or solution. Share customer and market feedback with Sales, Technical and Product teams to inform future product development and sales strategies.
• Internal Collaboration: Work with wider team including operations & finance to ensure a smooth handover from pre-construction to order. Participate in internal project reviews where required to ensure that what has been sold can be delivered safely, profitably and on time.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Percentage of qualified opportunities converted to orders.
• Number and value of opportunities moved forward through the pipeline stages each week.
• Meaningful sales interactions (calls, meetings, technical clarifications) recorded in CRM.

Background & Experience:

Essential: Three years’ experience in a construction product environment, ideally roofing, building envelope, fixings, or related specialist systems. Proven background in estimating OR technical/internal sales where you have worked from drawings, specifications and bills of quantities. Experience pricing and supporting projects for main contractors, specialist subcontractors, or Tier 1 suppliers. Demonstrable track record of progressing opportunities and closing orders.

Desirable: Experience with roofing, waterproofing, or building envelope. Previous use of a CRM system (e.g. HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics) to manage opportunities. Exposure to pre-construction/commercial discussions (terms, variations, value engineering).

Skills & Competencies:

• Commercial & Sales Skills: Strong closing ability – able to ask for the order confidently and professionally. Good negotiation skills, balancing customer needs with commercial realities. Comfortable discussing price, value and risk with contractors and buyers. Able to spot up-sell and cross-sell.
• Technical & Analytical Skills: Comfortable reading, interpreting and questioning technical drawings, specifications and schedules. Structured approach to checking that proposed solutions match project requirements. Good numerical skills for pricing, margins and basic commercial calculations. Exposure to viewing and interrogating 3D models.
• Process & Organisation: Highly organised, able to manage multiple live opportunities at different stages. Disciplined in keeping CRM and records up to date in real time. Comfortable working to targets and deadlines.
• Communication & Relationship Building: Clear, professional communicator (written and verbal) with all internal and external stakeholders. Able to build trust quickly with repeat customers and new contacts. Confident running calls/Teams meetings to move opportunities forward.

Training & Onboarding: During your first six months there will be a structured onboarding plan, including: Shadowing Technical Sales Advisers and Estimators on live projects, product and system training across the Nicholson range, guided use of our CRM and “win-map” process, regular check-ins with your line manager to review progress and aid your development. By the end of your first six months, you will be fully equipped to own and close your own pipeline of opportunities. You can expect a planned purposeful learning curve to ensure you have the best opportunity to succeed in your new role.

Personal Attributes: You are a commercially minded, detail-aware persistent and resilient professional who enjoys turning opportunities into firm orders. You work best in a structured technical team environment, following clear processes, while you’re flexible enough to adapt when projects change. You’re comfortable talking money, value and risk, and you like seeing a pipeline move forward and deals close. You pay attention to drawings, specifications and small details without getting bogged down, and you take pride in getting things right before construction. You communicate clearly, can push back when needed, and are confident negotiating with contractors and buyers. You prefer practical, workable solutions over theory, and you’re happiest when you’re solving problems and progressing live opportunities, updating the system and seeing your efforts translate into real revenue. You are curious and willing to learn and prepared to invest the first six months building deep product and system knowledge to underpin your future success.